EXIT WEST BY MOSHIN HAMID REVIEW

In the present text I’m going to talk over the opinions and judgment of Andrew Motion about “Exit West” and say my opinion about the book, supporting my reflections with references to the text I read.

Right from the start the intelligent reader can recognize the two topics in the journalist opinion about the book, magic and realism in particularly violence. Actually in the text he discusses about the development and the effects created by magic and violence in the reader’s mind. Also the subtitle gives us some information about the vision of the story Motion has; indeed,  in his point of view the story manage to teach something: it is a parable of love, displacement and the search of belonging.

In the text Motion writes different opinion and judgements: “Exit West adopts a tone of radical simplicity that borders on brutality and makes every conversation, every detail, every scene feel vital and under threat”. In his opinion he repeats the word “every” to highlight the perpetual presence of the brutality. Going on the repetition of the noun “threat” reveal the journalist’s impressions: he has a persistent suspense, anxiety and tension in reading Exit West.

Then he says “the mixture of clarity and restraint in such passages is very impressive and confirms Hamid’s reputation as a brilliant ventriloquist”. In this sentence Motion means that Hamid knows how to pronounce his opinions through his characters .

About the magic topic, in the journalist opinion, it is a sort of expedient Hamid uses to link the various sections of the story.

The contraposition between the two topic make the reader viewing the novel as a form of parable of hideous contemporary familiarity and strangeness.

The review ends with a negative judgement, due to the horrors’ contraposition of the begin to the hopeful of the end; indeed Hamid takes a risk because he uses the same style to ‘dream of utopia after toiling through a dystopia’.

In my opinion the incessant suspense and tension due to the simplicity that borders on brutality and violence are always present, but these peculiarity are also due to the description’s ambiguity. According to this place and time are vague, the reader can only imagine and create an idea through some information from the text. The suspense came also from the situation’s instability: war can blow up in every moment.

I agree with the journalist on his second opinion: Hamid has  great talent in transmitting his opinions through his characters, and  he can show to the reader his thought about relevant topics.

But I don’t agree with the last judgment of Motion: believing in humanity’s potential is the best response humans beings can have in front of dramatic situation.

In conclusion I agree with the majority of motion’s opinion but not all.