Exit West in Around the World

May 25, 2017 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it

Shelves: borders-2017, booker-winners-and-listed, own, botm, newest-literary-fiction-group, read2017

I was really looking forward to this book. It was burning a hole in my pocket because I had heard such good things, and was happy when it was picked as a book club pick for one of my groups.

I ended up disappointed for a few reasons. I think it's a decent read, a quick read certainly, but not the five-star read I was hoping for. The basic premise is a bit of a spoiler, better discovered as you read the book, so I will put it all behind a spoiler tag.

(view spoiler) I was really looking forward to this book. It was burning a hole in my pocket because I had heard such good things, and was happy when it was picked as a book club pick for one of my groups.

I ended up disappointed for a few reasons. I think it's a decent read, a quick read certainly, but not the five-star read I was hoping for. The basic premise is a bit of a spoiler, better discovered as you read the book, so I will put it all behind a spoiler tag.

(view spoiler) ...more

71 likes · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2018 Astrid Lim rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, allegory, romance, satire, religion, race, magical-realism, immigrant

A very relevant book about the current situation of the world - immigrant and border issues, humanity and politics. Instead of wrote it in a heavy literature kind of way, Hamid had formulated the story with some magical realism (a door that can take you away from your place and bring you to another country), poetic romance, and a hint of adventure as well.

This is the kind of book that needs to be chewed slowly, that shows more than tells, and oftentimes let us play with our own interpretations. ...more

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Sep 23, 2018 Linda rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: international-like-things

For me the strength of this book was in the finely observed and emotionally precisely worded commentary on relationships rather than the global notions of movement and humanity.
I can see this book becoming a book read in high school. It's interesting to read something so utterly of right now and think about that.
This possibly never had a chance at being a five-star book for me because magical realism irritates me. But I was also dismayed at the various ways Nadia was sort of fetishized.... the ...more

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Apr 24, 2017 Janine rated it it was amazing

My second novel by Mohsin Hamid and the master of half-page sentences has captured my attention yet again.
Exit West is concurrent, timely, yet timeless. Unstable nations cause unstable inhabitants, uprooting them, displacing them. Thousands of years ago and still today, people are leaving their places of birth and their families on the search for something better.
Hamid focuses less on the where and how (doors are borders, and names of countries seem only to serve as reference points); he rathe ...more

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