Let me start off by saying that I don’t want to offend anybody with this post, it’s only my opinion. If you love this book, I’m truly happy for you because you will be able to get through the next few weeks we spend on it without getting nauseous every few paragraphs. Sorry.
I have a number of issues with Exist West, but I’m most annoyed by Hamid’s cliche and cringey writing. It disrupts what would otherwise be a decent story, and actually angers me. For example, when Saeed asks why Nadia wears her robes if she isn’t religious, she responds, after taking a mysterious sip of coffee, “so men don’t fuck with me” (17). Come on.
I understand that Hamid is attempting to convey Nadia’s badassness and individualism, but he just executes it so poorly. By using cliche lines like that one, Hamid actually diminishes Nadia’s cool factor and makes her seem annoying.
Furthermore, Hamid’s references to drugs do not achieve his intentions, and on multiple occasions have forced me to audibly sigh with disappointment. During Saeed’s first visit to Nadia’s apartment, they smoke a joint. Fine, whatever. But there’s just something about the way Hamid writes about it that is off to me. Maybe it’s that he begins the next chapter with “while Nadia and Saeed were sharing their first spliff together…” (29). Despite his intentions to make this a natural addition to the story, and portray the characters (and himself) as cool, it sticks out and reminds me of a middle school boy trying to impress his crush with his weed expertise.
I’m not even going to get started on the shrooms.
The next thing that bothers me about Exist West is Hamid’s characterization of the war-torn city and the refugees that live there. I can’t put my finger on what the issue is specifically, but it feels strange. Even though Hamid lived in Pakistan till he was eighteen, his writing feels like it’s from the perspective of someone who has researched the Middle East extensively, but never been there. At least to me, something about the way in which he describes the city seems like a gross romanticization rather than the perceptive commentary he is attempting. However, I have never been to the Middle East, so maybe I can’t say much about it.
Last but not least, Hamid’s writing makes me severely uncomfortable, and not uncomfortable in the way that you can grow from. This mostly happens when he writes about sex, but I want to be clear that it’s not the topic of sex that unsettles me, just the way he writes about it.
I first started to feel this way during his description of Saeed’s parents’ sex life. He goes in a weird amount of detail about Saeed’s mom enjoying “being taken from behind,” and describes their headboard as “demanding to be gripped”(14). I think that Hamid was trying to be a little shocking, and add depth and mystique to the book, but it ended up just feeling intrusive and creepy. Most of the time, his descriptions of sex are fine, but there are a few like that one that I really do not like. Another extra weird one I feel like I need to add is when he writes about Saeed beginning to enter Nadia’s thoughts as she “reclined on her toilet after emptying her bladder” (40). There’s nothing that wrong with it, but I hope you all will agree that it’s just a super strange way to say that Saeed is becoming a big part of Nadia’s life. These things aren’t really a big deal, I just wouldn’t want to have a one-on-one conversation with Hamid. Ever.
That wasn’t really my last objection to Exit West, but I can’t list all of them. Overall, I would say that his writing feels infantile and weird, and although I kept trying to like the book, it has disappointed me severely.
