Starlight Book Review – Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers

Cover of Book – Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue – centered on a rusty orange background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 2000s

Set in the Year 2008/ Published in 2016

Trigger Warning –  alcoholism,/ drug abuse/suicide/potentially upsetting scenes regarding American immigration

4/5 I spied Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers a few years ago and placed the book on my To Be Read (TBR) shelf. It pleased me when I learned our book club would read it last year. Furthermore, it thrilled me that this book was set in 2008 and that I read it for the Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) since most of the action happens in the Aughts.

Click here for more information on this SRC.

“Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future… However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades… When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.”

I read this book with my ears, tuning in to listen to the dazzling reading of Prentice Onayemi. Onayemi pronounced names of characters and places, which pulled me into the story. I enjoyed hearing Neni sing in particular. I found the hopeful tone encouraging and the text rich. Some parts dragged for me, though; the pacing slow and almost ominous. As someone who remembers the 2008 crash, I knew something bad remained ahead for the characters. Otherwise, while not shelved on my Top 9 of 2022, I felt Behold the Dreamers deserves a nod as one of the better books I read. Also, I think I would try another Mbue book.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Starlight Book Review – Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle

Cover of Book – Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead – centered on a medium green background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1960s

Set in the Years 1959-1964/ Published in 2021

Trigger Warning – Death / Murder / Drugs / Sex / Language / Crime / Racism

3.8/5 I saw numerous rave reviews of Colson Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle. When my book club announced Whitehead’s 2021 novel as its read in August, it thrilled me. Whitehead’s works long held places on my To Be Read (TBR) Shelf. So now I endeavored to remedy that as well as read this for the Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC). Click here for more information on this SRC.

“Ray Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked…” To his customers and neighbors on 125th street, Carney is an upstanding salesman of reasonably priced furniture, making a decent life for himself and his family. He and his wife Elizabeth are expecting their second child, and if her parents on Striver’s Row don’t approve of him or their cramped apartment across from the subway tracks, it’s still home… Few people know he descends from a line of uptown hoods and crooks, and that his façade of normalcy has more than a few cracks in it. Cracks that are getting bigger all the time… Cash is tight, especially with all those installment-plan sofas, so if his cousin Freddie occasionally drops off the odd ring or necklace, Ray doesn’t ask where it comes from. He knows a discreet jeweler downtown who doesn’t ask questions, either… Then Freddie falls in with a crew who plan to rob the Hotel Theresa—the “Waldorf of Harlem”—and volunteers Ray’s services as the fence. The heist doesn’t go as planned; they rarely do. Now Ray has a new clientele, one made up of shady cops, vicious local gangsters, two-bit pornographers, and other assorted Harlem lowlifes… Thus begins the internal tussle between Ray the striver and Ray the crook. As Ray navigates this double life, he begins to see who actually pulls the strings in Harlem. Can Ray avoid getting killed, save his cousin, and grab his share of the big score, all while maintaining his reputation as the go-to source for all your quality home furniture needs?… Harlem Shuffle’s ingenious story plays out in a beautifully recreated New York City of the early 1960s. It’s a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a hilarious morality play, a social novel about race and power, and ultimately a love letter to Harlem… But mostly, it’s a joy to read, another dazzling novel from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning Colson Whitehead.”

A gifted storyteller, Whitehead sets his scene and characters in clear focus. I felt I could easily see Ray, Elizabeth, and Freddie, among others in Harlem Shuffle with great precision. This book transports the reader to the slick underbelly of New York City. I enjoyed the audio with Richard Barenberg narrating. Did I care much for these characters? Well — not really. Yet, I understood why Ray might just be slightly bent. Yes, I think Whitehead’s other works might remain on my TBR Shelf as well.

Please check out this review from Joyful Reads With Joy [IG] by clicking here.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.

Seeing the Story – Marcus Cole’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995)

Cover of the 2000 DVD release the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler in the center of a brown background | Cover Image Source: Wikipedia

Seeing the Story/ Review of Book to Screen Adaptation

Released by ABC Network in 1995

All screen adaptations will be referred to in the following format “Title (Date).”

3/5 I continued to read children’s literature with the “Back in the 1960s” Book for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC). As with One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), I watched From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995) when ABC ran in the 1990s. In fact, I remember thinking Jean Marie Barnwell looked much like a friend and classmate of mine. Yet, I held off on reading the source material until this year. I sought out The Hideaways (1973) but From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995) was what was available to me.

Click here for check out my Starlight Book Review (SBR) of E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

Click here to learn more about the Back in the Day SRC.

“Two runaway kids hide in a museum. Once they are locked inside overnight, they try to solve a mystery about a statue supposedly carved by Michelangelo, known as “The Angel”. Will they solve the mystery in time?” – IMDb.com

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995) achieved a close adherence to Konigsburg’s original work. Lauren Bacall charmed in the titular role and I enjoyed most of her parts. I found Mrs. Kincaid a bit thoughtless in this screen adaptation which I didn’t like at all. I also wished From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1995) kept the movie in the 1960s rather than the 1990s; this pre-World Trade Center tale lost some of its whimsy in this adaptation. All things considered, this film made for a light ninety minute or so diversion.

Quotes come from description on IMDb and are featured on color blocks. Click here to access this webpage.

Starlight Book Review – E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Cover of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg on a purple background | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1960s

Published 1967

4.15/5 I enjoyed reading a work of Children’s Literature so much for the previous decade in the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), I decided to continue in this fashion for the Turbulent Sixties. One of my colleagues recommended E.L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as my 1960s read for this SRC. While I watched a screen adaptation, I never read this book and decided to change that.

“When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie bad some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she bad discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too…The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her-well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.”

I enjoyed From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The whole situation seems rooted in a bygone era. In fact, the copy I read provided Konigsburg’s note upon the anniversary edition of the book. She stated that the Kincaid siblings could have pulled this off in 1967, a time not only before 9/11 but also before the World Trade Center itself. I appreciated the kids’ sense of wonder and felt Konigsburg understood the stark, black and white views of children. I questioned the point of view and sometimes the author talked down in a condescending way about Claudia and Jamie, coming off as didactic. My rating reflects that yet I appreciated reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler at this time for this SRC.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.