Exit West

Chapters 1-5

Reading Check

1. At a night class on product branding (Chapter 1)

2. That he is looking for girls (Chapter 1)

3. To keep men from bothering her (Chapter 1)

4. Vulnerability in buildings (Chapter 4)

5. He does not want to slow them down and wants to be near his wife’s memory. (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. He notices that she wears a robe and veil but drives a motorcycle. (Chapter 1)

2. She chose to live alone after college. (Chapter 2)

3. Saeed and Nadia lose their way of communicating with one another. (Chapter 3)

4. She does not respond. (Chapter 4)

5. Saeed’s mother has died, and together, he, Nadia, and his father form a small family unit. (Chapters 4-5)

6. Her presence reminds him to be chivalrous. (Chapter 5)

Chapters 6-9

Reading Check

1. Mykonos, Greece (Chapter 6)

2. Nadia cut her hand. (Chapter 6)

3. They suggest a peaceful resistance. (Chapter 9)

4. His father has died from pneumonia. (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Their relationship becomes strained in their new environment, especially given that they do not know each other that well. They also must survive in a community in which goods are scarce and violence is a regular threat. (Chapter 6)

2. Partially satisfied. In London, they have their own apartment, but they must constantly defend their new home against the police. (Chapter 7)

3. They turn off the electricity. (Chapter 7)

4. They would have to sleep on different floors. (Chapter 8)

5. It could help to salvage their relationship. (Chapter 9)

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. Marin (Chapter 10)

2. Via solar panel (Chapter 10)

3. A cook (Chapter 11)

4. With government drones (Chapter 10)

5. With a largely African American church group (Chapter 10)

Short Answer

1. They have been together since both were forced to flee and are one another’s final remaining links to a home that no longer exists. (Chapter 10)

2. They find peace in smoking marijuana, as they did early in their relationship. (Chapter 10)

3. The word takes on the connotation of an outnumbered Indigenous community, analogous to Indigenous Americans. (Chapter 10)

4. They become more involved in their new lives with new partners. (Chapter 11)

5. It ensures that people can only vote once. (Chapter 11)

6. It ends with Nadia and Saeed meeting up in their old city in the future. (Chapter 12)