{
    "id": 303211,
    "slug": "behold-the-dreamers-2",
    "nstc": null,
    "title": "Behold the dreamers",
    "subtitle": "Mbue Imbolo",
    "collection_title": null,
    "collection_part_number": null,
    "annotation": null,
    "description": "<b>A compulsively readable debut novel about marriage, immigration, class, race, and the trapdoors in the American Dream&mdash;the unforgettable story of a young Cameroonian couple making a new life in New York just as the Great Recession upends the economy</b><br><br><b><b><i>New York Times</i>&#160;Bestseller</b>&#160;&bull;&#160;<b>Winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award&#160;</b>&bull; Longlisted for the PEN/Open Book Award &bull; An ALA Notable Book</b><br><br><b><b>NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY&#160;</b><br> <b>NPR&#160;&bull; <i>The New York Times Book Review &bull;&#160;San Francisco Chronicle &bull; The Guardian &bull; St. Louis Post-Dispatch </i>&bull; Chicago Public Library &bull; <i>BookPage &bull; Refinery29 &bull; Kirkus Reviews&#160;</i></b><br></b><br>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&mdash;and Jende is eager to please. Clark&rsquo;s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses&rsquo; summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future.<br><br> However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers&rsquo; fa&ccedil;ades.<br><br> When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende&rsquo;s job&mdash;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.<br><br><b>Praise for <i>Behold the Dreamers</i></b><br><b><br></b>&ldquo;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.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>The Washington Post</i></b><br><br> &ldquo;A capacious, big-hearted novel.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>The New York Times Book Review</i></b><br><br><i>&ldquo;Behold the Dreamers&rsquo;</i>&#160;heart . . . belongs to the struggles and small triumphs of the Jongas, which Mbue traces in clean, quick-moving paragraphs.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Entertainment Weekly</i></b><br><br> &ldquo;Mbue&rsquo;s writing is warm and captivating.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>People</i> (book of the week)</b><br><br> &ldquo;[Mbue&rsquo;s] book isn&rsquo;t the first work of fiction to grapple with the global financial crisis of 2007&ndash;2008, but it&rsquo;s surely one of the best. . . . It&rsquo;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.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;NPR</b><br><br> &ldquo;This story is one that needs to be told.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>Bust&#160;</i></b><br><br> &ldquo;<i>Behold the</i> <i>Dreamers</i> 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.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>O: The Oprah Magazine<br></i></b><br>&ldquo;[A] beautiful, empathetic novel.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>The Boston Globe</i></b><br><br> &ldquo;A witty, compassionate, swiftly paced novel that takes on race, immigration, family and the dangers of capitalist excess.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;<i>St. Louis Post-Dispatch</i></b><br><br> &ldquo;Mbue [is] a deft, often lyrical observer. . . . [Her] meticulous storytelling announces a writer in command of her gifts.&rdquo;<b>&mdash;Minneapolis <i>Star Tribune</i></b>",
    "imprint": null,
    "language_code": "eng",
    "original_language_code": null,
    "page_count": 416,
    "duration_seconds": null,
    "publication_date_first": "2017-06-27",
    "publication_date_latest": "2017-08-08",
    "cover_url": null,
    "editions": [
        {
            "isbn": "9780525510116",
            "product_form": "BC"
        },
        {
            "isbn": "9780812987973",
            "product_form": "BC"
        }
    ],
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    "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:14:03+00:00",
    "updated_at": "2025-11-04T00:23:51+00:00",
    "publisher": {
        "id": 4108,
        "slug": "random-house-us",
        "name": "Random House US",
        "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:07:56+00:00",
        "updated_at": "2025-09-19T15:10:09+00:00"
    },
    "contributors": [],
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    "subjects": [
        {
            "scheme_identifier": "32",
            "scheme_version": null,
            "main_subject": false,
            "subject_code": "300",
            "created_at": "2025-09-19T13:14:03+00:00",
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