Book Review: Behold the dreamers - I. Mbue

“Most people were sticking to their own kind. Even in New York  City, even in a place of many nations and cultures, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, preferred their kind when it came to those they kept closest. And why shouldn’t they? It was far easier to do so than to spend one’s limited energy trying to blend into a world one was never meant to be a part of. That was what made New York so wonderful. It had a world for everyone.”

I really liked this book, a complex story about immigration, the American dream, home sickness, and families. Jende and Nani are from Cameroon and they both emigrate to the USA, specifically NY city for a better life for them and their son. They both work hard and have a good but hard life, him working as a chaffeur for a Wall Street exec and his family, her working in a nursing facility and studying to become a pharmacist. But, they don't have the proper paperwork they need to stay forever and his employer's life and job becomes a mess.
I really liked how the stories of the two families, the poor African one and the rich American one, are so different and yet so interlinked. I loved how passionate Nani is about becoming a pharmacist and also about America, and I also loved how sweet are Jende's memories of Cameroon.
It is a novel that stimulates a lot of reflection about the life and stresses we create for ourselves, about the dreams to have a better life, about being rich and/or being happy, about where home is.
The first half of the book is very positive, optimistic, while the second part is very bitter-sweet, however even with all the difficulties and sorrows and obstacles that both families have to face, they end up being ok, and that's what I was left with at the end: we try, we might sicced or fail, but we really try to have a good life for our kids and hopefully they will appreciate it.
Of all the books I have read recently about immigration this is by far one of the best as it is very realistic and yet doesn't leave you with a lack of hope in the end.
In summary a great read, fr both plot and writing style, which I'd highly recommend to all readers who like modern American fiction and especially the topic of immigration and the "American dream".

“Home will never go away

Home will be here when you come back

You may go to bring back fortune

You may go to escape misfortune

You may even go, just because you want to go

But when you come back

We hope you’ll come back

Home will still be here.”

Overall rating: 7      Plot: 7     Writing style: 8      Cover:  8

Title: Behold the dreamers
Author: Imbolo Mbue
Publisher: Fourth Estate Books
Pages: 400
Publication year: 2017

Plot:

New York, 2007: a city of dreamers and strivers, where the newly-arrived and the long-established jostle alike for a place on the ladder of success. And Jende Jonga, who has come from Cameroon, has just set his foot on the first rung.

Clark Edwards is a senior partner at Lehman Brothers bank. In need of a discrete and reliable chauffeur, he is too preoccupied to closely check the paperwork of his latest employee.

Jende’s new job draws him, his wife Neni and their young son into the privileged orbit of the city’s financial elite. And when Clark’s wife Cindy offers Neni work and takes her into her confidence, the couple begin to believe that the land of opportunity might finally be opening up for them.

But there are troubling cracks in their employers’ facades, and when the deep fault lines running beneath the financial world are exposed, the Edwards’ secrets threaten to spill out into the Jonga’s lives.

Faced with the loss of all they have worked for, each couple must decide how far they will go in pursuit of their dreams – and what they are prepared to sacrifice along the way.

The Author:

Imbolo Mbue is a native of the seaside town of Limbe, Cameroon. She holds a BS from Rutgers University and an MA from Columbia University. A resident of the United States for more than a decade, she lives in New York City.