Behold the Dreamers, Imbolo Mbue
Behold the Dreamers follows the story of two Cameroonian immigrants trying to make it in New York City. Jende arrives first, followed by his wife Neni and their son, and applies for asylum while working as a chauffeur for a high-powered executive. However, their dreams come crashing down with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and they are forced to make some hard decisions. I am all for the exposure of the American dream for what it is—a fake ideal that only worked for white men—and also for the advocacy for the immigrant narrative, because we all know immigrants are what make and hold up American society, and this book does indeed highlight these two aspects. But it also holds inside it an inherent sexism, portrayed quite blatantly when Jende unilaterally decides that they will go back to Cameroon, and Neni doesn’t want to. In fact she vehemently opposes the idea, wanting to make her dreams of becoming a pharmacist a reality. But in the last pages of the book (spoiler, sorry not sorry) she just stops talking about her dreams and goes back to Cameroon without a fight, because that’s what her husband wants. What? The opportunity to champion women immigrants and their dreams specifically was lost here, and makes for a truly disappointing end to what otherwise would have been a great novel.
The Little Friend, Donna Tartt
The Little Friend is the last novel by Tartt that I hadn’t read, and I entered into warily, knowing her portrayal of Black and minority characters in the past hadn’t been good (The Goldfinch and representation of Russian and Black people through unnecessary stereotypes, specifically). I’m sorry to say that this book followed much the same suit…it’s set in Mississippi in the 1970s, and between the gratuitous use of the N-word and the only Black characters being maids or household employment, I was uncomfortable. I think it’s safe to say that the use of the N-word is simply unwarranted, in all cases, and especially when it’s a white woman doing the writing. Add to that, that the storyline was extremely interesting in the beginning and then tapered off until the book just… ended. Without closure or a satisfying ending in any way. Tartt seems to be oblivious at best, and deeply problematic at worst—if she weren’t either of these things, her writing would show changes for the better over time, but The Little Friend was published in 2002 and The Goldfinch in 2013, and her harmful use of language and tropes has more or less stayed the same.