COMING FOR AMERICA
The Dilemma
Andayi Mushenye
BOOK SYNOPSIS
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After a chaotic start to his new life in America, Mush decides it’s time to stop simply surviving and start truly integrating. But as a young man from a modest Kenyan village now navigating the dizzying social terrain of American college life, the transition proves anything but smooth.
Determined to blend in, Mush sets out for his first American nightclub experience, ready to impress with his Michael Jackson moves. Dressed in a bow tie, tuxedo shirt, and rocking a Jheri curl, he’s sure he looks the part. But what was meant to be a stylish debut quickly spirals into a humiliating scene. Onlookers stare. The music confuses him. His dancing garners awkward attention. Thankfully, his roommate Moe—an outspoken Jordanian with whom Mush often clashes—drags him out before things get worse. On their walk home, they exchange cultural jabs and mock each other’s accents and traditions. But by morning, the two apologize, laying the foundation for an unlikely but enduring friendship.
Not long after, Mush enters his first American relationship with Yolanda, a bold and “liberated” young woman who challenges every expectation he holds. Their differences are immediately clear. To impress her, he buys a tight blue corduroy suit and unknowingly wears tap shoes to their date. From the moment they step into a cab—where Yolanda insults the Middle Eastern driver—the night spirals into disaster. At dinner, she criticizes everything he says and does, turning the meal into a cultural minefield. When the night ends with Yolanda bluntly declaring she’s not going home with him, Mush is left confused, humiliated, and deeply disillusioned.
But romantic woes are only part of the storm. Mush is running out of money, and he takes a dishwashing job that puts his student visa at risk. Bullied by coworkers, physically exhausted, and falling asleep in class, Mush struggles to keep his grades afloat. Then comes his first Michigan winter—an unforgiving onslaught of ice and wind for which he’s completely unprepared. America’s promise of opportunity seems more like an endurance test.
Still clinging to the idea of American social success, Mush accepts an invitation from his classmate Bill to visit a downtown bar, Spaghetti Bender. Mush is thrilled by the scantily dressed women and buzzing atmosphere, but once again, his attempts to charm others go awry. Persistence, he discovers, is not admired the same way in America. One woman retaliates by throwing a beer in his face.
On the walk home, Mush makes another grave misstep. Spotting a glamorous woman across the street, he showers her with compliments and then offers her money to “spend time” with him. In a shocking twist, the woman turns out to be a man. A gun is pulled, and Mush finds himself staring down the barrel in a terrifying confrontation. Only the distant wail of a police siren saves him. Shaken to his core, he retreats from the social scene altogether.
Weeks later, Bill convinces him to try again—this time at a strip club. Reluctantly, Mush agrees. Inside, he’s entranced by the provocative dancing and flowing drinks. When Bill dares him to put money in a stripper’s G-string, Mush builds up the nerve and pats the dancer on her behind. That, he quickly learns, is a cardinal sin. Security ejects him immediately. Bill laughs, proclaiming Mush’s “Americanization is complete.”
That moment becomes a turning point. Mush realizes that in trying to fit in, he’s lost sight of his values and purpose. He didn’t come to America for nightclubs, dates, or strip joints—he came for education, growth, and a future. The realization is sobering.
Still, Mush tries to salvage his relationship with Yolanda. But more awkward blunders follow. On Valentine’s Day, unaware of American customs, he buys her plastic roses from a gas station. She explodes with fury and walks away. Her friend Sonya later explains everything: Yolanda only reconnected with Mush to conceal the truth from her conservative family—she’s in a relationship with a woman named Denique and is planning to come out as bisexual.
Mush is left to piece together their strange courtship in hindsight. He recalls their long debates about marriage, where Yolanda called the institution oppressive and archaic. She spoke of love as fleeting and children as optional, preferably adopted. The conversation had left Mush, who dreamed of love, marriage, and fatherhood, speechless and stunned.
Their relationship, he now sees, was doomed from the start—built on cultural misfires, mismatched ideals, and his fear of loneliness. He had clung to Yolanda because she represented a possible future in a foreign land, not because they truly belonged together.
This heartbreak crystallizes a deeper understanding: America isn’t something to conquer or copy. He doesn’t need to become someone else to belong. It’s not about replacing one identity with another—it’s about integration, not imitation.
As Mush begins to accept these lessons, his eyes open to the reality that the American Dream is not a straight road paved with milk, honey, and nightclubs. It’s bumpy, unpredictable, and deeply personal. His journey so far has been riddled with mistakes, but each misstep has shaped a more grounded, self-aware version of the man who once stepped off the plane with wide eyes and big hopes.
But just as he begins to regain his footing and refocus on his studies and future, the dilemma is far from over. The next chapter in his American journey is waiting, and nothing can prepare him for what comes next.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FIRST TWO CHAPTERS
MIDMOST CHAPTER
LAST CHAPTER