I received this book via NetGalley and give it my honest opinion.

This is quite a short book, that follows Anders and how he wakes one morning and his skin colour has changed to brown. It definitely makes you think and highlights the issues that fall on different ethnicities. Anders also questions his identity and it follows all that comes with it.
An interesting read but a bit clunky in writing, I feel it could have flowed better and it made it harder read than some books.
Still an interesting read

This is really a beautiful short story about Anders and his life changing metamorphosis, an overnight transformation into someone of dark skin. Whilst we follow his own reactions and mourning the loss of his pale skin, he slowly deals with the reactions of others and begins to question his own sense of self. Whilst his father and lover Oona are supportive and concerned, the rest of society struggles with change and social unrest, racial tensions and riots unfold. Ultimately, this is a story about Anders and Oona’s developing relationship, whilst acknowledging their past family relationships and transforming following loss.

Thank you NetGallery for the ARC

The Last White Man is a study in experiencing life as a perceived social outsider. A young man wakes up one morning to discover that his skin has turned a shade of brown. He experiences racism and made to feel an outsider within his own community in which he had previously felt a sense of belonging and security. However, when others begin to also change skin colour it is followed by social unrest and racist violence until the previously white community is no longer. A fascinating and thought-provoking novel of acceptance of what is not under our control.

What a great concept for a book. A really interesting read, where the characters in the book find their skin changing from white - how they react and how others react to the change is fascinating. This book explores the relationship between Anders and Oona, their lives, their families and their feelings for each other. It’s not a very lengthy book, so a quick and intriguing read.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for a review. #TheLastWhiteMan

“… he just had this sense that it was essential not to be seen as a threat, for to be seen as a threat, as dark as he was, was to risk one day being obliterated.”

Mohsin Hamid’s “The Last White Man” is a Kafkaesque delve into race - one morning, a man, Anders, wakes up and sees that overnight his skin has turned dark. What follows is an exploration into racial injustice and social politics.

The novella also touches on grief, change, and ends on a hopeful note.

Personally, I feel as though the story would have worked better as a short story that focused solely on the racial side of things rather than the characters grief. As much as I also liked that side of the novella, it was too short to contain two very different themes, and didn’t leave me feeling satisfied.

Hamid is a great writer, and I loved this take on Metamorphosis, it was current, relevant and modern. A true reflection on some of the recent events we have had in the last few years surrounding racial injustices. I liked what Hamid was trying to do, but I personally feel as though it wasn’t quite accomplished here. Perhaps with a short story or a longer form novel this could have worked really well.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story, and I will definitely be reading anything else Hamid writes!

I was new to Mohsin Hamid and I didn't get on with this book at all. I didn't like the writing style, the sentences seemed to jar. And I didn't like the way the way the story was developing. Not for me, I am sorry to say. With thanks for an e-ARC through NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review although I didn't finsh it.

One morning Anders formerly a white man wakes up to find his skin has turned dark, in his reflection he sees only a stranger. He confides in his old friend, turned lover Oona and soon reports start to build of more and more transformations.

The concept really appealed to me as soon as I heard it. The Last White Man seeks to ponder race, violence and white fragility in a novella that feels less like fiction and more a fascinating thought experiment. One which brilliantly explores the impact at both the individual and collective level.

At the heart are the personal stories of Ander and Oona, their blossoming relationship, their sense of identity asking the question are you the same person if you no longer look like yourself? And their interactions and understanding of the world.

However, in the background Hamid also provides commentary on much wider social issues, online discourse, vigilante violence, and the disintegration and tentative rebuilding of society.

There is no doubt Hamid is a wonderful writer his sparse but sharp prose weaves a story that feels almost hypnotic. And whilst it was poignant and thought provoking as a concept as a story it left me unsatisfied and wanting more.

Perhaps Hamid’s purpose in writing was not to provide all the answers but to open up the floor for discussion.

But frustratingly the focus seemed to shine on those aspects I found less interesting. I lacked connection to the characters of Anders and Oona so their relationship held little interest beyond the superficial whereas I would have liked the wider social issues to be ruminated in greater detail.

This is one though that’s remained in my thoughts long since finishing and I feel may benefit from a reread.

Well worth a read!

Definitely very thought provoking. Made me was to read just one more page. Not my type of go to but was enjoyable nonetheless

A disturbing story which will make you think and wonder what you just read. I am not sure if this book is more of a fable than a novel. The story of a world where people start turning black and the tensions that ensue. There is a very fine line which is navigated quite diplomatically throughout but there really is a lack of clarity as to what the message or meaning is. Weeks on , I am still thinking about it and trying to understand what it was all about.

Incredible, thought-provoking and well-written. Not sure what I expected when I started reading, but this more than met my expectations.

The premise of The Last White Man is very similar to Franz Kafkas Metamorphosis - a man wakes up one morning and finds himself transformed!

Anders, the main character, lives in a predominantly white area, so when his skin colour darkens and his facial features change overnight he is unrecognisble to friends and family. As he realises the change is permanent
he starts to question his identity, does he feel like the same person if he looks completely different? Will other people treat him differently?

As he reveals himself to his girlfriend and his dying father he is surprised by their reactions. Will they accept him as he same person or has their relationship changed forever?

Anders realises that other people around him are changing too. More and more people are changing overnight and tensions are building in the neighourhood  - is the transformation contagious, are the new darker people a threat? Racist militants  start to threaten people in the street and Anders is trapped in his home. Even his girlfriend's racially prejudiced mother changes and she struggles  to come to terms with her feelings.

This is an interesting and slightly uncomfortable read that explores race and identity and our perception of self. After a slow build I felt the last part of the book was a bit sudden. I would have liked to have found out more about what happened to the characters as it felt as though we rushed through time a little at the end.

Latest novel from the author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Exit West. It is a story with a simple yet interesting premise, what happens if every white person in society slowly changes to become black. The book opens with main protagonist Anders waking “to find he [has] turned a deep and undeniable brown.” He is in shock, he doesn't recognise this person in the mirror as himself, and he thinks he alone may be the 'victim' of this change. It quickly turns out not to be an isolated incident. His ex girlfriend – recently returned to town – help his to navigate this changing world, as Anders is faced with adjusting to life as a man of colour, and feeling that change in how is perceived and interacted with by white people.

I liked how Hamid makes Anders' father and Oona's mother strong characters who – even more so than their children – find it hard despite everything going on around them to let go of the desire for the old times and what they see as a lost identity, and the sense of fear in 'white' society as it become apparent that this transformation is taking over is predictable and also quite funny in a sad way, but in the end the message seems to be a hopeful one that dramatic societal change, whilst unsettling at first, can lead to a harmonious future where old prejudices and divisions, are left behind.

My one issue with the novel is Hamid's choppy, slightly stilted prose style which at times stopped me from totally losing myself in his poignant tale.

I loved Exit West and was excited to read this new novel by Hamid.

The concept feels new, but the story arc feels comfortingly familiar. A seismic change affects the biology of certain individuals overnight, and the first few individuals are feared and ostracised, but it quickly becomes apparent that this will affect a large percentage of the population and so society must adapt. There are dozens of examples of this apocalyptic

However it's a clever twist on a classic format. The people affected have no new powers, they have only changed in appearance, and have become altered to look like people who already exist. It's a fascinating thought experiment which explores how racism would not simply go away overnight, even if there were no longer any visual distinctions between races.

The only downside for me was that I felt the ending lacked punch. There are some clever observations in the novel which feel incredibly realistic, and the whole thing reads as though it could be true. I will definitely take away some striking images and thought-provoking reflections from the main characters, but I felt the ending made no real point, and seemed to fizzle out when there could have been a real opportunity to solidify some of those observations.

This is a short novel which is based on the same initial premise as Kafka's classic 'Metamorphosis', although the stories develop in very different ways. Anders, a white working class American, wakes up one morning to find his skin has become dark overnight. Initially his instinct is to hide and only tells his casual girlfriend, Oona, about the transformation. But more and more people are experiencing the same thing, and it seems that white skin may soon be a thing of the past.

The story is told from both Anders' and Oona's perspectives, and the style is Hamid's usual economical one. I am a great fan of Hamid's writing generally, but this book didn't really grip me and I even skimmed some of it - despite it being the very opposite of over-wordy. I never really felt strongly about either character, and wasn't that invested in their survival. And I just couldn't get away from the illogical premise - it is impossible and ridiculous for everyone white to suddenly change ethnicity - or at least, skin colour - overnight. There is never any explanation as to why - and I know it's a metaphor and not supposed to be explicable, but I couldn't put it aside and accept it. It undermined the whole book.

The best aspect of the story is the moving writing about caring for dying loved one, and the relationship between Anders and his sick father. The parts about death are well written and insightful, as you'd expect from Hamid. I just don't understand why everyone had to change skin colour at the same time. I don't understand the point that Hamid is trying to make - is it that skin colour isn't important and doesn't change who you are? Is it that there's more to our identities and ethnicities than colour? Is that the world would be a better place if everyone was the same colour - or a worse one? The novel never explains if the changes affected Asian or Latino people.

The book is short enough to be worth reading just to find out how you respond to it. I suspect it's one of those stories that there will be a wide range of reactions to, and that some people will love. Hamid is a good writer, and a writer who takes risks, and I'll certainly continue reading his novels. For me, this one doesn't quite hit the spot. But I'd still recommend people who like literary fiction - especially if they don't mind the odd incongruous/magical realist premise - to give it a go.

The Last White Man is a novella set in a land where the majority white population start to turn brown, one by one.

The scenario is illustrated through following Anders and his partner Oona - both originally white. Anders is a man's man who likes to gym. He is aware that there are brown people in the world including the man who cleans the gym, but Anders' world is white. So it is problematic for him when he wakes up one morning to find he is brown.

The sections that follow set out a series of paradigms as the population shifts from a white society to a brown one. At first, the few newly brown people try to find ways to distinguish themselves as formerly white - in case people should mistake them as being genuinely brown. But their peers reject them and they come to accept their lesser status. Anders, for example, decides he might try to reach out to the gym cleaner to establish a friendship of equals, although he quickly decides they are not equal despite their common skin colour.

Then as more people become brown, those who remain white are lauded. As it becomes clear that everyone is turning brown, they are nobly resisting the inevitable. They are held to be virtuous, even though the pigmentation seems to be arbitrary.

Finally, as the majority of society becomes brown there is a flip and the society no longer accepts skin colour as having meaning.

The novella is driven by ideas rather than plot, and the ideas do feel a little like essays. They are told in a strange style that reads almost as though it was written in another language and translated on the cheap. It is rather hypnotic. Perhaps the sense of translation is also brought about by the ambiguity of location. The names seem to be drawn from across northern Europe and while this was probably done to avoid tying it to a specific place or time, it was rather distracting as the reader tried to ground it in a real location.

This is a short work offering plenty to think about, but lovers of plot driven novels will find it lacking and probably somewhat contrived as a vehicle for illustrating the various political ideas.

In Mohsin Hamid's novella 'The Last White Man', the protagonist Anders wakes to find his skin and features transformed - he is no longer light skinned, but dark. Initially Anders is one of the few this happens to and, despite him being the same person he always was, he is often treated with a mixture of fear and suspicion because of his looks. Intimacy with his girlfriend Oona is also different with both feeling as if she is having sex with someone different. However, as time goes on many other people start to change. This leads to panic and anger from those who feel their world order is being overthrown.

For obvious reasons, this story was very thought provoking. Hamid writes beautifully and clearly conveys his perspective on what this change in skin tone and features would mean to society. Anders and Oona's characters are well developed despite the limited word count.

Throughout, I was aware that I was reading the novella as a white woman, and therefore my perspective on what this change might mean, if it actually happened, is possibly far less informed that Hamids. I can certainly buy into the perspective that there would be a lot of shock, anger and fear. However, I did wonder if the story lacked nuance, and if there might have been a broader range of reactions to those shown. Nonetheless this is a well written exploration of how light skinned people might react to the privilege of that being taken away from them.

'The Last White Man' is another brilliant novel by Mohsin Hamid which explores complex and challenging ideas in an original and moving way. Like his 2017 novel ' Exit West', this novel works as a thought experiment: 'Exit West' explored the refugee crisis by asking what would happen if the physical barriers to migration were removed, while 'The Last White Man' ponders race, violence and white fragility by imagining a scenario in which white people's skins turn dark.

Hamid is good at exploring the micro and macro at the same time. This is above all a personal story, about Anders (whose name means 'different' in German) who is one of the first white men to undergo this bewildering transformation; we see how this affects his sense of self and his relationships with his on-off girlfriend Oona, his ailing father, and his colleagues at the gym where he works, as well as Oona's relationship with her conspiracy-theorist mum. However, as these changes become more widespread, Hamid also explores online discourse, vigilante violence, and the disintegration and tentative rebuilding of society.

Much of this novel is deeply disturbing and unsettling, and intended to ask questions to which there are no easy answers about the connection between race and identity. Nobody - least of all Anders himself - seems sure of whether Anders is really the same person after he has changed, and the ease with which he can exist in the world is radically altered by this transformation. At the same time, this is a very tender and poignant novel about love and loss, due to Hamid's foregrounding of Anders and Oona's relationships with themselves and their families - both those whom they have already lost and those for whom they still care. The novel is written in long, trailing compound sentences which some readers may find offputting but which seemed to me to create a haunting, dreamlike and elegiac effect.

This is a short but beautifully written novel, and I was amazed at how much Hamid managed to explore. This is definitely one of the best novels I have read so far this year - thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review!

This is more of a novella than a novel which was good as I didn’t enjoy the story. Not for me I’m afraid.

The Last White Man


Mohsin Hamid’s novel ‘The Last White Man’ is the story of Anders, who wakes up one morning to discover that his skin has turned brown overnight and he can no longer recognise his own reflection. As more and more people begin to change overnight, Anders faces threats of violence and can trust only his friend, Oona, and his father.

This is an odd and interesting book. Firstly, it is very short, easy to read through in a couple of hours. I read over half of the book in one sitting, unsure how I felt about it. Something about it felt a little cold and detached - it opens with Anders and Oona already in a sort of relationship and, without seeing how this originated or what they were like before Anders changes, it’s difficult to feel engaged in how their relationship changes and develops. Outside of Anders and Oona, none of the characters are named (referred to only as Oona’s mother or Anders’s father), and few of them are developed in much detail.

However, the novel really grows on me the more I think about it, and I felt very positively about it by the end. Despite its short length, it is densely packed with ideas and Hamid touches on themes of family, love, homosexuality, addiction, suicide, acceptance, and, of course, race. As people begin to change, so too do their attitudes and the way they treat one another - Anders becomes more curious, wondering about the backgrounds and interests of people he had previously dismissed, now looking to befriend them.

Hamid’s writing style is unusual and interesting (and likely to be divisive!). The novel is written in long, sprawling sentences that can feel at times both frenzied and mundane. I found that the language flowed well and that this style helped get into the mind of Anders and Oona - the long, breathless sentences mimicking their thought patterns - but I think this will feel unnatural and a bit of a turn-off for some people.

Overall, while I do still think that more time spent seeing Anders and Oona interact with one another (and also learning more about them as individuals) would be beneficial, as well as exploring more of the peripheral characters and the wider world, the novel touches on so many interesting ideas and gives them surprising depth in limited space, and I do think that this is a novel that I will revisit in the future. While it could easily be read through in one sitting, I’m not sure it would benefit this approach - when I do go back to it, I think I’d get more from it by reading it slowly and giving myself time to consider the themes in more detail.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for the e-ARC!

Anders’s transformation from white skin to dark is reminiscent of Kafka’s Metamorphosis and this is a novel about racism and families and love and change. It’s unusual in style and subject matter and the style can be difficult at times as the sentences are extremely long with only commas in them. It’s quite poetic and moving as well. There’s little in the way of plot and it’s a very short book but it is thought- provoking and I quite liked it.
Thanks to Penguin and Netgalley for an advance copy in return for an honest review.