Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

 

Saeed and Nadia meet and fall in love in a war torn city.  Every day it becomes more dangerous to be there as the militants and the government fight over territory.  Nadia is fiercely independent while Saeed is more traditional and a gentle man.  As things get worse, Saeed invites Nadia to come and stay with him and his parents in their apartment and eventually she does.  As buildings crumble around them and air strikes become a daily event, hope appears.  There are doors that will allow people to flee to other countries.

Saeed and Nadia go through one of the doors that popped up to flee elsewhere.  Their first stop is on a Greek island.  Later they go to London where immigrants are fenced into a section of the city and live under a fear that those native to the land will attack.  Every day more and more immigrants use the doors to go elsewhere, fleeing westward ever westward.  Eventually the couple ends up in California on the coast where they live for many years.  

This book is an analogy for the immigration happening worldwide.  Many countries such as Germany, France, the United States, Canada, India and England find themselves as destinations for those fleeing to safety.  How to handle a massive influx of newcomers?  How will they be fed, provided medical care?  Are there jobs?  Will the countries that are full of strife and terror ever return to their old ways and will those who fled return?  There is also magic realism as Hamid uses the concept of black doors that take those fleeing thousands of miles away in a moment.  Do the doors represent welcome in new environments or something that can be as easily slammed shut as remain open?  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.