A review by jiyoung
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

3.0

This is very much an Oprah’s Book Club type of novel, with predictable, sentimental drama. The characters were very familiar archetypes (some straight up stereotypes) acting out various facets of the “American Dream”. While I appreciate the flawed dignity Mbue gave her Cameroonian immigrant family (e.g., I loved that Neni had the gumption to blackmail Cindy), Jende’s unending obsequiousness toward the Edwards family was aggravating. The storytelling is so earnest it dips into a certain naiveté.