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Mr. and Mrs. Doctor
Ifi and Job, a Nigerian couple in an arranged marriage, begin their lives together in Nebraska with a single, outrageous lie: that Job is a doctor, not a college dropout. Unwittingly, Ifi becomes his co-conspirator—that is until his first wife, Cheryl, whom he married for a green card years ago, reenters the picture and upsets Job's tenuous balancing act.
Julie Iromuanya has short stories and novel excerpts appearing or forthcoming in the Kenyon Review, Passages North, the Cream City Review, and the Tampa Review, among other journals. She is a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is her first novel.
Julie Iromuanya has short stories and novel excerpts appearing or forthcoming in the Kenyon Review, Passages North, the Cream City Review, and the Tampa Review, among other journals. She is a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is her first novel.
292 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2015
24 people are currently reading
806 people want to read
About the author
Julie Iromuanya
2 books57 followersJulie Iromuanya is a writer, scholar, and educator. Born and raised in the American Midwest, she is the daughter of Igbo Nigerian immigrants. Her creative writing has appeared in The Kenyon Review, Passages North, the Cream City Review, and the Tampa Review, among other journals. Her scholarly-critical work most recently appears in Converging Identities: Blackness in the Modern Diaspora (Carolina Academic Press).
She has been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest, the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction and Family Matters contests, the Rona Jaffe Foundation fellowship, and the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship.
Iromuanya earned her B.A. at the University of Central Florida, and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she was a Presidential Fellow and award-winning teacher.
She was the inaugural Herbert W. Martin Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton. She has also been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
Iromuanya is Assistant Professor of English and African and African American Studies and will be joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in the fall.
Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is her first novel.
She has been shortlisted for several prizes, including the Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest, the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction and Family Matters contests, the Rona Jaffe Foundation fellowship, and the Miles Morland Writing Scholarship.
Iromuanya earned her B.A. at the University of Central Florida, and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she was a Presidential Fellow and award-winning teacher.
She was the inaugural Herbert W. Martin Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dayton. She has also been a Tennessee Williams Scholar at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.
Iromuanya is Assistant Professor of English and African and African American Studies and will be joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in the fall.
Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is her first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
May 1, 2015
Well told story of African immigrant's "dream deferred" in America -- I can't help but think this was inspired by actual experiences. Sad and bittersweet -- touches on so many challenges, stereotypes, familial obligations/expectations, tribal traditions, old and new customs, issues with assimilation, etc. Although, the experiences weren't new to me (I'd read about them before in other novels), the author's voice, tone, and perspective lent "freshness" to the story and writing. Well done, excellent debut, imo.
February 3, 2017
Job and Ifi are living breathing three dimensional characters who are somehow dropped into a plot that feels like a piece of Ikea furniture still disassembled and in its box. Is it a table? Is it a bookcase? the two central characters are so strong and believable, so I had high hopes, and even though I'm being harsh here I'm glad to have met these fictional characters. But their story is a muddle full of contradiction, melodrama, and coincidence. The ancillary characters behave in ways that completely baffled me. It reads like a terrific first draft.
June 21, 2015
After I realized two stars meant the book was "ok", I had to change it to one star. This book was NOT OK for me. It was annoying, exasperating, maddening, and boring!
January 25, 2017
It is very easy to deduce that the author is a child of immigrants. Her Igbo words and pronunciations are off, but not enough to distract from the substance of the book.
The beginning of it called Adichie's "The Arrangers of Marriage" back to memory- disillusionment, lies, shattered perceptions of a foreign land-even Ifi's family seemed to spring from Adichie's story.
However, by the second chapter, Iromuanya had taken the story and made it her own.
Dreams do not always come true, and not everyone is equipped to handle the shift from "what should have been" to "what is". Job reminds me of Uncle Happiness from Ike Oguine's "The Squatter's Tale"- from his head-in-the-sand attitude to his hopeless optimism about his situation. Deep down, he hates the image of himself seen through white eyes enough to hate other black people filtered through the same lenses. A deeply flawed man, yet he manages to be just a man who wants to do the right thing but doesn't stop lying to himself enough to follow through.
Emeka...the less is said of that cretin, the better.
Ifi turns out to be the best-rounded character in "Mr. & Mrs. Doctor. I like that her character went from a girl with no prospects apart from scrubbing and cleaning noses to a woman who knew when to walk away from her life.
I give this book 4 stars, because it was a deeply riveting read.
The beginning of it called Adichie's "The Arrangers of Marriage" back to memory- disillusionment, lies, shattered perceptions of a foreign land-even Ifi's family seemed to spring from Adichie's story.
However, by the second chapter, Iromuanya had taken the story and made it her own.
Dreams do not always come true, and not everyone is equipped to handle the shift from "what should have been" to "what is". Job reminds me of Uncle Happiness from Ike Oguine's "The Squatter's Tale"- from his head-in-the-sand attitude to his hopeless optimism about his situation. Deep down, he hates the image of himself seen through white eyes enough to hate other black people filtered through the same lenses. A deeply flawed man, yet he manages to be just a man who wants to do the right thing but doesn't stop lying to himself enough to follow through.
Emeka...the less is said of that cretin, the better.
Ifi turns out to be the best-rounded character in "Mr. & Mrs. Doctor. I like that her character went from a girl with no prospects apart from scrubbing and cleaning noses to a woman who knew when to walk away from her life.
I give this book 4 stars, because it was a deeply riveting read.
May 6, 2015
An interesting story about the lies people keep and why they keep them and how we dance around the pink elephants in the room in the interest of self preservation. I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and the author was great in our Rumpus chat. Being a child of Nigerian immigrants herself, she really seemed to understand this culture and created characters that had an incredible amount of depth. An excellent example of how a book can be incredible even when it's protagonist is probably hated by most who read it.
March 13, 2016
I liked this, for the most part, but I think Iromuanya didn't really get as far into her characters' heads as I hoped for. Some of their actions kind of came out of nowhere--anything Job and Cheryl did together, especially. The time-jump between parts 2 and 3 also didn't serve the story (especially Victor) well at all. Certain things, such as when Ifi got a job or why Job agreed that this would be acceptable, were left out entirely.
April 23, 2016
Iromuanya does this thing where in the beginning the situations her characters find themselves are absurd and even funny, and I found myself wondering where this was going. But then I got to know the characters and their stories and it wasn't so funny anymore, I was rooting for them, I wanted them to succeed! It was nominated for the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction, which is where I heard about it.
April 19, 2015
This is an impressive first novel. The characters are wonderfully rich, and their richness is skillfully woven up into the complexity of the plot. The story has quite a pull as well, and definitely interests early and throughout. I'm betting I'll be hearing quite a bit about this book in the near future.
April 22, 2016
It pains me to do this; you'll note it even took a few days. But after this book got off to a 4-4.5 star start, I now know why the rating is hovering around 3 stars. Thoughts coming soon....
October 1, 2023
At first i was enjoying it, it seemed like there were a lot of things to dive into, but the more i read on it just felt like a lot of the concepts were left unfinished. Especially in the end that's where I was totally confused, maybe if I was more focused I would've understood more but there was just so many new things that entered the storyline all centered around the birth and death in people and their relationships, random events popping in and out, it felt like I needed a prequel to the third portion. The deeper personal showcase of familial and cultural expectations is what made this book so interesting. Even with certain characters being annoyingly disgusting it was great to see their patterns and personal events. Regarding that, I wished that those thought processes and past experiences were described more. I wanted to understand the characters at an even deeper level, not just surface layer thinking.
But overall I did like the idea of the book it was bittersweet but just not executed very well. It's like when you start an essay with so much ideas then you have to write the next paragraph and it's crap compared to the first, that is this book.
But overall I did like the idea of the book it was bittersweet but just not executed very well. It's like when you start an essay with so much ideas then you have to write the next paragraph and it's crap compared to the first, that is this book.
May 27, 2015
Job’s father sends him from their homeland in Nigeria to America to study to become a doctor. Instead of doing so, Job flunks out of college but continues to tell everyone he is still studying. At twenty-four he uses some of the tuition money on a green card marriage thus ensuring he never has to move home and acknowledge his lies. This is the beginning of the quicksand foundation laid out in Julie Iromuanya’s debut novel, Mr. and Mrs. Doctor. Almost two decades after his supposed graduation and into his fictional medical career in Nebraska it is time for Job to marry properly (having long divorced his fake American wife) and rather than pulling the curtain back on his lies, he forges forward with them by going back to Nigeria to marry the bride he has chosen. His new wife Ifi knows only that she finally has a chance to escape her aunt’s home and to marry a doctor and live in America so if she is somewhat older than the pictures her groom has seen of her it is a minor lie. The collision between Ifi and Job, as they negotiate a life based on lies is the heart of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor.
The rest of this review can be read at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://wp.me/p2B7gG-12u
The rest of this review can be read at The Gilmore Guide to Books: http://wp.me/p2B7gG-12u
October 26, 2016
This plodded along somewhat. The characters were very well developed, but the story line just got old and didn't move like it should. In essence, it's the story of a Nigerian immigrant, and what starts is his marriage to an American to obtain his Green Card, and then how this comes back later to haunt him. A story of definitely poverty, how everything looks so different from the outside in. It does tell however that no matter where you come from, whatever century you come from, that immigrants still want the same thing. How the American dream is perpetuated outside of our country is so skewed, that the reality is heartbreaking for many. There is nothing to suggest however, that immigrants aren't very hard working people, in trying to achieve that dream, nor do they give up that dream. This author has written short stories, which I'd be interested in perusing.
November 1, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I agree with other reviewers that there are no likable characters, but that was not a turn-off for me. Reading the book was like watching an accident happening in slow motion. As Job persisted in his pretense of being a doctor, I eventually gave up on my hope that he would come to his senses and admit the truth and sat back and enjoyed the unfolding of the story. There were several times when I thought a dramatic and tragic event or confrontation was going to occur but thankfully, the author didn't cheapen her intricately woven story with trite plot devices. I listened to this as an audiobook and the actor's facility with accented english and different tones for the American characters really added to my enjoyment. I look forward to reading Ms. Iromuanya's next novel.
May 26, 2016
Did not like enough to keep reading.
January 19, 2017
This book aptly captures the struggles that people who live abroad (USA) go through trying to convince those back home that they are doing well by putting up a face.
That is not to say that there are no people that are doing well out there but that a majority do not do well. Job Obgonnaya a nurse assistant wants to use the title of a doctor.
Which is why when Ifi’s aunt arranges a marriage for her niece to a “doctor” working in America; it is not readily admitted that this is a man who is a nurse assistant.
Ifi comes to the land of promise married to Job and they end up getting a son who later dies leaving both of them with nothing to look up to.
Peter and Sheryl seem to be the real trouble in Job’s life. Is it not funny how Job likes to complicate his life; not forgetting Gladys. It is no wonder this guy has to be left eventually,
Arranged marriages although seems like a mainstay in Africa’s cultural landscape and they do not seem to always end well. The first 6 months of marriage are the most critical.
Money is time in America cliché seems too much….I am more used to the time is money cliché. Music wise, Fela gets a mention and Tchikovsky as well.
Emeka is too full of himself. I like him when he says “when you have lived in America long enough, you will know that Americans have nothing and everything all at once.” I laughed. This is the same guy who says “Every fool who makes the mistake of ordering the wrong dish reveals something of himself.” He gives an example “those who order lobster and crab are fools.” ……. “We are in the middle of the country, and there is no ocean. You are eating the remains of a dog and its feces.” I laughed a little more.
First rule of America “Ask to speak to the manager and he will give you what you want. That is the first rule of America.”
Infidelity is real.
A good read.
That is not to say that there are no people that are doing well out there but that a majority do not do well. Job Obgonnaya a nurse assistant wants to use the title of a doctor.
Which is why when Ifi’s aunt arranges a marriage for her niece to a “doctor” working in America; it is not readily admitted that this is a man who is a nurse assistant.
Ifi comes to the land of promise married to Job and they end up getting a son who later dies leaving both of them with nothing to look up to.
Peter and Sheryl seem to be the real trouble in Job’s life. Is it not funny how Job likes to complicate his life; not forgetting Gladys. It is no wonder this guy has to be left eventually,
Arranged marriages although seems like a mainstay in Africa’s cultural landscape and they do not seem to always end well. The first 6 months of marriage are the most critical.
Money is time in America cliché seems too much….I am more used to the time is money cliché. Music wise, Fela gets a mention and Tchikovsky as well.
Emeka is too full of himself. I like him when he says “when you have lived in America long enough, you will know that Americans have nothing and everything all at once.” I laughed. This is the same guy who says “Every fool who makes the mistake of ordering the wrong dish reveals something of himself.” He gives an example “those who order lobster and crab are fools.” ……. “We are in the middle of the country, and there is no ocean. You are eating the remains of a dog and its feces.” I laughed a little more.
First rule of America “Ask to speak to the manager and he will give you what you want. That is the first rule of America.”
Infidelity is real.
A good read.
March 27, 2024
Iromuanya has a talent for writing. The Lincoln City Library System is where I encountered this book. The characters are believable in their choices and in the way they feel trapped by some of their circumstances. It illustrates well that the desire to be respected and loved is universal. It also illustrates how small choices add up to large heartaches. The pacing is great and I wanted to keep reading to find out just how things would turn around. But I didn't, because I wasn't sure they would turn around. Normally that wouldn't cause me to stop reading a book - but today it did, for now.
So I still do not know how the story ends. I am not sure I will pick the book back up for reasons of my own. But I will look for other books by this author because she is a fresh voice in Nebraska literature and I look forward to see what other things she will write. The book might have benefitted from a triggering content page in the front matter. Technically though, it would have been very difficult to write one because the first half of the book was a litany of disappointments, not complete tragedies.
So I still do not know how the story ends. I am not sure I will pick the book back up for reasons of my own. But I will look for other books by this author because she is a fresh voice in Nebraska literature and I look forward to see what other things she will write. The book might have benefitted from a triggering content page in the front matter. Technically though, it would have been very difficult to write one because the first half of the book was a litany of disappointments, not complete tragedies.
February 20, 2018
The points made about how difficult it is to be an immigrant are well taken and the only positive thing I can say about the book, but the plot is so disjointed and there are so many story lines that are started but never expanded that it becomes a jumble of ideas. The characters are not likable. So, I have no empathy for them or their problems. Job is the worst. He is a hard worker and wants the best for his family, but he lies about everything to everyone. He sleeps with other women. There is not one happy thing that happens in the whole book. My book club read it, and none of us liked it nor could we say anything good about it. The ending is the absolute worst. It just drops you with no explanation or hope that he has learned anything from his life.
July 29, 2019
This book...I enjoyed but hated. Another book full of lies, betrayal and cheating; but that is what makes it interesting. I found myself offended and irritated by how African Americans were viewed and spoken about, but that is life. Africans vs African Americans is a sensitive subject for me. We, black people need to unite all the time not just when it's convenient. There were a few scenes I did not predict which was refreshing. Can I just say I hated Job, okay said it. And sad how Ifi's Aunt did not give her good advice just encourages her to hide the truth. That happens too much in our community. I must mention I finished this book during a very depressing moment. I was trying to read to get my mind off of something -- and that is exactly what happened in the book.
February 2, 2018
I really liked the way this book encapsulated so many aspects of the (Nigerian) immigrant experience that I feel often gets glossed over. There were so many times I could feel myself saying I can relate to that, and wondered if my parents or their friends had similar experiences.
Some of the characters, unfortunately felt a little too one dimensional and I found myself questioning how they could keep making the same questionable decisions over and over.
I wish I could give this 3.5 stars because overall, this was a really enjoyable read, but had some plot and character issues I couldn’t really get past.
Some of the characters, unfortunately felt a little too one dimensional and I found myself questioning how they could keep making the same questionable decisions over and over.
I wish I could give this 3.5 stars because overall, this was a really enjoyable read, but had some plot and character issues I couldn’t really get past.
Read
November 13, 2019Dismal
A bunch of non likable characters with no redeeming qualities in dismal situations with dismal results
Such a depressing novel. I kept waiting for something good to happen or for Job to get his act together....but no....the story just ended with a slight hint that they might make their lives better.
A bunch of non likable characters with no redeeming qualities in dismal situations with dismal results
Such a depressing novel. I kept waiting for something good to happen or for Job to get his act together....but no....the story just ended with a slight hint that they might make their lives better.
May 19, 2020
Melancholy and reminds you that life never has easy answers. A very good "immigrant experience" novel, it goes beyond just the themes of culture shock and isolation into deeper issues, and feels constructed from many people's experiences.
May 3, 2022
I got about halfway through before DNF'ing the book. It was just too depressing to finish- the characters were all so awful I couldn't spend any more time with them. Too bad, because otherwise the book was pretty interesting.
January 22, 2019
liked the writing. didn't like the story. hated the characters.
April 17, 2019
5 stars because of how frightened I was after reading this. Talk about rude awakening. It gave me simpleton-phobia.
February 27, 2025
Taught me a lot about this culture
December 28, 2025
Good book
July 12, 2017
A book that takes place in your hometown.
January 18, 2017
I struggled with the prose in this work. Though a great story, Iromuanya lacked any type of fluidity of wording, which made progress difficult. And there were some historical inconsistencies that annoyed me. For example, the story takes place in the mid-eighties. Yet the main characters make references to items and practices that were not used at the time. One such example is a character who thinks another woman is using Spanx to enhance her figure. Spanx were not created until the 2000s. Not a major issue, just one that I notice and it irks me a bit. There were other, but I won't belabor the point.
Job is a Nigerian man, sent to America to become a doctor. His father has made sacrifices to provide the education needed in the medical profession. Eventually Job arranges for a wife, who is sent to meet him in his Nebraskan home. There is only one problem: Job is not a doctor, though he pretends to be, even to his wife. How can he hide this from her? He goes to great lengths, always rationalizing that he will eventually get back to school, will become the doctor everyone thinks he is. As his lies wrap around each other, the challenge of the facade becomes ever greater.
Multiple concepts at work in this novel. First and most obvious is the reality that we make for ourselves. We may hold ourselves above Job, feeling that we have a moral high ground because we are imposters, as he is. But still we must ask the question about who we are, and what we pretend to be to others. It reminds me of something I saw on social media: may your life be as good as you pretend it to be on Facebook. What is the real you and what is the facade? The performative act.
And while we feel of Job's wife Ifi, as she was deceived by her husband, she is not exempt from misdeeds. When she realizes that Job is not what he says he is, she turns her head. She even plays along, bragging to her old aunty in Nigeria about the wealth they enjoy.
Much can be said of pride too. The irony of a proud man who constantly complains about his lot in life can be seen in the fact that his name is Job. Job holds himself above the other African Americans in his neighborhood, viewing them as thugs, while he is 'Mr. Doctor'.
One more note, and that is of living your dreams. All I can say about this is that this work makes you question whether you are pursuing your goals and happiness, or the happiness that others want for you. Are hey the same? In many cases they are not
Job is a Nigerian man, sent to America to become a doctor. His father has made sacrifices to provide the education needed in the medical profession. Eventually Job arranges for a wife, who is sent to meet him in his Nebraskan home. There is only one problem: Job is not a doctor, though he pretends to be, even to his wife. How can he hide this from her? He goes to great lengths, always rationalizing that he will eventually get back to school, will become the doctor everyone thinks he is. As his lies wrap around each other, the challenge of the facade becomes ever greater.
Multiple concepts at work in this novel. First and most obvious is the reality that we make for ourselves. We may hold ourselves above Job, feeling that we have a moral high ground because we are imposters, as he is. But still we must ask the question about who we are, and what we pretend to be to others. It reminds me of something I saw on social media: may your life be as good as you pretend it to be on Facebook. What is the real you and what is the facade? The performative act.
And while we feel of Job's wife Ifi, as she was deceived by her husband, she is not exempt from misdeeds. When she realizes that Job is not what he says he is, she turns her head. She even plays along, bragging to her old aunty in Nigeria about the wealth they enjoy.
Much can be said of pride too. The irony of a proud man who constantly complains about his lot in life can be seen in the fact that his name is Job. Job holds himself above the other African Americans in his neighborhood, viewing them as thugs, while he is 'Mr. Doctor'.
One more note, and that is of living your dreams. All I can say about this is that this work makes you question whether you are pursuing your goals and happiness, or the happiness that others want for you. Are hey the same? In many cases they are not
October 7, 2015
This book took me a LONG time to read. That doesn't mean it wasn't good; in many ways it was good - but it was a difficult and slow read.
The main character, Job, is intentionally named for the Biblical figure of the same name and, like Job, he remains faithful to "the American dream" but he's tested .... over and over and over again. One review I saw likened this novel to The House of Sand and Fog and I think that comparison is apt. Job's life is death by water torture ... a slow drip drip drip of test, tribulation and struggle.
Job is the second son in his Nigerian family but he must fulfill the destiny, as it were, of the first son who was killed in war. His martyred brother should have been the son to carry on the proud family lineage but, instead, Job must go. Job grew up as "second best", a legacy he really never recovers from. Job is sent to America carrying all the hopes (and money) of his once esteemed family. He is meant to become a doctor and return to Nigeria full of wealth and prestige (and money). In America he marries for a green card and then fails in school. He returns to Nigeria to claim a bride selected from a pool of potential brides by his family.
Things just never really work out quite right for Job ... this book is a quiet commentary on the American dream and the picture it paints isn't pretty. This was a good book but very hard to read.
The main character, Job, is intentionally named for the Biblical figure of the same name and, like Job, he remains faithful to "the American dream" but he's tested .... over and over and over again. One review I saw likened this novel to The House of Sand and Fog and I think that comparison is apt. Job's life is death by water torture ... a slow drip drip drip of test, tribulation and struggle.
Job is the second son in his Nigerian family but he must fulfill the destiny, as it were, of the first son who was killed in war. His martyred brother should have been the son to carry on the proud family lineage but, instead, Job must go. Job grew up as "second best", a legacy he really never recovers from. Job is sent to America carrying all the hopes (and money) of his once esteemed family. He is meant to become a doctor and return to Nigeria full of wealth and prestige (and money). In America he marries for a green card and then fails in school. He returns to Nigeria to claim a bride selected from a pool of potential brides by his family.
Things just never really work out quite right for Job ... this book is a quiet commentary on the American dream and the picture it paints isn't pretty. This was a good book but very hard to read.
October 18, 2015
This was a brilliant novel! It is the story of a lie, or a series of lies -- a fiction within a fiction -- as a Nigerian immigrant named Job deceives his family and his new wife, telling them he is a doctor when, really, he works as a nurse's aid and on the line in a slaughterhouse to make ends meet. Iromuanya's themes are often satirical -- of the myth of the American dream, of class and race, and of sexism in both Job's home culture and his adopted one -- but the author handles the characters with such tenderness that what emerges is an often-funny, but ultimately tragic story of the modern immigrant experience. It was a pitch perfect work by an emerging literary genius, and I loved it from beginning to end!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews