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Nadia and Saeed meet in a college class they take while still working full time jobs. They live in a conservative society that is teetering as religious extremists fight for power. Forced into an immediate intimacy with curfews and violence, they escape through one of the magic doors that have been appearing around the world as a portal to another country. The doors can be to a house, a building or a closet and many when found are mobbed as chance for a new opportunity and life. At first, they mostly lead to refugee like situations with camps forming to receive an influx. Other doors are only known to a few. As Nadia and Saeed move around the world, their relationship adapts as they approach the new lives in different ways with Saeed wanting to remember and link to his past and Nadia searching for new.

The concept is fascinating as the borders are pretty much made irrelevant and the new societies popping up anywhere. How to determine a government or leadership when there isn't a border or necessarily a shared culture and beliefs? I enjoyed the through this new kind of world.

When I read the book, I found it most thought-provoking. It opened my eyes to the reality (and problems) of mass migrations happening throughout our world.

Thanks Holly! It really was a thought provoking way to highlight issues of migration, both the reasons prompting the emigration and the reaction of those receiving.

People seem to be divided on this book. I'm happy you liked it. I loved it when I read it.

Another book that had a profound affect on my thinking about emigrating vs. being a refugee, the concepts of belonging someplace geographically, was Call Me Zebra by Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi. It is another book that gets split reactions which may be as much a result of the writing as the subject. It is too easy to get caught up into over intellectualizing it when in fact a more superficial reading pulls you into it with humor, empathy, and pathos. Stop thinking and just read it should you decide to.

I read Call Me Zebra well before Exit West and I think it contributed to my positive reaction.

Thanks for the recommendation. I've had Call Me Zebra on my list for while but have been put off by the mixed reviews. I will definitely keep it on the list now,

I can see the division. Sometimes the idea overpowers smaller flaws but I really like how Hamid writes and thinks. I have his latest book on hold to try as well.

I enjoy his writing and that is what pulled me in.

I've read a number of books about refugees and the doors seemed an apt metaphor for what happens.

Jen K wrote: "Thanks for the recommendation. I've had Call Me Zebra on my list for while but have been put off by the mixed reviews. I will definitely keep it on the list now,

I can see the div..."

I definitely have her on my TBR for more reading.

Will be very interested in your thoughts on it if you read it. I will confess that I knew nothing about the book but was attracted by the cover (those huge colorful polka dots) the odd title - which of course makes you think of Call me Ishmael from Moby Dick. Also this line: Zebra is the last in a line of anarchists, atheists, and autodidacts.

I really enjoyed this book when I read it a few years ago, and I'm wondering if it would be worth a re-read in June. I liked the main idea and the rather dreamy writing style, even though I was sometimes confused.

I remember Nadia the best, and her reasoning for continuing to wear her Burka (or Jihab maybe) even when she didn't need to conform.

NancyJ wrote: "I really enjoyed this book when I read it a few years ago, and I'm wondering if it would be worth a re-read in June. I liked the main idea and the rather dreamy writing style, even though I was som..."

It is short but powerful read and definitely has lots of interesting thoughts on immigration, It would fit well.