The Last White Man: A Novel

Mohsin Hamid

Aug 2022 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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.

Ratings and reviews

It had the potential to be Kafkaesque but it just starts stumbling and running with too many errant thoughts and commas. Lacks substance as a story as I see shadows of The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison but nowhere near as good. The writer is Pakistani so his point of view is from a distant observation through western media and not authentically first hand. It is skewed as to what a white man might feel and say, strung together like a popcorn garland,. inedible and stale. It didn't tell me a story, only emotions and reactions without character development or redemption. I would advise this writer to write a story based on experiences closer to his heart and not try to write about someone else's.

One of the most blatantly racist pamphlets I've ever suffered through, and I actually believe I lost a few points off my IQ after reading it. We REALLY need to stop rewarding this sort of bigotry with unadulterated praise and acclaim because neither the book nor the author deserve either.

Mediocre. It seemed to start out good but ran on endlessly. Had a difficult time holding my interest. Very oddly written.

About the author

Mohsin Hamid is the author of five novels, including the Booker Prize finalists and New York Times bestsellers Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist. His essays, some collected as Discontent and Its Civilizations, have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. He divides his time between Lahore, New York, and London.