Review: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yet another book that is so timely given the situation we’re experiencing in America around immigration. I think it’s one that all American’s should read before they make assumptions and decisions about how they feel about immigration. This book can help you see all sides of the issue, including what it must be like to live in a place at war and need to find a new home.
This is such an important book … and I think it’s timeless in its ability to give a reader insight into this issue AS WELL as the human dignity at stake in such situations. Hamid’s writing is just beautiful and the story he’s telling is so stark and believable. There is a magical realism component to the novel but it’s so well done and integrated into the story so well that it doesn’t even really feel magical, in the end.

This is definitely one that will land on my favorite books of 2017 list. It’s astounding and necessary. To help us understand what it must feel like to be displaced by upheaval in our native country and to perhaps think about immigration with more kindness and understanding. I hope everyone reads it and thinks about it and tries to challenge their own biases and assumptions as a result of it.