I bought a copy of Behold the Dreamers several months back, and I can picture exactly where it's sitting on the small bookshelf at the end of my desk ... at my office, which I walked out of at around 3pm on March 9 and have not returned to since. It's hard to remember all the random things I have waiting for me in the office. A stack of books, an assortment of clothes and shoes, some tupperware, 8 half-pound micro-plates, I think some Oreos? I'm not actually sure if I would have brought anything else home with me had I known I'd be out for so long, but I have wished I had that tupperware (especially as I've been cooking so much). So when, a couple weeks ago, my book club selected Behold the Dreamers as our next book, I laughed at myself. Buying a copy of a book I already owned seemed a little ridiculous — though believe me, I considered it. I also considered trying to get my copy from the office somehow, but nothing made sense. Fortunately, I was able to check out a copy of the e-book from the Brooklyn Public Library. I much prefer to read paper books, but this seemed the best solution all things considered. The book follows a Cameroonian couple who emigrate to New York to try and make a better life for themselves and their children. The husband, Jende, gets a job as the chauffeur for an executive at Lehman Brothers, not long before everything came crashing down in 2008. His wife, Neni, is a student at BMCC who hopes to get a Pharmacy degree. They live meagerly in Harlem, while working for this incredibly wealthy family (mainly it's Jende who works for them, but Neni scores a job as a housekeeper at their home in the Hamptons while their regular housekeeper is on vacation). All the while, they are waiting on a decision on the Jende's status after his asylum application. The juxtaposition of the two families makes for some interesting parallels and contrasts, if they're sometimes a bit heavy-handed. The collapse of Lehman and of the economy affects both families deeply, and the book does a good job of showing the ripple effects. And yet it was a little strange to read right now, in this moment, this book about really quite recent history. The events of 2008 seem so far away, and not so significant today.
