America –
the land of dreams and unlimited possibilities- But only if you have the right
papers. Jende Jonga, an immigrant from Cameroon now living in Harlem, does not
have them yet, but is cousin and his lawyer are optimistic, everything will turn
out fine for him and his wife Neni who also came to New York to get an
education to become a pharmacist. When he gets the chance to work as a chauffeur
for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers, Jende seems to have
reached all he ever dreamt of: his income is good, the can put aside a lot of
money for a better future and his boos appreciates his discretion and good
work. The Jonga family and the Edwards seem to get closer, Neni can help out
Cindy in the Hamptons and thus earn some extra money, the kids also like Jende
a lot. When the crisis hits Wall Street, Jende and Neni cannot immediately see
that this will also affect their life, but as the Edwards struggle more and
more, also the couple from Cameroon has to re-adjust their dreams and future
plans.
One of the
most talk about novels this summer can fulfil all the promises. A wonderful
piece of art which can hardly be summarized in a couple of words. Imbolo Mbue
does not only tell the story of the modern American Dream. Of course, Jende and
Neni do have some wrong ideas of what awaits them in the USA – but: everything
is better than their paternalistic home country where Jende as a member of the
wrong family can never make a career and where Neni’s options in life as a
woman are clearly limited. They are the role model of the immigrant: they work
hard, they are decent and obedient, they never ask for anything they are not entitled
to and their high moral standards keep them from making the wrong choices. However,
this is just the surface of the story.
What struck
me most were two aspects the author narrates casually: the way the relationship
of Jende and Neni changes when their situation gets more complicated and stressful.
First, we get to know Jende as a man who keeps up the Carmeroon morale and
ideals but he treats Neni as his equal, his love for her grants her a very
different position from what it would have been like in Africa. When his
situation deteriorates and he understands that he will never be able to achieve
his aims, he falls back into macho patterns and treats his wife like an
inferior who is not allowed to make decisions and whom he even beats at a
moment of highest despair. You can go to another country, but there are things
you can never get rid of. The second aspect also affected Neni: when she talks
to her dean about support for a scholarship and he tells her that she is never
going to be a pharmacist, I first hated him because he destroys her dreams.
However, he is not completely wrong and it does make sense to make people see
reality: the American Dream will not be fulfilled for everyone.
Apart from
the richness of the content – there would have been so much more to mention:
the collapse of the Edwards family, community structures in Harlem, the
treatment of black people in America etc. – Imbolo Mbue has a wonderful voice
which makes you really enjoy the novel. She finds the right words to narrate
her story which deserves all the praise it has received.
