Blog tour: The Last White Man

Welcome to the blog tour for The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid!

More about the book…

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.

More about the author…

Mohsin Hamid is the author of four novels -- Moth Smoke, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, and Exit West -- and a book of essays, Discontent and Its Civilizations.

His writing has been translated into forty languages, featured on bestseller lists, and adapted for the cinema.

Born in Lahore, he has spent about half his life there and much of the rest in London, New York, and California.

My impressions…

A small book that asks big questions. What would you do if – previously fair-skinned – you woke up one morning and found yourself suddenly dark-skinned? Would it change the way you behave / think of yourself / think of others / relate to friends, family and strangers? The answers are for us to come up with while we read about Anders and his experience, narrated in a beautiful prose that almost reads like a stream of consciousness.

I started reading this book expecting shocking cases of racism and - don't get me wrong - racism is a component of this novel... but I reached the last page thinking this was less a book about being black or white and more a book about relationships - between lovers but also between parents and children. Relationships that go beyond the colour of your skin. Relationships that are universal.

Three words to describe it. New. Thought-provoking. Powerful.

Do I like the cover? Yes, I just wish that its stunning blue would come out better in my photos!

Have I read any other books by the same author? Not yet. I have Exit West waiting on my Kindle though!

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