Behold the Dreamers: A Novel
Written by Imbolo Mbue
Narrated by Prentice Onayemi
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
New York Times Bestseller • Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award • Longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award • An ALA Notable Book
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
NPR • The New York Times Book Review • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • Chicago Public Library • BookPage • Refinery29 • Kirkus Reviews
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty-and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses' summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.
However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers' façades.
When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende's job-even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.
Praise for Behold the Dreamers
"A debut novel by a young woman from Cameroon that illuminates the immigrant experience in America with the tenderhearted wisdom so lacking in our political discourse . . . Mbue is a bright and captivating storyteller."-The Washington Post
"A capacious, big-hearted novel."-The New York Times Book Review
"Behold the Dreamers' heart . . . belongs to the struggles and small triumphs of the Jongas, which Mbue traces in clean, quick-moving paragraphs."-Entertainment Weekly
"Mbue's writing is warm and captivating."-People (book of the week)
"[Mbue's] book isn't the first work of fiction to grapple with the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, but it's surely one of the best. . . . It's a novel that depicts a country both blessed and doomed, on top of the world, but always at risk of losing its balance. It is, in other words, quintessentially American."-NPR
"This story is one that needs to be told."-Bust
"Behold the Dreamers challenges us all to consider what it takes to make us genuinely content, and how long is too long to live with our dreams deferred."-O: The Oprah Magazine
"[A] beautiful, empathetic novel."-The Boston Globe
"A witty, compassionate, swiftly paced novel that takes on race, immigration, family and the dangers of capitalist excess."-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Mbue [is] a deft, often lyrical observer. . . . [Her] meticulous storytelling announces a writer in command of her gifts."-Minneapolis Star Tribune
Editor's Note
A vital exploration…
Oprah selected Mbue’s debut about the elusiveness of the American Dream for the reboot of her prestigious book club. A vital exploration of what it means to be an American as tensions over race and immigration mount once again.
Related to Behold the Dreamers
Related audiobooks
Time Come: Selected Prose Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrowing Up On a Dead End Street Was a Great Beginning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStill Hopeful: Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Red Book: Intimate Histories of Periods, Growing & Changing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hearts and Bones: Love Songs for Late Youth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5America: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Long History Of Presidents As Authors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Perfect Nine: The Epic of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragged Up Proppa: Growing up in Britain’s Forgotten North Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPraying for Mrs. Mombasa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAuthor in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unwritten History Lincoln A Dark & Dangerous Vision: Learning From Renegade Scholar Lerone Bennett Jr. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Girl in the Triangle Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Re-Sisters: The Lives and Recordings of Delia Derbyshire, Margery Kempe and Cosey Fanni Tutti Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What They Didn't Burn: Uncovering My Father's Holocaust Secrets Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5’Membering Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEating the Dinosaur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise Abraham Cahan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Light Streamed Beneath It: A Memoir of Grief and Celebration Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Literary Fiction For You
Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellowface: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Measure: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Man Called Ove: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stardust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Their Eyes Were Watching God Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Leave the World Behind: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hang the Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Name of the Wind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kindred Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Picture of Dorian Gray: Classic Tales Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House in the Cerulean Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Alchemist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5CATCH-22 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of Achilles: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing to See Here Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Behold the Dreamers
101 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very believable, very touching. Beautifully rich voice by the narrator.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The way Nini fought to stay in America but wouldn't betray her vows as mother or wife.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reminded me of back home, really enjoyed this book!!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Best audible book I’ve ever listened to. The narrator has such a great voice and made the story come to life. It was a great story on its own, but an even better audiobook!
3 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved everything about this book! Must read! Highly recommend! Very relatable to immigrant families.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Heart warming book with un unexpected twists at the end. I recommend it!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I think the characters were well developed and the story line was very interesting and thought provoking. I enjoyed the book from start to finish and I learned a few things about Cameroonian culture that I didn't know before.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lovely story! It shows you the struggles immigrants go through and what they value the most, family, just like everyone else.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Interesting observations of American life. It lacked a gripping plot. It felt more like an observation of regular life than like a story with a climax.