I was tempted to read Mohsin Hamid's The Last White Man when I saw how much my local library was promoting it- they had posters for it all over the place and I even noticed one at a nearby bus stop. I understand the relevance of the story and why it would be an important book to read but I don't think it was all that well-written, the characters could have been developed further and more story lines could have been explored.
At the start of the book, we are introduced to Anders, who is a white man. He wakes to find that he has changed colour overnight. He is now unrecognisable except for being roughly the same height and weight and I assume his voice remains the same. As soon as Anders becomes a black man, he loses a lot of his confidence. He takes some time off from work, telling them that he is unwell. Anders becomes somewhat reclusive, only going to his father and a close friend Oona for support.
Anders is not the only one changed colour overnight. As time moves on, we see that there are news reports of other people in the town changing colour with no apparent cause. This was very reminiscent of the pandemic time. Given that the book was written in 2022, I would not be surprised if that was the inspiration behind the literature.
As more and more people start to change their colour, the energy in the town changes. People no longer knew who they knew and we see Anders trying to guess of all the black people he saw, which of those were always black and who had turned black. There was a lot of hostility, riots were taking place and Anders kept a rifle on his person at all times to ensure his safety.
As Anders would go to his father and Oona for support, we see his relationship with both has improved. There was a strain with this father but during this time, he was there to support Anders and later we see Anders go on to support him back as he grows older and more ill and eventually dying. Anders' relationship with Oona goes from friends-with-benefits to something more serious and the two eventually start a family together.
The book hits on a very some very serious issues such as race and identities but I don't think it's been well executed. I feel that the writer could have spent more time developing the characters, their past and their relationships. It feels like he has only just scratched the surface and there is the potential for so much more with this book. He could have also spoken more about race issues and brought about different scenarios and dynamics that could have potentially occurred. By making Anders' such a recluse, so many things seemed to get lost. But that's just my take. The author has received awards in the past for is writing.
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