Release Date: 11th August 2022
Publisher: Penguin General UK
On a morning that felt like any other, Anders, a white man, woke up to find his skin was darker. He didn't recognise himself in the mirror, he didn't know what had happened to him or why. He turns to Oona, a person who his relationship with can't easily be categorized, and hopes that she can see him when he can't.
But it's soon revealed he isn't the only one - the world is changing. Conspiracies begin to form, unrest makes its way through society, until the last white man changes. All Anders and Oona can do is learn who they are when their skin isn't a factor anymore, and watch on quietly in curious contemplation as the world changes.
"Even under normal circumstances falling asleep can seem impossible when one is awake, and then it is happening, and not a matter of possibility, but a living dream, inhabited, and though impossible, already begun."
I've seen many people refer to The Last White Man as an echo of Metamorphosis, as a Kafka-esque tale of change - and although there will only ever be one Kafka, this is definitely a freshly intriguing take on the style.
This book asks you questions you don't want to answer - would you recognise yourself if colour wasn't a factor? How has that affected your identity? Would it change who you are to lose that part of your identity? Would you recognise the more subtle discriminations that people of colour can see? Would you change the way you see others?
I can't understate the strikingly evocative speculation throughout this story - but the strangely distant prose, and the analytical contemplative voice was for me, unengaging and somewhat stiff. There is a lot of time spend with just Anders or Oona, with no interaction, no speech - and while this very cleverly creates a suffocating, isolating aura, this combined with the page-long, run-on sentences in an impersonal third-person made it very difficult to read.
One of the most intriguing things about this tale was the introspective focus - we focus inwards, to the lives of our two characters and their dysfunctional families, rather than the fallout happening in wider society. Everything else in the world was relegated to a tagline on a news show, or a passing conversation - and while this was a bold choice, it felt like there was so much to be explored, and almost . This introspection created a kind of shift, making this a tale of family, of their losses and complexities and toxicity, how they endure or decay.
Raising unasked and unanswered questions about colour and identity - this is a twisted version of the theory put forward by several racists, the "great replacement" theory where minorities will overthrow the majority of white men and take their power. But in this instance, rather than the racist spewing of alt-right politicians, race becomes a non-issue, equality of colour is forced. I'm sure some might find this mildly condescending in the same vein as 'I don't see colour', which means you can't see discrimination either - but as someone who isn't a person of colour, I don't feel qualified to really make a judgement on that aspect of the story.
Thematically, this story is truly epic and bold, but stylistically I found it difficult to engage with the story.
⭐⭐⭐
I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review.
CW; racism, violence, recreational drugs, alcohol, sexual references, death, mentions of suicide.
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