Mini-Review: The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
Riverhead Books
Publication: August 2nd, 2022

Hardcover. 192 pages.

About The Last White Man:

"One morning, Anders wakes to find that his skin has turned dark, his reflection a stranger to him. At first he tells only Oona, an old friend, newly a lover. Soon, reports of similar occurrences surface across the land. Some see in the transformations the long-dreaded overturning of an established order, to be resisted to a bitter end. In many, like Anders's father and Oona's mother, a sense of profound loss wars with profound love. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different shading: a chance to see one another, face to face, anew. 

Hamid's The Last White Man invites us to envision a future - our future - that dares to reimagine who we think we are, and how we might yet be together."

I've read and enjoying both The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid and I was so excited to receive an ARC of his latest upcoming release about a world in which people with light skin are suddenly–and randomly–waking up to find that their skin has turned dark. I was really excited to see what this concept would do in the hands of a talented writer like Mohsin Hamid, and I'm a bit mixed on the result. 

What I liked: This was such a fascinating concept to explore and I appreciated the Hamid took a more unique and unexpected approach to it. It had a very literary style that very much focused on the characters more prominently than the big event going on, and this did let us get to know the main characters Anders quite well. Hamid really allowed both Anders and Oona to dive deeply into exploring their own identities, both in relation to their sudden onset of dark skin and with the world around them. I really liked what Hamid was trying to do, and his literary style always grabs me. His excessive use of commas and long sentences should be annoying, but for some reason works really well for me. 

What I didn't like: A lot of the things I liked are also things I didn't care for, which is a little conflicting. Because of Hamid's more unique and character-focused approach, I don't feel like I really got to explore what this new world looked like with people having their skin randomly transformed from light to dark. We get a lot of general and vague ideas of the chaos that erupts as a result of this, but nothing very concrete and it doesn't seem to take center stage at any point. It was very much about Anders and Oona, their relationship with one another, their relationship with their parents, and their own personal understanding of themselves and what's going on around them. While this worked well, it left me wishing I had gotten more of the actually skin changing plot and how that affected society in a manner that explored it a bit more deeply. 

Overall, I've given The Last White Man three stars. This was a really fascinating concept to explore and I appreciated Hamid's deep character study of our two main characters and their identity, but I do wish we had gotten to explore the main concept and how it affected the rest of the world a bit more. 

*I received a copy of The Last White Man courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

Buy the book: Amazon | Bookshop.org

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Babel by R.F. Kuang, The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid, & Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

  

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

 

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang
Publication: August 23rd, 2022
Harper Voyager
Hardcover. 560 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 

1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel. 

Babel is the world's center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel's research in foreign languages serves the Empire's quest to colonize everything it encounters. 

Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?"

I think it's safe to say that this is probably one of the most highly anticipated fantasy releases of the year, and I am just as excited for it as everyone else! I was lucky enough to receive an ARC a while back and have been saving it til closer to its release. I have such high hopes based on this premise and cannot wait to see how it all turns out. 

and...

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
Publication: August 2nd, 2022
Riverhead Books
Hardcover. 192 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:

"One morning, Anders wakes to find that his skin has turned dark, his reflection a stranger to him. At first he tells only Oona, an old friend, newly a lover. Soon, reports of similar occurrences surface across the land. Some see in the transformations the long-dreaded overturning of an established order, to be resisted to a bitter end. In many, like Anders's father and Oona's mother, a sense of profound loss wars with profound love. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different shading: a chance to see one another, face to face, anew. 

Hamid's The Last White Man invites us to envision a future - our future - that dares to reimagine who we think we are, and how we might yet be together."

I've really enjoyed some of Mohsin Hamid's  other work and I'm excited to see another new novel from him. This premise sounds like it will be create some really interesting discussion and explorations, so I can't wait to dive in to an ARC that I've been holding onto.

and...

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana
Publication: August 16th, 2022
Scribner
Hardcover. 224 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:

"Set in a Harlem high rise, a stunning debut about a tight-knit cast of characters grappling with their own personal challenges while the forces of gentrification threaten to upend life as they know it. 

Like Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place and Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, Sidik Fofana’s electrifying collection of eight interconnected stories showcases the strengths, struggles, and hopes of one residential community in a powerful storytelling experience. 

Each short story follows a tenant in the Banneker Homes, a low-income high rise in Harlem where gentrification weighs on everyone’s mind. There is Swan in apartment 6B, whose excitement about his friend’s release from prison jeopardizes the life he’s been trying to lead. Mimi, in apartment 14D, who hustles to raise the child she had with Swan, waitressing at Roscoe’s and doing hair on the side. And Quanneisha B. Miles, a former gymnast with a good education who wishes she could leave Banneker for good, but can’t seem to escape the building’s gravitational pull. We root for these characters and more as they weave in and out of each other’s lives, endeavoring to escape from their pasts and blaze new paths forward for themselves and the people they love. 

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs brilliantly captures the joy and pain of the human experience and heralds the arrival of a uniquely talented writer."

I've been getting into more short story collections lately (especially on audio!) and I think this one sounds like it'd be a really interesting read. I love the idea of meeting all of these characters who live in this same building and getting a glimpse of their lives. 

What do you think about these upcoming releases? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

Waiting on Wednesday: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!

This week's upcoming book spotlight is:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid

Publication Date: March 7th, 2017
Riverhead Books
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

From Goodreads:

In a country teetering on the brink of civil war, two young people meet—sensual, fiercely independent Nadia and gentle, restrained Saeed. They embark on a furtive love affair and are soon cloistered in a premature intimacy by the unrest roiling their city. When it explodes, turning familiar streets into a patchwork of checkpoints and bomb blasts, they begin to hear whispers about doors—doors that can whisk people far away, if perilously and for a price. As the violence escalates, Nadia and Saeed decide that they no longer have a choice. Leaving their homeland and their old lives behind, they find a door and step through. 

Exit West follows these characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, it tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time. 

I have read and enjoyed two of Hamid's other books, The Reluctant Fundamentalist and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, so I was pleased to see that some new work from him would be coming out this year!

What do you think about this upcoming release? What are your anticipated upcoming releases?

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The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. Houghton Mifflin Court, 2007. 184 pages. Hardcover/Hardback.

I actually read this book quite a few years ago, but recently came across an old review I had written for it. After much re-writing, I decided to post this review here on my blog in order to share a book that I found wonderfully well-written and intriguing.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist was the first book I read by Mohsin Hamid, and I was not disappointed. This is a rather short, easy read that comes in at just under 200 pages. Hamid has an extremely unique way of telling a story that makes it impossible to put down. The Reluctant Fundamentalist has a very basic premise: the entire story is a conversation that takes place in a cafe in Lahore, Pakistan between a Pakistani man, Changez, and an American visitor. Changez relates his story as an immigrant in America, from his rise to the top to the tragedy of 9/11 and its effect on his position. Changez lays out his life, opinions, and relationships to the American.  The point of view is written as if to imagine that the reader is the American visitor and Changez is speaking directly to you. This is a style that can be easily poorly executed, but fortunately Hamid does it beautifully; it is simply captivating. In fact, Hamid's entire prose is undeniably beautiful. He writes with a strong, almost lyrical touch that makes this book so instantly compelling. I also enjoyed Hamid's portrayal of the two men, along with their subtle tension towards one another. Each character mentioned within this story is very carefully crafted and developed with very distinct personalities. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a book that will make you think. There is an abundance of symbolism on every page to discover and ponder. There are some things in this book that may ruffle a few feathers, but it is important to stop and consider the meaning and the reason for various statements and actions. The purpose of this book, I believe, is to explore the emerging class of "reluctant fundamentalists," those that would not necessarily consider themself a fundamentalist, but when faced with a desperate time begin to realize their own tendencies. How does one stay true to their roots while also staying true to what is 'right'? With that in mind, I think Hamid wrote a successfully thought-provoking novel.  I initially gave The Reluctant Fundamentalist five stars for it's immense symbolism, honesty, and passion, and for now I believe I will stick with that rating.   Get more reviews and book news in your inbox and subscribe to Forever Lost in Literature! You might also like:  The Girl With Seven Namesby Hyeonseo Lee Two Years EIght Months and Twenty Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie Consequence by Eric Fair