EXIT WEST by MOHSIN HAMID

"中東と思われる名前が不明の国に住む若い男女Saeed（サイード）とNadia（ナディア）は、夜間のビジネス・スクールで出会った。保険会社に勤務するナディアは全身を覆う黒い衣装を身に着けているが、それは身を守るためであり、宗教的ではないと言う。広告代理店勤務のサイードは、そんなミステリアスなナディアに恋心を抱く。いっぽう、政府軍と宗教右派ゲリラの間の争いは激しさを増し、無実の者が処刑されたり、住処が破壊されたりするようになっていた。その最中でも、サイードとナディアは、ふつうの若者たちのようにデートを続ける。だが、二人が務めていた職場が閉鎖し、インターネットや電話もつながらないようになり、家族と絶縁しているナディアはサイードの両親の家に同居することになった。サイードは結婚したがるが、ナディアは躊躇する。内戦が深刻になるなか、世界中で、空間をショートカットする扉が開く異常現象が起きていた。サイードの人生を変える悲劇が起きたことをきっかけに、二人はこの国を離れることを考えるようになった。二人は、扉を利用する秘密組織に大金を払って外国に逃げた……"

"I quite enjoyed the first half of this book, as the relationship between Nadia and Saeed developed against the backdrop of a disintegrating society. However, the second half seems to belong to an entirely different genre, a dystopian fantasy which I did not enjoy at all. I don't really think the combination of the two is satisfying. I was expecting the plot to continue logically from the beginning, but in the end the love story just tailed off and I felt the author was using this to draw in readers so that he could then make his own political ..." "...Although the book is ostensibly about displacement of a young couple from a conflict zone. It is also a subtle exposition of the dislocation in place and time that occurs to all of us in the modern world. Even the old woman who has lived in Cailifornia in the same house all her life is dislocated by the change that has occurred around her such that she is a traveller in time..." 작가는 파키스탄 라호르 지방 출신이다. 파키스탄 작가의 작품은 처음 읽었는데... 나쁘지는 않았다. 판타지나 SF 적인 느낌의 요소를 포함하고 있지만 사실 중심 내용은 세계의 어딘가에서 일어나고 있는 비극을 다루고 있다. 운명적인 남녀의 만남, 전쟁의 악화, 새로운 희망을 안고 모국을 뒤로함, 피난 캠프의 비극, 이민지에서의 새로운 만남과 삶, 이별, 차별, 새로운 출발 그리고 재회... 국제 뉴스에서 가끔씩 보여주는 시리아 난민의 피폐한 삶이나 소위 희망 보트를 타고 있는 이주자들의 절망적인 모습 등이 생각나게 하는 작품이다. 문장은 독자에 따라서 다르겠지만 미리 읽기를 참고하고 구입하는 게 좋을 듯 싶다.