The Last White Man
Ratings12
Average rating3.3
15
Ratings12
Average rating3.3
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.
Reviews with the most likes.
2.5 Exasperating choices of halting, record skipping sentence-building as a fitting lattice for emotional anemia and stunted speculation
Anders wakes up one morning to find that his skin has turned dark and he does not recognize himself. As he gets out of the house, he is startled to find that people seem to look at him differently than they did when he was a white man. His girlfriend, her mother, his father—each of these people has his own reaction to the changes in Anders. And then more people begin to change...
I like, but didn't love this book. Much of it felt like stories I've read many times before, especially sci-fi/fantasy. And the sentences that went on and on, most for at least a paragraph, and many for full pages. There was very little dialogue. I didn't really care about Anders or his girlfriend or his father or her mother.
I know the idea is timely, and I can see this would be an interesting book to discuss, and I've heard the author speak intelligently about this book.
But I am disappointed to say that it just didn't work well for me.
