I began this particular novel over a year ago but never finished. My loan on the audiobook ended and I had a long list of other novels I wanted to get through at the time so I never finished. When it popped back up on my list of suggested reads in my library app this past month, I decided to start over from the beginning.
This is something I highly recommend for anyone picking a novel back up. You may notice details you didn’t notice before. Authors also lay the story out in the way they do for a reason. There’s a natural flow to most stories and they make a lot more immediate sense if you start from the beginning and continue to the end.
“Behold the Dreamers”, I think most of us born in the United States never really stop to take a moment to realize that there are still people who are coming here for the same reasons our own ancestors did, for the simple hope of a better life. They were told America has a new life for you, go there, you can be and do anything you want. Most of us were raised in the concept that we can be and do anything we want if we were raised in the United States.
But for people coming now it is so much harder. This novel was beautiful and heart wrenching and led me to a very painful truth. Jende spent so much time, effort and money in the pursuit of being able to stay here legally. Yet in the end he goes back home, because he realizes that while he may not have the opportunities in Cameroon that he has in America, he will have a good life. He will no longer be sharing a one bedroom tiny apartment with 3 other people, his family will not be living in poverty having to fight for their right to even live there.
Jende chose happiness over ambition. To me that speaks volumes, as we all strive to survive this pandemic and find a new normal, maybe the new normal needs to focus more on happiness. When did life become all about how much money we can make, breaking our backs, downing pain medication and booking therapy appointments all in an effort to make more money, have a better office, one with a view of the world we never leave it to see.
Jende chose to take his family home, where his children could go to good schools with the money he had accumulated in America because costs back home were less, and his family could live in a beautiful house and be surrounded by family for a tenth of what they were paying for their tiny apartment so far away, he could become a businessman and make his career back home.
I’m not saying people should not try and come to America, I believe everyone should try and follow their dreams and strive for a better life. I do think that a better life does not automatically mean “making it” by anyone’s standards. Living in a specific place because that is what your peers believe is success.
A better life is a life that makes you happy, filled with moments that set your soul on fire and people that make the room light up around you. A better life means you followed your passion and found your place in the world. For Jende that was not in New York, unfortunately for his wife I think her place in the world may have been New York.
Wherever your place in the world, whatever career and life path you choose. Make sure it makes you happy, and if you get a few years in and realize you aren't happy, there's no rule that says you can't change your mind and find a different path to follow.
"Behold the Dreamers" by Imbolo Mbue
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Behold_the_Dreamers/0JK5DAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
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