by DK Nnuro
One of Vulture’s Best Books of 2023
One of Goodreads’ Buzziest Debut Novels of 2023
One of Essence’s 31 Books You Must Read
One of the most anticipated books by Town & Country and Elle
America is seen through the eyes and ambitions of three characters with ties to Africa in this gripping novel
When siblings Jacob and Belinda Nti were growing up in Ghana, their goal was simple: to move to America. For them, the United States was both an opportunity and a struggle, a goal and an obstacle.
Jacob, an awkward computer programmer who still lives with his father, wants a visa so he can move to Virginia to live with his wife—a request that the U.S. government has repeatedly denied. He envies his sister, Belinda, who achieved, as their father put it, “what Napoleon could not do”: she went to college and law school in the United States and even managed to marry Wilder, a wealthy Black businessman from Texas. Wilder’s view of America differs markedly from his wife’s, as he’s spent his life railing against the racism and marginalization that are part of life for every African American living here.
For these three, their desires and ambitions highlight the promise and the disappointment that life in a new country offers. How each character comes to understand this and how each learns from both their dashed hopes and their fulfilled dreams lie at the heart of what makes What Napoleon Could Not Do such a compelling, insightful read.
One of Vulture’s Best Books of 2023
One of Goodreads’ Buzziest Debut Novels of 2023
One of Essence’s 31 Books You Must Read
One of the most anticipated books by Town & Country and Elle
America is seen through the eyes and ambitions of three characters with ties to Africa in this gripping novel
When siblings Jacob and Belinda Nti were growing up in Ghana, their goal was simple: to move to America. For them, the United States was both an opportunity and a struggle, a goal and an obstacle.
Jacob, an awkward computer programmer who still lives with his father, wants a visa so he can move to Virginia to live with his wife—a request that the U.S. government has repeatedly denied. He envies his sister, Belinda, who achieved, as their father put it, “what Napoleon could not do”: she went to college and law school in the United States and even managed to marry Wilder, a wealthy Black businessman from Texas. Wilder’s view of America differs markedly from his wife’s, as he’s spent his life railing against the racism and marginalization that are part of life for every African American living here.
For these three, their desires and ambitions highlight the promise and the disappointment that life in a new country offers. How each character comes to understand this and how each learns from both their dashed hopes and their fulfilled dreams lie at the heart of what makes What Napoleon Could Not Do such a compelling, insightful read.
Reviews-
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December 1, 2022
In Nigerian British author Agbaje-Williams's auction-hot The Three of Us, a heretofore contented wife discovers the acrimony between her husband and best friend as they dance around her for first place in her attention (75,000-copy first printing). Inaugural winner of the Chautauqua Janus Prize, Cuffy structures Dances according to the basics of ballet as her Black heroine rises to become a principal dancer at the New York City Ballet while struggling with personal issues. From a staff writer at New York magazine's "The Strategist," Denton-Hurst's Homebodies features a young Black woman fired from her media job who writes a scorching denunciation of the racism and sexism she encountered in the business that goes viral (75,000-copy first printing). In Pushcart Prize-nominated Neal's Notes on Her Color a young Black Indigenous woman gifted with the ability to change the color of her skin finds self-respect (and a means of escaping crushing family expectations) with a queer, dark-skinned piano instructor. In What Napoleon Could Not Do, from Ghanian-born Iowa Writers' Workshop graduate Nnuro, Ghanian computer programmer Jacob can't win permission from the U.S. government to move to Virginia to be with his wife while Jacob's sister Belinda is married to a wealthy Black Texan who tries to apprise Jacob of the country's deep-seated racism (50,000-copy first printing). Drawn from her family's experience, Pushcart Prize-winning Oza's A History of Burning opens with Pirbhai's being taken from India to work on the East African Railway for the British and moves toward the expulsion of his descendants from Uganda in 1972 (50,000-copy first printing)
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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January 9, 2023
Nnuro debuts with an engrossing saga of two Ghanaian siblings and their shared desire to make it in America. Belinda, the brighter and more tenacious of the two, moves to the U.S. for college in the late 1980s, becomes a lawyer, and marries Wilder, a wealthy Black businessman. Belinda’s older brother, Jacob, stays behind in Ghana and seethes with jealousy. He has no financial stability, and his love life is stymied by his preferences for S&M relationships. Belinda tries to help him out by setting him up with her former roommate, Patricia, and though the two never meet, they end up getting married, and for a while, Jacob is hopeful. As he tries to secure a visa so he can be with Patricia in Virginia, Belinda’s green card application keeps getting delayed. After Jacob is twice rejected for a visa, his old jealousy returns, unaware as he is of Belinda’s struggle not just with the green card process but also with a husband whose experience of being Black in the U.S. challenges her glorified view of the country. Nnuro explores a range of themes, from familial bonds to sexuality, racism, and the pitfalls of the colonized mindset. This author has much to offer. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment. -
February 1, 2023
What does the American dream mean to those for whom it wasn't created? In his debut novel, Nnuro follows three characters who believed that America promised much only to find that it failed to deliver. Since childhood, Jacob and Belinda's goal has always been to make it to America. But after multiple failed visa attempts, Jacob is beginning to question if America is worth the heartbreak. Belinda, married to an African American man and still denied a green card after 10 years, wonders if the dream was always an illusion and if the fight is worth continuing. What Napoleon Could Not Do is a multifaceted drama of familial relationships, duty, loss, and dreams deferred. Nnuro creates beautiful symmetry between America and Ghana, juxtaposing the physically draining disappointments of the Ghanaian government with the emotionally draining letdowns of the U.S. bureaucracy. He boldly explores discrimination across and within race and culture and intricately crafts characters readers will feel intimately connected with. In this deeply thoughtful tale, Nnuro establishes himself as a powerful storyteller.COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
