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A review by maxwelldunn
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
5.0
A stunning and powerful sophomore novel from Imbolo Mbue, How Beautiful We Were tells the story of a fictional village called Kosawa in a fictional African nation which has been polluted by an American oil company called Pexton.
The people of Kosawa are deeply affected—physically, mentally and spiritually—by this contamination. The air, earth and water is marred by the oil company's presence. Children are getting sick and dying. While the Kosawan people suffer, profits line the wallets of the American oilmen and the turncoat Kosawans who are in their pockets.
Mbue chooses to write the story not from one singular voice but from the perspective of many villagers, especially those closely linked to our main character, Thula. Thula is a young girl who grows up to bear the weight of Kosawa's fate on her shoulders, compelled to take action against the regime that has so long suppressed them. In between these chapters are sections told from 'The Children' of the village, specifically those age-mates of Thula who witness the goings-on of Kosawa over the four decades that elapse during the novel. The writing is intimate and immediate, bringing the reader into each perspective as well as grounding them in the community at large by hearing from this group of children collectively.
The novel asks many questions of the reader and provides few, if any, answers. This may confound and frustrate readers who want a more tidy, plot-based story. While there is plenty of action and harrowing events throughout, it's clear this novel seeks to explore the inner lives of its characters and the questions they have about justice, loyalty, reparations, faith, and much more.
Mbue kicks off the novel by using a stereotypical 'village madman' character in an unexpected way. With this, she is asking what level of madness one must have, whether a revolutionary or an average citizen, to seek and claim what we are owed in this life, if we are owed anything at all. Leading a revolution takes not only hope and perseverance, but a bit of lunacy. To believe a young woman like Thula can overthrow a corrupt American company like Pexton is perhaps idealistic, but is it incomprehensible?
I found this novel to be utterly engrossing. It's quite dense and character-driven, so it should've been a slow read. But I couldn't put it down because Mbue has so richly crafted these characters and this village and centered issues that reflect what continues to go on in our world today. The biggest question for me revolved around children; how do we raise them in a corrupt world, and how do our choices, decisions, and commitments contribute to the legacy we leave them?
I was reminded of issues, ones I later found out were influences on Mbue, like Sandy Hook, Standing Rock, the BLM marches, the Women's March, and more. Having lived now through the turn of the millennium, 9/11, a war in the Middle East, the BP oil spill, the 2016 election, a pandemic and so much more, it's not unrealistic to read a novel that gives its characters very little reprieve from their suffering.
Though I haven't lived in their situation, and all things considered my life is extremely privileged, I could see the reflections of our world in this fictional village. The greed and corruption of a corporation is only possible through the greed and corruption of individuals. And conversely, the undoing of these power structures may not rely on the consensus of the many but on the actions of the radical few to fuel the 'Fire,' as Thula repeats, to burn it all down.
As one character narrates late in the book [not a spoiler]: "I told her that on all sides the dead were too many—on the side of the vanquished, on the side of the victors, on the side of those who'd never chosen sides. What good were sides? Who could ever hail themselves triumphant while they still lived? Perhaps someday, I added, after all the dead have been counted, there will be one number for the living to ponder, though the number will never tell the full story of what has been lost."
This book is a telling of that loss. The loss of innocence the children suffer, and the loss of lives both sides endure. Amidst all this is a sort of wistful nostalgia, a predilection for what once was (How Beautiful We Were) that ultimately forces us to look forward, as that is the only way we are moving. Perhaps to a brighter future, or maybe simply more struggles, but that is for tomorrow to bear.
I am confident I'll be thinking about this novel for a long time. Mbue is an author I'll continue to read from and I eagerly await whatever she writes next.
The people of Kosawa are deeply affected—physically, mentally and spiritually—by this contamination. The air, earth and water is marred by the oil company's presence. Children are getting sick and dying. While the Kosawan people suffer, profits line the wallets of the American oilmen and the turncoat Kosawans who are in their pockets.
Mbue chooses to write the story not from one singular voice but from the perspective of many villagers, especially those closely linked to our main character, Thula. Thula is a young girl who grows up to bear the weight of Kosawa's fate on her shoulders, compelled to take action against the regime that has so long suppressed them. In between these chapters are sections told from 'The Children' of the village, specifically those age-mates of Thula who witness the goings-on of Kosawa over the four decades that elapse during the novel. The writing is intimate and immediate, bringing the reader into each perspective as well as grounding them in the community at large by hearing from this group of children collectively.
The novel asks many questions of the reader and provides few, if any, answers. This may confound and frustrate readers who want a more tidy, plot-based story. While there is plenty of action and harrowing events throughout, it's clear this novel seeks to explore the inner lives of its characters and the questions they have about justice, loyalty, reparations, faith, and much more.
Mbue kicks off the novel by using a stereotypical 'village madman' character in an unexpected way. With this, she is asking what level of madness one must have, whether a revolutionary or an average citizen, to seek and claim what we are owed in this life, if we are owed anything at all. Leading a revolution takes not only hope and perseverance, but a bit of lunacy. To believe a young woman like Thula can overthrow a corrupt American company like Pexton is perhaps idealistic, but is it incomprehensible?
I found this novel to be utterly engrossing. It's quite dense and character-driven, so it should've been a slow read. But I couldn't put it down because Mbue has so richly crafted these characters and this village and centered issues that reflect what continues to go on in our world today. The biggest question for me revolved around children; how do we raise them in a corrupt world, and how do our choices, decisions, and commitments contribute to the legacy we leave them?
I was reminded of issues, ones I later found out were influences on Mbue, like Sandy Hook, Standing Rock, the BLM marches, the Women's March, and more. Having lived now through the turn of the millennium, 9/11, a war in the Middle East, the BP oil spill, the 2016 election, a pandemic and so much more, it's not unrealistic to read a novel that gives its characters very little reprieve from their suffering.
Though I haven't lived in their situation, and all things considered my life is extremely privileged, I could see the reflections of our world in this fictional village. The greed and corruption of a corporation is only possible through the greed and corruption of individuals. And conversely, the undoing of these power structures may not rely on the consensus of the many but on the actions of the radical few to fuel the 'Fire,' as Thula repeats, to burn it all down.
As one character narrates late in the book [not a spoiler]: "I told her that on all sides the dead were too many—on the side of the vanquished, on the side of the victors, on the side of those who'd never chosen sides. What good were sides? Who could ever hail themselves triumphant while they still lived? Perhaps someday, I added, after all the dead have been counted, there will be one number for the living to ponder, though the number will never tell the full story of what has been lost."
This book is a telling of that loss. The loss of innocence the children suffer, and the loss of lives both sides endure. Amidst all this is a sort of wistful nostalgia, a predilection for what once was (How Beautiful We Were) that ultimately forces us to look forward, as that is the only way we are moving. Perhaps to a brighter future, or maybe simply more struggles, but that is for tomorrow to bear.
I am confident I'll be thinking about this novel for a long time. Mbue is an author I'll continue to read from and I eagerly await whatever she writes next.