Exit West

A unique approach to a story of migration, refugees. Not so much a portal fantasy as a quiet meditation on how the world might or might not change, how people might or might not change, if doors opened into other parts of our world, rather than onto other worlds.

For all that an event like that could be considered large scale, the story itself feels small-scale in its focus primarily on two individuals. Every day life punctuated by reminders of the threat of violence, surveillance, of lurking oppression and prejudice, shifting into people-powered possibilities, new community, new solutions. The contrast of comfort found in religion and tradition and culture, with the ways it can exclude those who do not wish to participate or are not born into it. I'm very grateful the novel went the direction it did, it feels like the most compassionate, clear-eyed vision available.

⚠️ violence, suicidal ideation, SA, misogyny