blog 8 - book summary

The book starts off with our main character Jende Jonga entering Lehnman Brothers to Interview for a job as a Chaffeur for the investor Clark Edwards. Jende is an immigrant from Cameroon and has been living in America since 2004 and his first two years living there he was an undocumented immigrant. Jende brings along his wife Neni with him. Neni goes to community college and hopes to be a pharmacist.  Jende's job as a Chaffeur for the Edwards family makes him a decent amount of money, but has a lot of baggage that comes with it. He has to keep quiet about everything from what goes on in the Edwards family to everything that is going on with the Lehnman Brothers company as well. Jende's work days primarily consist of driving Clark to work, driving his youngest son, mighty to school as well as making sure Clarks wife Cindy gets to her beauty and lunch appointments. The two families lives seem to intersect. Jende learns various intimate details about the Edwards family while Chauffeuring them around Manhattan. Vince there oldest son plans to move to India to get away from his family's materialistic views. Neni is now a sub for Anna the permanent maid, and she starts to learn things about Cindy as well, while developing a relationship with Mighty. Cindy is desperate to keep the family together and starts to indulge in alcohol and pain killers. Clark and Cindy get into a huge fight about Vince leaving law school and Neni comforts Cindy, who cries alone in the kitchen. Clark is under an enormous amount of stress at work and isn't sleeping much. Clark and Cindy continue to fight and it contributes to the constant unhappiness of there youngest son Mighty. For both families there is an insermountable amount of stress. Jende loses his immigration case and Lehman Brothers declares bankruptcy and crumbles. Jende Prepares himself to go back home to Cameroon as he is fired from his job with the Edwards. Neni is pregnant and has no money to support the child and herself. She blackmails Cindy for 10,000$ to keep silent about Cindy's addiction. Jende is tired of struggling and voluntarily wants to go back to Cameroon. Jende beats Neni one night after a huge argument about Jende's awful decisions. Meanwhile, Cindy dies after a nasty episode of drug and alcohol abuse. Clark is then a lobbyist for the credit union industry. The Jongas, using the blackmail money as a nest egg, return to Cameroon, where Jende plans to be an entrepreneur and live in Limbe. Neni sticks with Jende, despite her love for America and the anxiety that her children will miss out on everything that America has to offer.