Two people fall in love in a country that is on the verge of civil war. When things heat up and become dangerous, Saeed and Nadia take the only way out they can: paying to escape through one of many doorways that have appeared that take people to another place in the world. They walk through, and end up on an island in the Mediterranean. They wait to be accepted into another country, but as their resources diminish, they decide to take the plunge and go through another door. This one takes them to a palatial mansion in a suburb of London. There, they join with the many other people who have traveled through that door, battling against police who are trying to make them leave. Eventually, Nadia and Saeed make their way through another door and end up in California, where they stay together as a couple but begin to drift apart. I liked this book because it shows us the plight of refugees including all of their motivations and obstacles, although the use of magical doorways eliminates the need to narrate the challenges of the actual journeys. We see the characters facing hunger, poverty, finding work, dabbling in religion, missing their family members they left behind, and making new friends. The book is written in a very dispassionate and simple style. It's a fast read (only 231 pages) and won several literary awards; it was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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