How Beautiful We Were
Fiction
Random House
March 9, 2021
E-book
384
Publisher via NetGalley
"We should have known the end was near."
So begins Imbolo Mbue’s powerful second novel, How Beautiful We Were. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company.
Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean-up and financial reparations to the villagers are made—and ignored. The country’s government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interest. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle would last for decades and come at a steep price.
Told through the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary, How Beautiful We Were is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community’s determination to hold onto its ancestral land and a young woman’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people’s freedom.
My review:
4.5 stars
Pretty close to perfect is this second novel by the author of Behold the Dreamers, one of my favorites of 2017. This was such an interesting premise, and completely captivated me from the beginning. A fictional village in Africa is suffering major devastation from an American oil company ravaging their land with pollutants. They decide after waiting for reparations that never seem to come, to take matters into their own hands and rise up and revolt. Told in a unique perspective from the children of the village, as well as the family of a woman named Thula, who is at the center of their revolution. You couldn't help but empathize with the people of Kosawa, who really got caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to keep their traditions and hold onto the land for future generations. The role of the oil company was cringe worthy, and I was impressed that the author gave us such a great insight into the shady practices of many big corporations. The writing was stellar, and the characters were larger than life. My only complaint (and what kept this from being a five star read) was that the timeline was interrupted in kind of a weird way, with things being foretold and then explained later. For me, this disrupted the narrative a bit, as it was a bit confusing to follow. Minor complaint, but did effect the overall flow.
An almost perfect narrative about the effect a large cooperation can have on a peaceful group of people, forcing them to make decisions with far reaching consequences for their existence. For a different kind of story, I highly recommend this one.
This is my next read. I can't wait to get started!