Behold the Dreamers, Imbolo Mbue, Random House, 2016, 382 pp
This is an excellent novel. The author, Imbolo Mbue, is an immigrant from Cameroon to the United States, as are two of her main characters. She has been a resident of the US for a decade and got her education here while her characters are basically undocumented and struggling mightily to get legal.
Contrasts are the theme. Jende Jonga and his wife and son live in Harlem. She has a student visa due to expire. Jende is undocumented and working with a questionable lawyer to get a green card. They live close to the poverty line, roaches and all, but are joyful and hopeful for the better life they will give their children.
Clark Edwards and his wife are part of the one percent. He works as a senior executive at Lehman Brothers and hires Jende as his driver. His wife Cindy somehow rose from poverty herself and snagged a trophy husband but she is not happy, drinks too much, and takes pills. Their grown son has refused law school and taken off for India to find a "truer" life.
When Lehman Brothers goes down, Jende loses his job and you know the rest. So, stereotypes possibly but Imolo Mbue uses her characters and the events of the time to show us American citizens with all of our relative wealth and privilege what the American Dream means to us and to them.
The book is unputdownable and made for a good, long, impassioned discussion in my reading group. All kinds of attitudes I hadn't known were harbored in the minds of my fellow readers came to light regarding said dream, immigration, and our lack of understanding about today's immigrants known to us primarily as gardeners and nannies. At one point, as our voices rose around the table where we meet at Barnes & Noble, as one member said, "They don't belong here," a young woman cruised by announcing herself as a Dreamer and said, "Yes we do!" It was a 2017 moment.
(Behold the Dreamers is currently available in paperback on the adult fiction shelves at Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)
What an interesting review. I had not heard of this book, but it certainly sounds as though it generated a fascinating - and maybe heated? - discussion in your book club.
ReplyDeleteIt was all good. The book, the discussion, and the things it made me think about.
DeletePowerful moment that of the 'dreamer'. It sounds like you got quite a lot from this book. I remember commenting on another blogger's post on this book that the protagonists' views of America are how most immigrants see America: the land of rivers of gold and respected human rights, unlike a great many countries in the world.
ReplyDeleteYes, America does look like that to most immigrants and she gives some insight into how that view came about in Cameroon.
DeleteI like your review's ending, quite a moment. What I recall is how much the immigrants wanted to stay & make it work. The book hit me & was a fast read for sure. None of them were all good or all bad. The emotions & sentiment in the story seemed real -- I gather from the author's own experience. A bittersweet tale. Glad you & your group discussed it.
ReplyDeleteThank you. That wish to stay was what got to us all, for sure.
DeleteLove the cover!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carole. It is a pleasure to have you stop by!
DeleteThank you for visiting my review about this.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, it's easy to prefer the Africans, they are content with any little thing, happy they are doing better than before whereas the Americans (and I believe most Europeans would be the same) take everything for granted and are disappointed when they find out that's not the case.
I would have loved to be there for that discussion. My current book club seems to prefer very light reading at the moment.
I wish you could pay us a visit! Do you ever travel to the United States? You are always welcome.
DeleteMaybe one day once my husband has retired. We have quite a lot of friends in the States. I would love to meet you and I am sure we have so much to talk about.
DeleteLikewise, if you ever come to Europe, you are more than welcome over here, as well.
I've been trying to reach you via Google+ to exchange e-mail addresses but that doesn't seem to work. :(
In any case, always such a pleasure to "talk" to you.
It would be fabulous to meet some day. Google+ is barely operational these days. I understand your frustration there. I hesitate to put my email address here on the blog since it is public, but I am also on Twitter, are you? We could exchange email addresses there by private message (if there is any such thing as privacy on the internet anymore.) My twitter button is in the top right corner of the blog.
DeleteUnfortunately, I'm not on Twitter. I'm on Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram, I think that's enough. LOL.
DeleteIf you're not on any of those, I could always leave my e-mail address here and you just don't have that comment published. Would that be an idea?
That last idea, leave your email but I won't publish the comment, is brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? Yes!
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