In Behold the Dreamers, the lives of two families become intertwined when Clark Edwards, a Lehman Brothers executive, hires Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant, to be his driver. While Edwards needs someone reliable to drive him and his family around, this isn’t a life-changing moment from his perspective. For Jende Jonga, getting work as a driver is a wonderful first step towards achieving his American dream. The novel opens in 2007, so if the mention of Lehman Brothers starts the wheels of your mind turning towards tragedy, then you have the gist of this story. This isn’t just a story of a black family and the white family that hires them; as is often the case, race, gender, and class intersect in ways that normally don’t benefit those with lower social status. The story of a poorer family whose fortunes depend on the wealth of another family is a tale as old as time. In this case, the web of the U.S. immigration system and the personal entanglements of these individuals are what sets this story apart.
Having said that. I will admit that it took me a while to really get in to this book. Even though I had to push, I didn’t put the book down, however. I asked myself if it was because I am now so modern that I have no attention span for a story that takes time to develop. Perhaps. But perhaps while there is nothing wrong with a slow build, it isn’t easy to stick with a story that gets gripping only in the second half. And I know it was actually the second half because I read this as an e-book from Netgalley and after the 50% mark, I really got into it. And this is a difficult thing to admit because there has been nothing but high praise for this much anticipated novel. I don’t think I’ve lost my ability to get lost in a novel; I do think that too much hype ahead of time can lead to disappointment.
I will add that throughout this book, the characters seem to be mouthpieces for certain opinions on the American way of life and the plight of immigrants. There is plenty of smooth dialogue and plot development so it is noticeable when the characters start to speechify.
Jende Jonga gets this amazing job opportunity the way many of us do—because of personal connections. He and his long-suffering wife, Neni, are excited. Neni is determined to get through pharmacy school and have a successful American life with a beautiful home and a happy family. After a tumultuous courtship in Cameroon, the couple now lives with their son in a vermin-infested apartment in Harlem. As bosses go, Clark Edwards is not bad but he and hie family are oblivious to others and focused on their own needs. At some point, his troubled wife Cindy needs more domestic help and Neni agrees to assist for extra money. Despite her husband’s warnings to do what she is asked, no more and no less, Neni manages to get a little too involved with Mrs. Edwards. Nene’s over involvement because both their downfall and their salvation.
Since Clark never asks to see Jende’s papers, he is unaware that Jende is gaming the system while waiting for his application for asylum to be approved. The cousin who helped him get to the U.S. and helped him get the job as a driver is less helpful in his recommendation of an immigration lawyer. Jende’s lawyer concocts a rather flimsy story but assures Jende that all will turn out well.
While Jende and his family anxiously await the approval of his application for asylum, the Edwards’ family issues are also becoming a source of anxiety. Cindy thinks Clark works too much and the two are at odds with their eldest son. Cindy carries herself with the air of a woman born to wealth but she was not and her insecurities eat away at her. Plus, Lehman Brothers is on the brink of the disaster we now call the Great Recession and that will send both families into freewill. Jennie and Neni spent years fighting to be together but they will now find themselves at odds over their immigration and money troubles. To put it mildly, Jende loses faith in the American dream and becomes unrecognizable at times.
This is no fairy tale and the endings Mbue imagines for her characters seem quite real. Although, I wonder about the fate imagined for the Jonga family. If you read this book, let me know what you think.
I read this as an uncorrected proof from NetGalley. This book will be published in August 2016.
