2/5 stars
How’d I find it? I listened to this book courtesy of DC Library over long drives between Baltimore and Virginia. It carried the added bonus of being read by Hamid himself.
Why not 3 or more stars? Classmates Saeed and Nadia become more than friends — just in time for their city to be swept into war. Escape presents itself in the form of doors that transport passengers to other corners of the world, taking our protagonists to Mykonos, London, and San Francisco. While Hamid ably conveys the instability and danger of the refugee experience, the magical doors didn’t add much to the story. What’s more, the doors eliminate the reality of exodus, arguably a crucial aspect of understanding displacement and the human consequences of conflict. A fine book that keeps the reader at a distance, on the other side of the door.