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Title details for The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid - Available

The Last White Man

A Novel

by Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
A NEW YORKER “ESSENTIAL READ”
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORKER, VOGUE, AND NPR
“Perhaps Hamid’s most remarkable work yet … an extraordinary vision of human possibility.” –Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies

“Searing, exhilarating … reimagines Kafka’s iconic The Metamorphosis for our racially charged era.” Hamilton Cain, Oprah Daily
From the New York Times-bestselling author of Exit West, a story of love, loss, and rediscovery in a time of unsettling change.
One morning, a man wakes up to find himself transformed. Overnight, Anders’s skin has turned dark, and the reflection in the mirror seems a stranger to him. At first he shares his secret only with Oona, an old friend turned new lover. Soon, reports of similar events begin to surface. Across the land, people are awakening in new incarnations, uncertain how their neighbors, friends, and family will greet them.Some see the transformations as the long-dreaded overturning of the established order that must be resisted to a bitter end. In many, like Anders’s father and Oona’s mother, a sense of profound loss and unease wars with profound love. As the bond between Anders and Oona deepens, change takes on a different shading: a chance at a kind of rebirth—an opportunity to see ourselves, face to face, anew.
 
In Mohsin Hamid’s “lyrical and urgent” prose (O Magazine), The Last White Man powerfully uplifts our capacity for empathy and the transcendence over bigotry, fear, and anger it can achieve.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 2, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780593584705
      • File size: 89188 KB
      • Duration: 03:05:48

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 6, 2022
      On the first page of Hamid’s underwhelming latest (after Exit West), a white man named Anders wakes up to find he has mysteriously “turned a deep and undeniable brown.” From this Kafkaesque beginning, Hamid spins a timely if unsatisfying racial allegory in which, one after another, the white inhabitants of an unnamed country become dark-skinned. Hamid mutes the power by harnessing his plot to the dishwater-dull Anders, who works at a gym, and his equally bland girlfriend, Oona, a yoga instructor. The lack of social context is also puzzling, with the story set in an unspecified time and place largely stripped of historical and cultural detail. Hamid employs a cool, spare prose style with little dialogue, leaving the reader to feel like the action of the novel is taking place behind a wall of soundproof glass. The glass briefly shatters when white militants come for Anders, though the author quickly turns back the threat. Later, when Oona’s mother, who indulges in right-wing conspiracy theories, is sickened by the sight of her white daughter in bed with dark-skinned Anders, Hamid taps the rich potential of his premise. For the most part, though, this remains stubbornly inert. Agent: Jay Mandel, WME.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author/narrator Mohsin Hamid's voice is pleasing and clear. His restrained narration works well for this audiobook. The plot device is straightforward: A white man named Anders wakes one morning with brown skin. Hamid's uninflected voice lets this Kafkaesque story unfold without melodrama. When Anders's transformation is repeated by more and more people--even his pale lover, Ooma--they become unrecognized objects of prejudice. The community reacts with outrage: Violence comes from a racist group called "pale-skinned militants." This allegorical fiction is invigorated by Anders's and Ooma's close relationship with each other and their families. The novel is both a reflection and a warning. A.D.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      November 1, 2022

      At the beginning of Mohsin Hamid's (Exit West) dreamlike new novel, a white man named Anders wakes to discover that his skin "has turned a deep, undeniable brown." At first, Anders reveals the change only to his on-again, off-again lover Oona, but they soon discover that Anders is not the only white person to have changed. Anders and Oona grapple with their parents' and their own reactions to the change, as the town descends into chaos around them, with some of the remaining white men forming militias and peddling conspiracy theories online. The author reads the novel, which is light on dialogue and full of looping, peripatetic sentences that reflect the characters' inner thoughts and memories but leave the setting and specifics of the plot hazy. Hamid narrates with a measured tone that matches the sense of distance created by the prose. VERDICT Listeners looking for distinctive voices and high emotion may be disappointed, but fans of Hamid's allegorical storytelling will enjoy this thought-provoking novel, paired with Hamid's restrained performance.--Emily Calkins

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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