The Last White Man: A Novel

The Last White Man (2022) is the fifth novel by the British Pakistani novelist and consultant Mohsin Hamid. Written as an extended allegory, it tells the story of an unnamed town in an unnamed country whose inhabitants have all begun to change skin color from pale to brown. The novel explores themes of The Construction of Race and Whiteness Theory, Loss and Mourning, and Social Media and Conspiracy Theories. Like Hamid’s Exit West (2017), The Last White Man is written in the genre of magical realism, which is characterized by fantastical elements in otherwise realistic writing and often contemporary, real-world settings. Hamid’s writing style is experimental, ranging from the dramatic monologue of The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007) to second-person narrative in the style of a mock self-help book of How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013). Hamid has won numerous writing awards and was shortlisted twice for the Booker Prize.

This guide uses the Riverhead Books 2022 Kindle version.

Content Warning: This guide discusses racism, suicide, substance use disorder, and violence.