The book “Exit West” is the artistic creation of Mohsin Hamid a Pakistani English novelist. Hamid was born in Lahore and had spent his childhood here in Pakistan. Then he moved to London and currently living there. He is known to be the best seller author and all his four novels have been recognized and granted awards. Mohsin Hamid mainly writes about life in a foreign land and he has told his own story in his book “The Reluctant Fundamentalist”. According to him the land of your origin is always the land of your fascination and living in another land is for a cause.
“Exit West” is a political novel but it is really interesting and thrilling to be read. This book is so genuine to be read because he has pictured all the scenes very realistically. By reading each description one can have the image in his/her mind. And one can feel the suffering and all the things that are going on. This reading can be related to all those who have migrated from their land to other for one or another reason. In this book, Mohsin Hamid talks about the difficulties and problems faced by refugees. The story revolves around two young people named Nadia and Saeed who are intimated towards each other. The book starts with the love story of Saeed’s parents and runs around the intimation and friendship between Nadia and Saeed. In the beginning, they enjoy their life in their unnamed country and then the turning situation of their land ruins their peace. They lost themselves in the noises of bomb blasting, and target killing, and they couldn’t stay there.
Then they come to know about the mysterious door to escape the situation. Hamid has depicted so clearly the door of escape and shown us that how much torture is there to escape your own country. The two couples are heading towards an alien future and they are having no idea about anything but still, they are going. The empathetic Mohsin has described their situation and all their sufferings in the foreign country. Even the two couple lost each other and both suffered to the level. How the foreign country treats the refugees is just pathetic.
He ends the novel with the return of the two couples back to their home country. He shows the level of satisfaction of the couples and also depicts their regrets. After reading this novel and the other “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” I have my sympathies with all the refugees and I pray to Allah to help those who are pacifist and working for pacifism so that everyone can live in their land and can enjoy their life. And I would like to highly recommend this book to all those who are doubtful about their lives in their own countries. Remember one thing your nation is always your.
