Joan Mackenzie reviews Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

I’m a real sucker for immigrant stories – I find the notion of rejecting where you’re from, for something new and completely unknown, absolutely fascinating, and so brave. This story about the pursuit of the American Dream by a family from Cameroon who move to New York is a biting narrative about the hardships, hopes, desperation and compromise that so many people in this situation must have to deal with. Through a friend of his cousin’s, Jende Jonga finds a job as chauffeur for a top exec at Lehman Brothers – the story of his interview is a telling piece about race and status, where money seems to make a man worth so much more than those around him. The year being 2007, of course we know the Global Financial Crisis is just around the corner, and the effects of that were devastating for employees of Lehman Brothers, along with those who worked for them. Jende finds himself cast out into a merciless job market where a man working 16 hours a day still can’t feed his family – and his wife’s dreams of an education and professional career come crashing down. All of this can cause a person to behave completely out of character. The hardships of their situation are I’m sure, replicated in the lives of millions of hopeful people who leave their own country in search of something better. But that something better can just be a mirage and in the case of Jende and his family, the choice they face is heartbreaking. I loved this book.

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