Books review: Exit West & Men Without Women

For when we migrate, we murder from our lives those we leave behind.

– MOHSIN HAMID

EXIT WEST BY MOHSIN HAMID- MY RATING:  ★★★★

I love this book and honestly even if it’s a small book and a fast read, I think we need more readers for this kind of book. It’s a work of fiction of course but there is some magical realism into it. We follow the journey of Saeed and Nadia, yes there’s some romance starting but it’s a very deep relationship, where they need each to be connected emotionally and intellectually in a time of wars. The character development was amazing.  What’s magical is the writing of Mohsin Hamid allows us to spread some magic dust on those two lovers as they struggle to survive the attacks.  

In a time like the Trump presidency, this book offers us a really poignant perspective of immigrants and what refugees have to endure. But also, how they treat each other as humans and they care of each other even in the most desperate times. For a 200 pages book, I think he surpasses my expectations and got some very thought provoking quotes, that stays with you in your mind. You’ll be thinking about this book a year from now.

Exit West deals with so many themes at the same time from war to refugees, to nostalgia and freedom. What can we do as humans when we can’t control what is beyond our control? We  can still find what’s beautiful : friendship, love, hope.

MEN WITHOUT WOMEN BY HARUKI MURAKAMI

MY RATING: ★★★ 

Men Without Men is  my Murakami’s least favourite work. It’s a collection of short stories and I’m sorry to say this but I don’t like his writing style in this one. It’s kind of sad because  you would automatically think that, like most of the popular authors, he lost that spark. And he did. The novels I read from him expelled subtle ennui , tackle with the taboos and the oddities of our daily lives. This one? Not so much. I get it that the main theme and focus of this book is loneliness and emptiness. All the stories feature different types of lonely men. But make it boring on purpose? Not a very good idea. I usually like to feel something, anything really when reading books. Men Without Women failed to deliver that.

Nevertheless, I really enjoyed Men Without Women and it’s the only short story that has really made an impact in me. I think if you are interested in short stories about everyday lives and how we deal with relationships nowadays, this can be interested read.

That’s it for reviews today 😀 ! Did you read these books? Share your thoughts in the comment’s section below 😉

Thank you to Penguin Random House for giving me both books to review  ! 

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