THE LAST WHITE MAN

I recently finished Mohsin Hamid's, "The Last White Man." The novel takes places in an undisclosed location, where the main character, a white man, wakes up one day brown. At first, he cannot believe it, but soon he comes to accept that he is a member of this second class group of citizens.

Soon, much of the country undergoes the same conversion. Hysteria about being overtaken and having their society transformed against their will becomes a common sentiment. In the end, the entire country comes to terms with the fact that it has been irrevocably changed. While some characters have greater empathy for the natrual born browned skin among them, many people are horrified by what has become of them.

I could not help but think about the west and its response to immigration and how our societies have become more multi-cultural or mixed. My children and my marriage are emblematic of this change. 

I hope that we can come to accept each other for who we are without regard to color one day. I won't hold my breath.