Exit West

Exit West

• Genre: Fiction; magical realism
• Originally Published: 2017
• Reading Level/Interest: Lexile NC1660L; college/adult
• Structure/Length: 12 chapters; approx. 268 pages; approx. 4 hours, 42 minutes on audio
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Saeed and Nadia are two young residents of an unnamed Southeast Asian country on the brink of civil war who start a clandestine love affair; as the situation deteriorates in their nation, they discover a series of doors throughout the city offering them the opportunity to step into their choice of foreign countries obstacle-free and re-start their lives, which they venture to do together, despite their wildly contrasting temperaments.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Sexual assault

Hamid, Mohsin

• Bio: Born in 1971 in Lahore, Pakistan, to parents of Punjabi and Kashmiri descent; graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1993, where he studied international relations and also fiction under Toni Morrison; returned to Pakistan to continue writing; graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997, but used time off during his post-law school corporate work to finish his first novel; has written journalism and essays for TIME, The New York Times, the Paris Review, and other publications; has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, and London, England
• Other Works: Moth Smoke (2000); The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007); How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013); Discontent and Its Civilizations (2016); The Last White Man (2022)
• Awards: Kirkus Prize (finalist; 2017), Booker Prize (shortlisted; 2017), National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist; 2017); ALA Notable Books (selection; 2018)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Navigating the Challenges of Globalization
• The Limits and Benefits of Technology
• Modernity and Tradition

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Understand how globalization leads to displacement and refugee emergencies such as the ones that Saeed and Nadia face.
• Study paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the text’s theme of Navigating the Challenges of Globalization.
• Simulate the experience of Syrian refugees and compare it to the experience of Saeed and Nadia in Exit West.
• Analyze and evaluate plot details to explore the theme of The Limits and Benefits of Technology and magical realism as a genre.