In Exit West, writer Mohsin Hamid showcases his unique writing style that contrasts the writing style of the last novel we read, The Stranger. In the Stranger, Albert Camus uses very short, stunted sentences to portray the factual and mundane personality of the main character. Meanwhile, Hamid often writes long, winding sentences that expand on previous parts of the sentence and give great detail about many characters, backstories, and situations to portray similar complexity in his characters. In my opinion, both of these stories touch upon the humanity of the characters and their complexity, but do so in very different ways.

The Stranger showcases the humanity of Meursault by giving brief facts about his life, because those facts are what come together to build his life in the story. Meursault as a character is shown to come off as simple and factual, much like the writing. This is the kind of person he is, his humanity–his form of humanity is shown through the sentence structure itself.

Exit West, on the other hand, goes into great detail with the characters’ lives. The sentences expand on themselves constantly, which leads to in-depth, page-long sentences. Some of these details may feel trivial, and oftentimes that’s because they are. Ultimately, however, they lend to not only more detailed world building, but also more detailed characters as well. Their actions and pasts that are explained in these long sentences contribute to their sense of humanity in the narrative from the perspective of the reader.

The characters live complex lives (as opposed to Meursault) and Exit West, therefore, has a much more complex writing style (as opposed to The Stranger).