Behold the Dreamers
Imbolo Mbue's debut novel, published in 2016, follows Jende Jonga, a recent immigrant from Cameroon who lands a job as chauffeur for a senior Lehman Brothers executive. His wife Neni works for the executive's family too, and for a while both households seem to be thriving. When the 2008 financial crash brings down the bank, both families are thrown into crisis, and the strain exposes the gaps between wealth and struggle, citizenship and precarity. Mbue moves between the two marriages to show how money, status, and immigration law shape every choice the Jongas make. The book won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was selected for Oprah Winfrey's book club. It is a clear-eyed look at the costs of chasing the American dream and the limits placed on those new to the country.
What you might want to know about Behold the Dreamers
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A Cameroonian immigrant family in New York chases the American dream as the 2008 financial crisis hits the Wall Street family that employs them.
It follows a Cameroonian immigrant family in New York whose fortunes are tied to a Wall Street family, until the 2008 financial crisis upends both households.
Yes. The novel won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was chosen for Oprah Winfrey's book club.
Behold the Dreamers was written by Imbolo Mbue, published in 2016 by Random House, Incorporated.
Behold the Dreamers is 416 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Behold the Dreamers takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Behold the Dreamers is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
