Overview
A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dreamùthe unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy New York Times Bestseller ò Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award ò Longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award ò An ALA Notable Book NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR ò The New York Times Book Review ò San Francisco Chronicle ò The Guardian ò St. Louis Post-Dispatch ò Chicago Public Library ò BookPage ò Refinery29 ò Kirkus Reviews Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyaltyùand Jende is eager to please. ClarkÆs wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the EdwardsesÆ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future. However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employersÆ fa?ades. When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep JendeÆs jobùeven as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice. Praise for Behold the Dreamers ôA debut novel by a young woman from Cameroon that illuminates the immigrant experience in America with the tenderhearted wisdom so lacking in our political discourse . . . Mbue is a bright and captivating storyteller.öùThe Washington Post ôA capacious, big-hearted novel.öùThe New York Times Book Review ôBehold the DreamersÆ heart . . . belongs to the struggles and small triumphs of the Jongas, which Mbue traces in clean, quick-moving paragraphs.öùEntertainment Weekly ôMbueÆs writing is warm and captivating.öùPeople (book of the week) ô[MbueÆs] book isnÆt the first work of fiction to grapple with the global financial crisis of 2007û2008, but itÆs surely one of the best. . . . ItÆs a novel that depicts a country both blessed and doomed, on top of the world, but always at risk of losing its balance. It is, in other words, quintessentially American.öùNPR ôThis story is one that needs to be told.öùBust ôBehold the Dreamers challenges us all to consider what it takes to make us genuinely content, and how long is too long to live with our dreams deferred.öùO: The Oprah Magazine ô[A] beautiful, empathetic novel.öùThe Boston Globe ôA witty, compassionate, swiftly paced novel that takes on race, immigration, family and the dangers of capitalist excess.öùSt. Louis Post-Dispatch ôMbue [is] a deft, often lyrical observer. . . . [Her] meticulous storytelling announces a writer in command of her gifts.öùMinneapolis Star Tribune
- | Author: Imbolo Mbue
- | Publisher: Random House
- | Publication Date: Aug 23, 2016
- | Number of Pages: 400 pages
- | Language: English
- | Binding: Hardcover/Fiction
- | ISBN-10: 0812998480
- | ISBN-13: 9780812998481
