Exit West

Exit West is a novel published in 2017, written by Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid. This is Hamid's fourth novel. The main themes of the novel are emigration and refugee problems.

The novel is about a young couple, Saeed and Nadia, who live in an unnamed city undergoing civil war and finally have to flee, using a system of fictitious doors, which lead to different locations around the globe.

Nadia and Saeed meet when they are working students in an unnamed city. Saeed is more conservative and still lives at home, as custom generally requires, but the more independent Nadia has chosen to live alone and has been disowned by her parents for doing so. As war breaks out and militants begin attacking the city, the two fall in love. After a random bomb kills Saeed's mother, Nadia moves in with Saeed and his father, despite not wanting to marry Saeed as propriety requires.

As the militants successfully wrest control of the city from the government and violence becomes an every day part of life, Nadia and Saeed begin chasing rumours that their are doors in the city that serve as portals to other locations. Although most of the doors are guarded by militants they manage to bribe their way through a door eventually leaving behind Saeed's father who does not wish to be a burden to them and asks Nadia to promise him never to leave Saeed until they are settled.

The door they go through takes them to Mykonos where they are among many refugees and settle in a tent city. They eventually obtain the compassion of a local Greek girl who has a rapport with Nadia and helps the two go through a recently discovered door which leads to a luxury home in London. Nadia and Saeed settle in the home and eventually they, and other migrants, settle in the home claiming it from its owners.

As more migrants penetrate London, hostility between them and the native-born increase, including attacks and mob rule. The migrants are eventually sectioned off in a ghetto with minimal food and electricity called "Dark London". After a raid to clear out migrants goes wrong, native London decides to try to work together with the new migrants and puts them to work clearing the land for Halo London, a city surrounding London-proper, with the promise that they will be given 40 acres and a pipe i.e. a small plot of land and access to utilities. Nadia and Saeed throw themselves into the work as they feel themselves growing apart from each other.

Although the couple are on a list that puts them among the first to obtain a secure home, Nadia convinces Saeed to leave through another portal and they eventually take their chance arriving in Marin County, California. They find they are generally welcome there and Nadia finds work at a food co-op while Saeed becomes more and more religious. Eventually, realizing that they no longer have any feelings for one another, Nadia leaves Saeed and moves into a room at the co-op eventually beginning a relationship with a cook who works there. Saeed meanwhile marries the native-born daughter of a preacher.

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