--- title: Mohsin Hamid "Exit West" Review: Refugees in Love and War description: Romance in an unnamed country on the verge of civil war — a story urgent to Americans and refugees today canonical: https://time.com/4696444/mohsin-hamid-literature-refugees/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-09T11:54:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:45:17.974Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Love in the Time of Refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s "Exit West" og:description: The novel follows a couple falling for one another as civil war looms og:url: https://time.com/4696444/mohsin-hamid-literature-refugees/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d664558529a6c2/6988bda60a4a22c6aa9cd3a6/mohsin-hamid-exit-west.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: mohsin-hamid-exit-west og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Love in the Time of Refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s "Exit West" twitter:description: The novel follows a couple falling for one another as civil war looms twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d664558529a6c2/6988bda60a4a22c6aa9cd3a6/mohsin-hamid-exit-west.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Love in the Time of Refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s _Exit West_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 9, 2017 11:54 AM UTC  Portrait of Mohsin Hamid Portrait of Mohsin HamidJillian Edelstein/Penguin Random House by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Mar 9, 2017 11:54 AM UTC The love story at the center of [Mohsin Hamid](http://time.com/4606077/mohsin-hamid-exit-west-refugees/)‘s [_Exit West_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735212171/?tag=timecom-20) begins with a familiar premise: boy meets girl, boy dines with girl, boy goes to bed with girl, romance ensues. But this boy, Saeed, and this girl, Nadia, happen to live in an unnamed country on the verge of civil war. As in the real world, the [refugees](http://time.com/4657652/viet-thanh-nguyen-the-sympathizer/) in this book flee to Western nations, often stopping over in countries with marginal economies. Unlike in the real world, they reach each destination through enchanted doors that magically and painfully transport them. “It was said in those days that the passage was both like dying and being born,” Hamid writes, “and indeed Nadia experienced a kind of extinguishing as she entered the blackness and a gasping struggle as she fought to exit it.” In Hamid’s previous novels, including [_Moth Smoke_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594486603/?tag=timecom-20) (2000), [_The Reluctant Fundamentalist_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0156034026/?tag=timecom-20) (2007) and [_How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1594632332/?tag=timecom-20) (2013), the personal is the geopolitical. _Exit West_ is no different. Nadia and Saeed worry about protecting themselves from anti-migrant vigilantes, but they also worry about charging their mobile phones, and revel in the pleasure of soft towels after months without a proper shower. _Exit West_ stands apart, however, because its timing feels so urgent: while Americans debate who should be welcomed at the country’s gates and who should be turned away, caricatures abound in the public discourse. But here are two people whose love story nevertheless feels universal. In stoic prose and with profound insight, Hamid offers a plea for readers to view Nadia and Saeed as a couple like any other. Their society eventually finds a peaceable way to operate those doors; maybe ours can too. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4696444/mohsin-hamid-literature-refugees/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4696444/mohsin-hamid-literature-refugees/"},"headline":"Love in the Time of Refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West","datePublished":"2017-03-09T11:54:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:45:17.974Z","description":"Two fall in love as civil war looms","url":"https://time.com/4696444/mohsin-hamid-literature-refugees/","keywords":["Books","Refugees","Literature"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d664558529a6c2/6988bda60a4a22c6aa9cd3a6/mohsin-hamid-exit-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0d664558529a6c2/6988bda60a4a22c6aa9cd3a6/mohsin-hamid-exit-west.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"mohsin-hamid-exit-west","caption":"mohsin-hamid-exit-west","creditText":"Jillian Edelstein/Penguin Random House","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4696444/mohsin-hamid-literature-refugees/","name":"Love in the Time of Refugees in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West"}}]}] ```