Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
What attracted me to this story is that it is about human migration and how it impacts them. I have always been keen to know about how people adapt to displacement.
To my mind, there are usually two kinds of behavior associated with migration. The first kind adapts to the new culture with open arms and is likely to move ahead. The second kind gets further seeped in their own culture in a new land. It's almost like if they change their ways, they are being disloyal to their roots. The question is, why do we choose what we choose? In the book, both these roles are beautifully filled in by the two main characters, Saeed and Nadia. In the story Saeed and Nadia, though not said as much, move from Syria to Greece to London to the USA. In the book, the comparison between Nadia and Saeed to migration is very well played out. When displaced, Saeed prays more, spends more time with his kind. It seems like the farther he moved away from the city of his birth through space and time, the more he sought to strengthen his connection to it. Nadia, on the other hand, is far more inclusive, hardly ever prays, wears her burkha not as a religious belief but as a way to self-protect. She is community oriented but still diverse in her thinking. Through the book, we also see her engaging with all kinds. When she moved to London, she avoids speaking her language, and she also avoids her people, which doesn't go down well with Saeed. Post London they escape to Morin, USA. This movement without any consideration for hard work that they had put in London, kind of also speaks, as to how we float when we are not anchored. Saeed and Nadia were not anchored in their location, but more importantly, they were not anchored with each other and in their love for each other. Saeed valued the discipline of praying, prayer for him became a code, a promise he had made to himself and stood by it. Now in Morin, Saeed prayed, even more, several times a day, and he prayed fundamentally as a gesture of love for what had gone and would go and could not be loved in no other way. As they were uncoupling, there was sorrow and grief, but there was a relief too. Finally, the feeling of relief was much stronger. To conclude, really loved the book as it makes refugees and their problems real without over-dramatization. The book also doesn't intend to manipulate the reader into a set point of view, rather it opens up the issue of migration.
To my mind, there are usually two kinds of behavior associated with migration. The first kind adapts to the new culture with open arms and is likely to move ahead. The second kind gets further seeped in their own culture in a new land. It's almost like if they change their ways, they are being disloyal to their roots. The question is, why do we choose what we choose? In the book, both these roles are beautifully filled in by the two main characters, Saeed and Nadia. In the story Saeed and Nadia, though not said as much, move from Syria to Greece to London to the USA. In the book, the comparison between Nadia and Saeed to migration is very well played out. When displaced, Saeed prays more, spends more time with his kind. It seems like the farther he moved away from the city of his birth through space and time, the more he sought to strengthen his connection to it. Nadia, on the other hand, is far more inclusive, hardly ever prays, wears her burkha not as a religious belief but as a way to self-protect. She is community oriented but still diverse in her thinking. Through the book, we also see her engaging with all kinds. When she moved to London, she avoids speaking her language, and she also avoids her people, which doesn't go down well with Saeed. Post London they escape to Morin, USA. This movement without any consideration for hard work that they had put in London, kind of also speaks, as to how we float when we are not anchored. Saeed and Nadia were not anchored in their location, but more importantly, they were not anchored with each other and in their love for each other. Saeed valued the discipline of praying, prayer for him became a code, a promise he had made to himself and stood by it. Now in Morin, Saeed prayed, even more, several times a day, and he prayed fundamentally as a gesture of love for what had gone and would go and could not be loved in no other way. As they were uncoupling, there was sorrow and grief, but there was a relief too. Finally, the feeling of relief was much stronger. To conclude, really loved the book as it makes refugees and their problems real without over-dramatization. The book also doesn't intend to manipulate the reader into a set point of view, rather it opens up the issue of migration.
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