73 pages • 2 hours read
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Exit West is a work of political fiction by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid, who also wrote The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. It was published in 2017 and was shortlisted for the 2017 Man Booker Prize.
Exit West begins in an unnamed Middle Eastern city that is on the verge of war. It is already “swollen with refugees” (1). This is where Nadia and Saeed, the two main characters in the novel, meet one night in a business class. Saeed is struck by Nadia, who wears a full-length veil, and asks her if she would like to get a coffee at the school cafeteria. She asks Saeed if he prays at night, and he says that he prays “in his own way” (3). She then tells him that she will perhaps meet him for coffee another time; they part ways, and Saeed is surprised to see Nadia leave on a motorcycle.
Nadia turns out to be more independent and modern than Saeed realizes. She lives alone, is estranged from her traditional family, and tells Saeed—when they finally do meet for coffee—that she wears a full-length veil in order to keep men from bothering her.
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By Mohsin Hamid