: Gurnah treats memory as a "critical resource" and a "living entity". His characters often use fragmented memories to reconcile their past in East Africa with their present lives in Europe.

: His narratives frequently center on the experience of being a stranger or an outsider, focusing on the "rupture" and "dislocation" caused by migration.

Abdulrazak Gurnah’s writing is celebrated for its "uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee". His work often explores the "gulf between cultures and continents," reflecting his own journey from Zanzibar to England as a refugee at age 18.