Unlock the Dreams of Imbolo Mbue in Her Captivating Novel, "Behold the Dreamers"

Kindle Customer: What a Beautiful book!!! I just finished reading it and I am smiling from ear to ear. This is the best thing I've read in a long time. Thank you Imbolo Mbue for both ur beautiful books. I had sad days, happy days....I cried and laughed reading both of them.

Italy on Oct 03, 2023

Beverly J. Fong: I found myself engrossed and present in this intimate story of the struggle of immigrant family from Cameroon. I enjoyed seeing New York City from the eyes of Jende and Nemi.

United States on Aug 18, 2023

Amazon Customer: Definitely recommend this book. Loved the writing and the characters. I was left wanting a little more, which is no no bad thing. There were a few parts to the story that I felt needed a bit more development, but it didn't detract from it being a great read.

United Kingdom on May 07, 2023

Anonymous: Although most people dislike this novel because it talks about life in as an immigrant, I loved this book exactly for that reason. This book highlighted the dichotomy's of immigrants and American-born immigrants. This book addressed so many issues that plague the immigrant community. It made me think of my status as an immigrant differently in America. Every character introduced could be given their own analysis. An African immigrant, this book gave me insight into understanding my community. Ms. Mbue did a great job writing something that can appeal to both the superficial and the deep thinkers. Those that wanted a story got a story, but those that wanted took take a critical view of life in America got to see a critical view of life in America. The beginning of the story set up everything that was in the final chapters. Thank you for this masterpiece.

United States on Mar 16, 2023

Sandra Benemerito Bailey: Wow. What a story. I just finished the last page of this kindle book but midway through, I knew this would be a 5-star read for me. I admit I was attracted by the premise which involved an immigrant working as a chauffeur for a rich Lehman executive at the cusp of the Great Financial Crisis as a career finance person, but this story was so much more than that. It is truly the story of hopes and dreams of immigrants, America through rose-colored and dirty glasses, and the hardships of relationships between husband and wife, parent and child.

The story revolves around two main families, the uber-wealthy and white Edwards, and the Cameroonian Jongas, seeking a green card and permanent avenue towards fulfilling the American dream for their children. The Edwards have a seemingly perfect life which masks a veneer of dysfunction in the marriage and with their relationship to the two sons. The Jongas have a seemingly solid and loving marriage that is not impervious to the stress of deportation risks and living a hard life in Harlem. The complexity of the four principal adult leads impressed me to no end. How the author managed to convey both their strengths and their flaws (in some...

United States on Apr 09, 2021

1st renassance: Behold the Dreamers is written by Imbolo Mbue. Set in New York, the novel draws on the author’s Cameroonian and American experiences, depicting the lives of two families, associated through work, but whose fates become increasingly connected. The Jonga’s are a family of first generation Cameroonian immigrants. They aspire to the American dream, believing that they too can make it there. In this respect, the novel is timely in its representation of undocumented communities striving for a better life and ultimately acceptance in the US.
When chauffeur Jendi Jonga is dispensed of by Lehman’s Brothers executive Clark Edwards for reasons extraneous to the quality of his work, we see how Neni Jonga’s aspiration to live the dream leads her to blackmail Cindy Edwards. The monetisation of the social standing that Cindy has enjoyed precisely because of her family’s wealth, is an indictment of a Dream that values financial gain and can be seen as a reworking of the fate that befalls Miller’s Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.
The novel is also one of power relations, white male over white female, white female over black male and black male over black female (as Jende,...

United Kingdom on Jun 12, 2020

Rachel G.: This was a 3.5 star for me, but I'm rounding up!

There was a lot about it that I loved: you care about the characters and their story. It's a good insight into what life is like as an immigrant from Cameroon to New York.

It loses some points for predictability: as a previous reviewer has said, there are no major surprises and a certain inevitability about it all. Everything proceeds pretty much as you would expect and some of the characters (like Cindy) are verging on cliche.

My other big concern (and this doesn't give anything away) is that at one point in the book, Jende (a character who you really like and care about) gives his wife Neni a horribly vicious beating. She's upset, but nothing really comes of this: it doesn't alter her feelings about him fundamentally, he doesn't seem to be held accountable for it in any way. Beyond his saying 'sorry', neither characters nor author seem to recognise this event as the fundamentally important thing that it is in a marriage. So I disliked that from the point of view of the plot, but also I worried that it would make readers who know nothing about Cameroon or its people just think 'oh maybe that's normal for them'....

United Kingdom on Feb 20, 2018

sb-lynn: Brief summary, no spoilers.

This story is told primarily from the point of view of an African couple from Cameroon who have come to New York just prior to the stock market crash in 2007. The couple is Jende and Neni Jonga. They were unable to marry in Cameroon because Neni's father didn't find Jende of high enough status to marry his daughter. Nene previously had a daughter with Jende who had died shortly after her birth but now also has a young son named Liomi who leaves with her for New York.

Neni had arrived earlier to the US with Liomi and when Jende joins them in their home in Harlem, they are able to marry and he is able to find work as a chauffeur for a wealthy executive named Clark Edwards at Lehman Brothers. They both seem to be living the Great American Dream.

Nene has her heart set on becoming a pharmacist and she does exceptionally well at school. She also works for Clark's wife Cindy - a spoiled yet unhappy woman with a part-time home in the Hamptons. Neni loves the US and all its potential - she never wants to leave despite any hardships.

Over the course of the book, we go through the troubles and tribulations of Jende as he not only faces...

United States on Jun 11, 2017

Oparazzo: Imbolo Mbues Debutroman ist ein groß angelegtes Migrationsmelodram. Wir schreiben das Jahr 2007; der Kameruner Jende Jonga versucht, sich und seiner Familie den amerikanischen Traum zu erfüllen. Als Tourist eingereist, hatte er mit Hilfe eines schlitzohrigen Anwalts und einer haarsträubenden Begründung Asyl beantragt; seine Frau Neni ist mit Sohn und Studentenvisum nachgekommen. Nach prekären Stationen als Tellerwäscher und Taxifahrer bewirbt er sich zu Beginn des Romans um einen Job als Fahrer bei Edward Clark, einem Bänker der Lehman Brothers; dass er den Job trotz seiner unsicheren Aufenthaltssituation bekommt, wird nicht die einzige gewagte Wendung des Romans bleiben.

Vor dem Hintergrund des Zusammenbruchs der LB und der sich anschließenden Wirtschaftskrise schildert Mbue ein vielleicht nicht ganz typisches, aber deshalb nicht minder ergreifendes Migrantenschicksal. Jende und sein Boss kommen sich, soweit das die Hierarchie zulässt, vorsichtig näher, ebenso Neni und des Bosses Gattin; dass dann die Jongas stärker in die familiären Angelegenheiten ihrer Arbeitgeber hineingezogen werden als ihnen lieb ist, ist nicht ihre Schuld. Dann nimmt das Schicksal seinen...

Germany on Dec 23, 2016