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A review by paperbackprince
How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
3.0
Told in multiple perspectives and across several generations, How Beautiful We Were tells the devastating story of a fictional African village named Kosawa and how they fought against the American Oil company Pexton. Paralleling actually struggles that African villages have had with American companies taking advantage of their land and forcing the community into poverty, war, and death, Imbolo Mbue does a successful job humanizing these under-represented populations. However I struggled with the structure and reach this book sometimes took.
Beginning with the escalation of Pexton representatives being held captive until reparations are made, the story is expanded upon through the perspective of mainly one household as we alternate between ancient myth of the founding of Kosawa, past introduction of Pexton into the community, and present warring as Kosawa attempts to gain freedom from Pexton. We're also allowed a look into the family and how the village dynamics/politics work and influence behavior within the community.
The first 20% of How Beautiful We Were had me really invested in the struggles and heartbreak of Kosawa. The action displayed that escalated the fight between Kosawa and Pexton was also very thrilling and had me excited to hear what came next.
The book began to lose me through its various sections. As we begin to view the perspective from someone else's eyes, a lot of times we start losing focus on what is happening in the story to give background to the character we are reading from. Sometimes this became so distracting from the main story, especially when at points we have flashbacks within flashbacks occurring. It led me to believe that this was a character driven novel, but I never truly felt a sense of affection for any of the characters because so many were happening and discussing their lives at one time.
This made me, unfortunately, indifferent to some of what may have been major moments in the book. People would die and be written off in a couple of sentences, when we'd spent almost 80 pages looking at their life. The same would happen that someone would die and it would be upsetting, but nothing came from it. No change or character growth would come out of it, which led me to wonder if I should care.
The structure also played with time in questionable ways for me. This is not a book whose story is resolved in a year or two, but spans large periods of time. In some ways, this made it feel more authentic, but in others I felt like so much character growth and Kosawa happening would occur without me knowing. There would be moments where they would announce it would take around 4 years to hear a response, and me the reader would be so disheartened for them, but then that time would pass in what felt like a couple of pages.
I really enjoyed the idea of How Beautiful We Were and I don't think I give enough credit to how rich the prose was. While I did have some problems with the format and structure of this novel, I would still recommend it to anyone interested in books on culture, human rights, or history. I will be checking out more of Imbolo Mbue's works in the future!
Beginning with the escalation of Pexton representatives being held captive until reparations are made, the story is expanded upon through the perspective of mainly one household as we alternate between ancient myth of the founding of Kosawa, past introduction of Pexton into the community, and present warring as Kosawa attempts to gain freedom from Pexton. We're also allowed a look into the family and how the village dynamics/politics work and influence behavior within the community.
The first 20% of How Beautiful We Were had me really invested in the struggles and heartbreak of Kosawa. The action displayed that escalated the fight between Kosawa and Pexton was also very thrilling and had me excited to hear what came next.
The book began to lose me through its various sections. As we begin to view the perspective from someone else's eyes, a lot of times we start losing focus on what is happening in the story to give background to the character we are reading from. Sometimes this became so distracting from the main story, especially when at points we have flashbacks within flashbacks occurring. It led me to believe that this was a character driven novel, but I never truly felt a sense of affection for any of the characters because so many were happening and discussing their lives at one time.
This made me, unfortunately, indifferent to some of what may have been major moments in the book. People would die and be written off in a couple of sentences, when we'd spent almost 80 pages looking at their life. The same would happen that someone would die and it would be upsetting, but nothing came from it. No change or character growth would come out of it, which led me to wonder if I should care.
The structure also played with time in questionable ways for me. This is not a book whose story is resolved in a year or two, but spans large periods of time. In some ways, this made it feel more authentic, but in others I felt like so much character growth and Kosawa happening would occur without me knowing. There would be moments where they would announce it would take around 4 years to hear a response, and me the reader would be so disheartened for them, but then that time would pass in what felt like a couple of pages.
I really enjoyed the idea of How Beautiful We Were and I don't think I give enough credit to how rich the prose was. While I did have some problems with the format and structure of this novel, I would still recommend it to anyone interested in books on culture, human rights, or history. I will be checking out more of Imbolo Mbue's works in the future!