Exit West

A sneaky-good love story, a sneaky-bad refugee story. Most of the appeal comes from its focus on the ongoing migrant crisis, but the heart of it all is the relationship between the two protagonists growing and changing as they continuously "exit West." Credit where it's due - for the idea, the story, the ending in particular - but somewhere between the descriptions of an intentionally vague conflict and the magical realism of doorway portals that connect the first world, I lost track of Hamid's intention. Wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, too - it's likely I'm missing a few aspects of what he's done here, not appreciating a few others - but the whole thing's written in that God-awful melodramatically wan tone Mitch Albom made popular twenty years ago. No contractions, no exclamations, no soul or spark or pizzazz - just understatements and bare descriptions and lowest-common-denominator, "let-the-reader-do-the-work" nothing phrases like "in a way that felt both strange and familiar" and "for what seemed like a moment but also an eternity." Just the laziest form of writing, all generic, nothing specific. The country it's taking place in doesn't even get named or identified. If that's your bag, fine, go nuts! But this crap leaves me cold and distant - the exact opposite of how you'd want to feel reading any story "about" the "human experience." And the real shame is that this had potential - can't help but imagine Vonnegut or Murakami (just to name some personal favorites) having an absolute field day with this material. Oh well!