[CEI]≫ [PDF] Free Behold the Dreamers Oprah Book Club A Novel Imbolo Mbue Books

Behold the Dreamers Oprah Book Club A Novel Imbolo Mbue Books

Download As PDF : Behold the Dreamers Oprah Book Club A Novel Imbolo Mbue Books

Behold the Dreamers Oprah Book Club A Novel Imbolo Mbue Books

This book has generated an incredible amount of buzz, but having read it I have to believe that the buzz was caused by the concept rather than the execution. Ms. Mbue had a great idea -- to juxtapose the aspirations of marginally legal immigrants from Cameroon with the family of an executive at soon-to-die Lehman Brothers in 2008. There's a lot that could have been done with that juxtaposition, but Ms. Mbue doesn't achieve it.

First, the plot. There are authors that can take historical events that are known at the outset and nonetheless create excitement, but Ms. Mbue isn't one of them, or at least not yet. I spent my time waiting for the inevitable rather than dreading it. The immigrant couple's travails are no less predictable.

Next, the characters. There are times when one or another character seems alive, but those times are too infrequent and too far apart. For the most part, they are flat; the literary equivalent of stick figures or outlines that have no substance to them.

The dialogue is similar, predictable and flat.

I have never written a book, and I know it's not an easy task. And I respect Ms. Mbue for trying; she has written a book that is readable and has an interesting concept, and it will be interesting to see if she can build upon this first effort and become a better or even a great writer. However, this book screams "first novel" and just doesn't cut it for me.


Tags : Amazon.com: Behold the Dreamers (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel (9780525509714): Imbolo Mbue: Books,Imbolo Mbue,Behold the Dreamers (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel,Random House Trade Paperbacks,0525509712,Cultural Heritage,Family Life,Literary,Cameroonians - United States,Cameroonians;United States;Fiction.,Domestic fiction,Families,Family secrets,Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009,Immigrants - United States,Immigrants;United States;Fiction.,Upper class,Upper class;United States;Fiction.,FICTION Cultural Heritage,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction-Literary,FictionCultural Heritage,FictionFamily Life - General,GENERAL,General Adult,fiction;drama;relationship books;literature;international;novels;family relationships;relationships;marriage;PEN Award winner;PEN Faulkner Award Winner;PenFaulker award;marriage novel;contemporary fiction;immigrant fiction;the American dream;Literary Fiction;Cultural Heritage;Family Life;rich people;money;immigration;class;bankers;upstairs downstairs;privilege;Lehman Brothers;Oprah's Book Club;Oprah book club;africa;american dream;cameroon;family;immigrants;new york;new york city;recession,family life novel; marriage novel; contemporary fiction; international fiction; immigrant fiction; immigrant experience; the American dream; African literary fiction; Literary Fiction; Cultural Heritage; Family Life; rich people; money; immigration; class; bankers; upstairs downstairs; privilege; Lehman Brothers; Oprah's Book Club; Oprah book club; Oprah Book Club 2017; PEN Award winner; PEN Faulkner Award Winner; PenFaulker award; africa; american dream; cameroon; family; immigrants; new york; new york city; recession,FICTION Cultural Heritage,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION Literary,FictionCultural Heritage,FictionFamily Life - General,Fiction

Behold the Dreamers Oprah Book Club A Novel Imbolo Mbue Books Reviews

This novel is based on a very current topic immigration to the United States . It portrays the problems and emotions from the side of the immigrants. Although the u. S. Immigration policies should be followed, after reading this book , one feels the pain of those who truly believe that the US is the only land of opportunity and great promise. The disappointment that these people feel is painful!! It is truly a sad problem .
This is one of the best books I've read in a while and I'll be recommending wholeheartedly to friends and family. Great insight on the lives of these characters, the struggles of this poor immigrant family and the struggles of this wealthy American family. Great reminder that regardless of our social status, we all face challenges.
The time 2008

The place New York City. Well, to be exact a corner office on Wall Street with floor to ceiling windows offering a breathtaking view, a posh Upper East Side apartment that is decorated to the nines and a one-bedroom, cockroach-infested fifth-floor walk-up in Harlem.

The main characters Clark Edwards is a hotshot investment banker at Lehman Brothers, while his beautiful, too-thin wife, Cindy, spends her time shopping, lunching and summering in the Hamptons. Jende Jonga, an illegal immigrant from Cameroon, supports his wife, Neni, and their 6-year-old son, Liomi, doing whatever jobs he can find that do not require proof he is in the United States legally. Neni is in the country on a student visa and attends the local community college with dreams of becoming a pharmacist.

The situation Clark hires Jende to be his and the family's full-time chauffeur, paying him $36,000 a year for 18-hour days. Jende is beside himself with happiness and hope for the future.

And then…Lehman Brothers collapses.

This magnificently written story by Imbolo Mbue is told entirely from the points of view of Jende and Neni. Clark and Cindy's stories we learn from eavesdropping on their phone conversations while Jende drives them around New York City. Jende and Neni have very little, but they are bursting with dreams and hopes for the future. Meanwhile, Clark and Cindy are impossibly wealthy but have only faded hopes and squashed dreams. It is this contrast, even more than the differences of race, class and wealth, that sets up the story for the main plot when life for both couples irrevocably and tragically changes forever with the failure of Lehman Brothers.

This remarkable story about the American dream—for those who desperately want it and those who indifferently have achieved it—is written with such verve and wisdom that it pierced my heart and soul. I highly recommend this book, which amazingly is Mbue's first novel. I eagerly await her second book.
very interesting read about the experience of African immigrants coming to the United States. Without firsthand knowledge, the issues and struggle seemed very well represented. The characters were inconsistent - sometimes you really liked them and at other times, you struggled to want to support them - but it all seemed very realistic and more appropriate that books where people are either good or bad. Well worth the read.
Behold the Dreamers is at once haunting, profound, and imminently readable. Mbue skillfully captures both the essence of Cameroonians in the diaspora, and the world of Wall Street during the 2008 recession. Weaving together the stories of 2 couples, profoundly different but bound together in their common humanity, she shows how the American dream ultimately eludes and almost destroys them both.

As founder of a US 501C3 in partnership with my Cameroonian sisters and brothers to build a residential secondary school in Cameroon, I have traveled there numerous times. Mbue captures the essence of the strong sense of family, overflowing love and hospitality that I have been blessed to experience in Cameroon. I have often felt that we Americans have much to learn from them. In our pursuit of material well-being here in the US, we have lost the palpable spirituality and deep joy of many Cameroonians, in spite of the overwhelming hardships many face.

Kudos to Imbolo Mbue for capturing so eloquently that which often eludes explanation. Highly readable, fast moving, and skillfully crafted, Behold the Dreamers will stay with you long after the last page is read.
The Rev. Canon Elizabeth Geitz
Author, I Am That Child Changing Hearts and Changing the World, and more
ImaginingTomorrow.org
This book has generated an incredible amount of buzz, but having read it I have to believe that the buzz was caused by the concept rather than the execution. Ms. Mbue had a great idea -- to juxtapose the aspirations of marginally legal immigrants from Cameroon with the family of an executive at soon-to-die Lehman Brothers in 2008. There's a lot that could have been done with that juxtaposition, but Ms. Mbue doesn't achieve it.

First, the plot. There are authors that can take historical events that are known at the outset and nonetheless create excitement, but Ms. Mbue isn't one of them, or at least not yet. I spent my time waiting for the inevitable rather than dreading it. The immigrant couple's travails are no less predictable.

Next, the characters. There are times when one or another character seems alive, but those times are too infrequent and too far apart. For the most part, they are flat; the literary equivalent of stick figures or outlines that have no substance to them.

The dialogue is similar, predictable and flat.

I have never written a book, and I know it's not an easy task. And I respect Ms. Mbue for trying; she has written a book that is readable and has an interesting concept, and it will be interesting to see if she can build upon this first effort and become a better or even a great writer. However, this book screams "first novel" and just doesn't cut it for me.