This was such a tough read as there was so much going on. For a normal, average length novel, it took ages to progress through it because it required so much thinking time and energy to dissect what was going on.

The book takes us through different generations of the villagers of Kosawa. We watch as their land, once a beautiful, peaceful place, undergoes changes in landscape, beliefs, and people as they fight against environmental consequences and foreign politics.

This is such a beautiful, bittersweet story that is relatable on so many levels. We see girl power, spiritualism, unity, sadness, laughter, strength, weakness. I was actually quite disappointed to have to say goodbye to the friends I had carried with me within these pages but at the same time, glad to not have to endure any more lows that ultimately followed the highs.

I give this book a solid 5/5 for its originality, the though-provoking narrative, the development of the plot and characters and the author's talent in wrapping it up into such a small but powerful bundle. I am so excited to read future works from such a talented novelist.

A poignant story that is a perfect social commentary on exploitation in Africa.

This book has an interesting premise and that is what drew me to it.
In a fictional African village, an American oil company causes an environmental crisis, the water and land are contained. People are dying and a corrupt dictator doesn't care about his people.

I enjoyed lyrical writing. There is so much beautiful wording and that shows me how talented this author is. However, multiple points of view dragged the story to a pace and repetitions that made me struggle to go on. I think that my enjoyment is tainted by my lack of reading literary fiction. Fans of the genre will enjoy this book more.

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

This story opens up in an African village, and we’re introduced to a community that is faced with the threat of an American Oil Company. At a time where the threat to the planet has never been more at risk than it is now, this has the feel of a vast, hugely important novel. This is a powerful story of climate change, community, that became difficult to read at times because how real this feels.

Thanks to Netgallery for the advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

So, this is one of those books that I had such high hopes for. The premise is so pertinent to current fast-fashion and general western living; I was looking forward to delving deeper into the topic of western exploitation and the effects of oil spillages. However, for me, this book just didn’t quite hit the mark. Principally, I think the reason is two-fold (and probably personal preference): the book is told through a lot of flashbacks and the flashbacks are told from over five different perspectives. While this largely works in many titles to provide a well-rounded view of events, many of the perspectives felt repetitive (repeating the same events over and over) and the non-linear progression just made me feel a bit fed up - just as the action was heating up, I was suddenly in the past. I felt like I was being thrown around here, there and everywhere.

What I will say is that it really interrogates how progress can be made, when things are often one big moral mess. American corporations pollute their land and are in cahoots with the King of their country, the village people hold hostage the oil corporation’s representatives and then the government come and massacre the village. The American’s then throw money at the village as if that will bring back their deceased children and offer to educate their children. Any progress made is futile when the very country they plea to doesn’t care about them. While it is empowering when the village finally tries to fight back, the narrative kind of meanders from one depressing set back to another – which is the harsh reality, but we don’t usually turn to literature for reality. I could read the news for that and indeed do.

What I found really interesting and well-explored is this running theme that the village folk hated the city folk and vice versa. When the village children are offered a better education, their parents are sceptical and do not believe an education is worthwhile – especially if the children will only work in the fields any way and the girls stay at home. The city folk hate them because they are unwilling to progress and still have outdated superstitions that govern their day-to-day lives. I find this conflict between these two classes interesting, but also disheartening. How can the city dwellers expect the villagers to trust them, if indeed they do not give them reason to. There is just a general lack of warmth or kindness throughout this book, and while this isn’t a necessity, I think this book is trying to pick too many battles. It is tackling too many things at once and, as a consequence, nothing really came to the fore (for me).

This is such an important read, I felt transfixed by this and at times at a loss for the characters. The themes of exploitation and community are strong throughout, it pulled at my heart strings and I felt enraged on the characters behalf. A brilliant important read.

How Beautiful We Were - Imbolo Mbue

Summary: In How Beautiful We Were, we visit the fictional village of Kosawa - beautiful and pristine, whose people live as one with Nature and the Spirit.
Then an American company, Pexton comes to drill for oil, pushing the village and it's environment into rapid deterioration.

Although the villagers plead with Pexton for help, it all falls on deaf years. Until someone decides to step up …

What I liked:

The book is very cleverly structured, told from multiple perspectives, which not only gave a well-rounded view of the plot, but also an in-depth insight into contradictory and unpopular opinions.

Set in the fictional village of Kosawa in Africa, it evokes a beautiful image of lush green hills, dense forests and also some very unsettling customs and traditions – it all eventually ties in to form a lasting image in your mind of a fictional place you might want to travel to someday.

The subliminal message that it carries about colonialism, land grabbing and subjugation of indigenous tribes makes for difficult but essential reading.


What was challenging:

There are some parts in the book, especially about 40% where the plot seems to start dragging. The chapter narrated by Sahel especially is really long. While I loved understanding things from her perspective, there were bits I wanted to skim read, example her monologue on how lonely she is and her attractions to other men stretched longer than I would have liked, it nearly took the attention away from the actual plot.


Final Thoughts:

Imbolo Mbue is a new to me author and I am so grateful to have discovered her.

I quickly fell in love with her lyrical narration style and the talent with which she can tell a story from multiple perspectives and still keep a grip on the plot.

This is a book that will fill you with nostalgia and a deep yearning.

Above all, How Beautiful We Were is also a powerful commentary on finding the balance between progress and sustainability, and the importance of preserving indigenous communities and cultures.

A compelling and a compulsory read for everyone this year.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Canongate for my advanced readers copy.

A beautiful story of fighting back, community and hope in the face of consistent grief. A must read!

How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue was a truly powerful read. Through Thula, her family and her village people we we learn about the past, present abs ultimate demise of Kosawa. We learn of their centuries of suffering. From their ancestors being stolen and sold as slaves in far off lands, from their primitive and subsistence living, from their manipulation and oppression by corrupt dictators and from hardship and cruelty inflicted upon them by greedy profit oriented multinational companies. Although set in a fictional rural Central African village it reflects the pain and suffering endured by so many citizens and villages of Africa, people who were oblivious to global advancements until they were thrust upon them for the financial gain of others, and more often than not to the detriment of their very existence. Pexton is the name of the fictional oil company and despite promises and agreement after agreement they constantly go back on their word. Thula, and her friends, they don’t accept it though as so many others do.

This story is a very important one and I read to the end but I found the writing difficult to become immersed in. I found it didn’t flow too easily and fill concentration was needed at all times. It was passionate and heartfelt though and I won’t forget it in a hurry.

This is a beautiful book told from multiple perspectives. It is a tragic tale of exploitation in Africa. It is incredibly emotional, with hard hitting prose and is as beautifully written as her previous novel (which is loved). It is hard hitting and sadly all too realistic and believable as we witness the negligence of the western world on this fictional village after an oil company comes and wreaks havoc.

I did enjoy this but I read it over my Christmas holidays when I had time to indulge in the slow, long, sentences. It is a slow read but worth the time.

Review sent to Goodreads,, Amazon, Facebook and Instagram as well as my own blog, carriereadsbooks.

It is an interesting story - African village being poisoned by the neighbouring American oil company, people rising up and seeking retribution. However it is so long - and so slow - something happens, then we hear about the same thing happening again through different viewpoints. Much as I love a bit of scene setting I did not need to know about the endless clapping and singing when a female has her first period - it was nothing to do with the plot.

I kept going but it was one of those books where I found myself choosing to tidy cupboards rather than read.

DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley and Canongate for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

How Beautiful We Were is a literary fiction/cultural fiction written by Imbolo Mbue. The story is set in the fictional African village of Kosawa. It tells the heartwrenching tale of the suffering and turmoil caused by the greed of western oil companies. The story is an unforgettable one written with brutal honesty and captures the readers from the get-go. It is told from multiple perspectives helping us put together the puzzle that will leave us with the whole picture. All characters provide us with insight into the situation and help us learn the life before and after the companies started to drill for oil. It is a powerful story that will leave us heartbroken, angry, and wanting to fight for justice on behalf of the people of the village of Kosawa. It's a staggering display of greed and the superiority of Western countries. The parallels to today's world and similar projects make us understand that greed and avarice don't concern itself with the cost of life or the destruction it leaves behind. The ugly side of what corporate companies do to be the big giants they are is laid bare for the readers to see.

I loved how wonderfully the author managed to bring together the story by the different perspectives adding something unique to the overall plot. The smaller stories help us understand the culture, traditions, and values these people had. They believed the western people would be true to their words and promise because, to them, their commitment is everything. To live in simpler times when a verbal agreement that is given, has more importance than a piece of paper shows us the character and principle of people who lived there. They didn't anticipate the treachery or dishonesty other people were capable of.

I loved all the perspectives, and every one of them gives us insight into their lives. My only complaint is the lack of clarity as to what happened to the men. And the conclusion of Thula with a POV from her would have been great to wrap up the story neatly. Overall it was a great story and an important story that needed to be told. I gave the book 4.5 stars despite it leaving me heartbroken, and I want everyone to pick this book up in March 2021. It's an unforgettable story of an ecologically vulnerable village fighting against the Corporate Giants for their lives and the freedom to live on their birthlands as is their right.

I enjoyed Imbolo Mbue's Behold the Dreamers and was eager to see how the second book read. In How Beautiful we were, we are taken to the fictional African town of Kosawa. Here, the American oil company Pexton has strengthened their roots leading to severe, irreparable environmental damage. The children of Kosawa are dying and having health problems. Their leader, as leaders usually are, is unconcerned and siding with Pexton. Until one day in 1980, when the village mad man, Konga, crashes a town meeting. He has stolen the Pexton men’s car key and proposes they hold the men captive until something changes.

This book is beautiful in its prose. The sentences are lovely to read and Mbue brings alive the fictional town and its host of characters. There are parts told in first person plural (the book begins that way) which was a good artistic choice (And one that succeeds). The story is told from the perspective of a family, mainly a girl called Thula who hopes things would be better one day and also that she, a girl, might teach the men a lesson. I enjoyed looking at the turmoil of characters — being old and cared for, concern about children, the African man on meeting a white man thinking why white men have to ask meaningless questions (small talk) to put the other at ease before coming to the point, people shocked by cultural differences.

This is certainly an ambitious book with an ambitious premise. However it could've been edited to a shorter length. The length plus a meandering plot often acts detrimental to what could've been a tighly knit story. Also the time jumps in the narrative were a bit confusing.

Read this for a battle between the people of Kosawa and the ruthless Paxton. An impossible battle that comes at great price.
Rating : 3.5

I honestly don’t even know where to begin with this book, it is just breathtaking. Thank you to Netgalley, Canon gate and Imbolo Mbue for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was immediately drawn to this based on the beautiful cover, full of vibrant colours and yet a feeling of sadness portrayed on it, and of course the melancholy title.

How Beautiful We Were focuses on the story of the inhabitants of a fictional village, Kosawa, in Africa. The village has been struggling in their fight with an American oil company who are destroying their land, water and air leading to the deaths of the village children, and a corrupt dictatorship who do not care for their problems. The company keep promising to clear up after themselves or pay the village, and never deliver on those promises. The story focuses on a girl called Thula, her family and her age mates as the years go by and her determination to save Kosawa only grows.

The story is powerful. It is written beautifully, with hard hitting sentences and sentences full of sadness, as it is a tale of tragedy. It is made only more powerful because although it is set in a fictional village, you know that things like this have taken place across Africa and elsewhere due to the exploitation and negligence of Western companies, therefore making it all the more devastating. It is an incredibly emotional book, and deals with a multitude of hard hitting heavy topics, but it is so beautifully told. Mbue truly has poured her heart into this and it shows.

Be warned, it is a slow read and in no way I think should you rush it, it is made to be slow and heart wrenching and thought provoking, and to not treat it as such would be to do an injustice to it I think. The chapters are incredibly long, one on the kindle I noticed gave me an estimated reading time of 56 minutes. But I think the long chapters, although frustrating, are fitting for the novel and they do draw you in completely.

It is told from multiple perspectives, from the perspective of Thula, her family and then her age mates, and in the chapters titled ‘The Children’ we see a different style, more of a wider view of the situation and their hopes for Thula to rescue them, along with the use of ‘we’ and it really helps to draw the reader to look at the wider problems and see that this is not isolated to Thula’s family. The Children also serve as the overall narrator, bringing in important revelations and heartbreaking moments and it is done incredibly well.

One aspect I loved about the book was the rich culture. It dealt with African beliefs, that were permeated throughout the book as the villagers held them close, as it was written by Mbue who was born in Cameroon you can tell that it has had an impact. The culture makes the characters feel real, with their dialogue and mannerisms and the way they address one another, it feels real and I love it.

It also dives not only into the neglect Western companies have for the land and people by which they are surrounded, but also makes reference to the past of slavery and Christian missionaries that have tried to eradicate the culture and beliefs of African villages. It is a devastating reminder that not only did these things happen, but they happened not that long ago and through the exploitation of Western companies, are still happening.

There is also an incredible depiction of grief throughout the book, from multiple characters and how their beliefs can be at odds with their grief, which I found fascinating. I really do not know what else to say as it is a very heavy book, and one that on reflection I think will only grow on me and produce more meaning over time. I’d really recommend it but it is a very hard hitting book that needs to be read with time to reflect on the content and therefore I don’t think that it is something for everyone to read.

This book was absolutely fantastic, I loved it. It was really hard in some parts though because it gets incredibly heavy!

The story follows Thula mainly and her family in a fictional village of Kosawa, where families have lived for generations. However, a couple of generations ago an oil company Pexton moved in walking distance from Kosawa and has slowly been poisoning the Kosawa residents. There have been oil spills and gas flares which have released toxins into the air, into the river and into the earth where their crops are grown.

Every year there are more deaths of children and adults because of the oil company. When Thulas father Malabo and a couple of other men from the village take the two-day journey to Bezam to have something done about the oil spills but they never return and this sets of a chain of events, when the representatives of Pexton come to placate the citizens of Kosawa they take them captive and this sets of events that will only come to a head 40 years later.

I loved the way this book was written, there are chapters from each of the members of Thula’s family, there is Yaya her grandmother, Sahel her mother, Bongo her uncle and Juba her younger brother. These chapters are separated by chapters which are the views of ‘The Children’ which are Thula’s age-mates. These chapters are written saying ‘We’ instead of ‘I’ which I love.

The book opens with a chapter from The Children and it’s such an incredibly powerful entrance to the book. I found this book hard to read because it was so emotional but it is so beautifully written I couldn’t stop reading.

This book was somehow simultaneously cruel and raw and yet also managed to be beautiful and tender and at times, even funny. It spans a generation and we see the devastating effects of a village destroyed by a corporation's hunt for oil and wealth. We see much of the book's events through the eyes of Thula, initially as a young schoolgirl, later as a student and then as a leader of her peers as they try to fix a seemingly insurmountable problem. As a character, I loved her just as I also loved her Grandmother and I would have liked more of her story too.
This is not a pacey read but it is a thought provoking one and is a story that deserves to be shared and discussed.

So I loved Imbolo Mbue's first book, which I read when it came out. I was so glad to read this book, and it didn't disappoint. Mbue creates such wholly vivid characters, that I feel and connect to so emotionally. I understand them and feel as if I know them, and their character stays with me long after the final page. I really recommend this book, and all of Mbue's books.

I found the setting (and African village) and the main subject matters (environmental degradation, local governments, family life) interesting and the writing was beautiful, however overall it was quite a slow read. The first few chapters in particular were a little repetitive and I kept waiting for a ‘hook’ to grab my attention, but I wasn’t gripped and it was a bit of a struggle to finish.

"How could we have been so reckless as to dream?"

Set in the small fictional African village of Kosawa, Mbue tells the story of an American oil company coming in and taking over the land, consequently ruining the land around the village and poisoning the land and water. Poisoned drinking water regularly kills the village children. The story is set around Thula Nangi, a young girl from the village, her family and her age mates. Each of them tells the story of how the company of Pexton came in and changed the world as they knew it. One day in 1980, the villagers finally decide to fight back, with far reaching consequences...

"Despite comporting ourselves for decades, despite never resorting to beastly deeds, we hadn't succeeded in persuading our tormentors that we were people deserving of the privilege of living our lives as we wished."

Mbue's writing is exquisite. I love her poetic and sometimes philosophical way of writing. Her characters are deep and interesting. I loved how she set up this story and the ideas behind it. The book is a bit on the long side, and I did feel like it could have been a bit shorter at some points, but I still loved reading every bit of it. I appreciated how once she got deeper into the story, previous African history is also mentioned, e.g. Christian missionaries and slave transports. Overall a beautifully written but sad book that I highly recommend.

How Beautiful We Were tells the story of a decades-long struggle for environmental justice. The part of David is played by the people of Kosawa, a fictional village in an unnamed African country (albeit one that looks a lot like Cameroon), while Goliath takes the form of Pexton, a wealthy American oil company, backed by a brutal and corrupt national government. Pexton’s activities in Kosawa have left a trail of destruction – poisoning the water and farmland. Children are dying.

It’s a premise that felt unpromising – where is the room for subtlety and colour when the basic outlines of the story are defined in such unambiguously black-and-white, good-and-evil terms? And indeed, alongside the very familiar stereotypes of the insular village, uncaring corporation and corrupt government, we can add a campaigning journalist and a do-gooder environmental NGO. (There are also passing hints of a closeted lesbian, undiagnosed mental illness and the long-term legacy of child sex abuse that sometimes feel a little too easy, ticking-off a list of issues.)

Nor is this the only challenge that the author – Imbolo Mbue, the Cameroonian-American writer who brought us the acclaimed Behold the Dreamers – chooses to set for herself. Most particularly, around half the story is told in the collective voice of the age-mates of Thula, the story’s main character. This perspective, which I think must be described as “first person plural”, is somewhat distancing at times, with individual members of this collective voice only becoming clear when they choose to leave the group. This effect is only strengthened by the minimal use of dialogue.

Nevertheless, it mostly works. The various family perspectives bring us inside the rich internal dynamics and culture of Kosawa, the struggles of tradition and modernity. And the collective age-mate voice carries a powerful sense of unity in their struggle. “I’ll always be one of us,” affirms Thula in signing off her letters to the group.

Mbue even manages to overcome – or sidestep – the lack of subtlety in the central premise. The David-and-Goliath struggle becomes in large part the backdrop to Thula’s story. We see her transformation from a quiet, scarred child into a passionate activist and the compromises and dilemmas of people struggling to build a life and livelihood while maintaining a fight for justice.

Finally, I found myself intrigued by the repeated use of place names – mostly African capitals – as names of the characters: I spotted Lusaka, Sahel, Juba, Cotonou, Bamako, Tunis, Cocody and Nubia, and there may be others. There is surely a reason behind this. Mbue gives us a clue, I think, in explaining why Nubia’s father gave her this name:

“By naming her Nubia, he declared his belief that no ends exist, only new beginnings, like the seeds that fall and bear trees that drop seeds that bear new trees, like the water that falls from above only to be pulled up from below and sent back whence it came. Nubia was, Nubia would return. … ‘Why did our people leave Nubia, Dad?’ she asked him. ‘They were men of zeal,’ he said. ‘They wanted to create a new Nubia, spread wide our greatness.’ ‘Why did they fail?’ ‘They never failed,’ he told her, ‘they forge on through us’.”

So perhaps the names are chosen to convey continuity across time and generality across the continent, that this particular story is a microcosm of Africa’s struggle against colonial and neo-colonial exploitation and autocratic rule – a struggle that continues.

I was given access to a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

When Pexton moved in, promising riches and prosperity to the residents of the village of Kosawa in exchange for their oil, it sounded like a dream come true. But now, after a few years of operation, everything has changed: runoff in the rivers and emissions in the air have started poisoning Kosawa residents, and every week another child has to be buried as a result. Even fighting back seems hopeless: the last time anyone tried, they disappeared and were never seen again. Now, residents of Kosawa just get a weekly audience with the managers of Pexton in their village square. They are fed platitudes that “Pexton cares about you and your family” and “Pexton shares in your grief at the loss of your loved ones”, but yet nothing seems to happen – the Pexton representatives glide in and out of Kosawa like clockwork, with nothing changing from one week to the next.

Until one day in 1980, when Konga – the village mad man – crashes a town meeting declaring that he has stolen the Pexton men’s car key and they will now be holding the men captive until something changes. So begins a battle between the village of Kosawa and Pexton; a battle that pits the powerless against a titan. A battle that seems impossible to win.

I finished this book three days ago, and I am still struggling to come up with exactly the right way to express my feelings about it. There are things I enjoyed, and things I didn’t; things I found odd, and things I had never seen before. All in all, I think it’s fair to sum up my feelings as: I enjoyed this book, but I won’t be running around recommending it to everyone I know.

The first thing I noticed in this novel is that Imbolo Mbue is a formidable talent: her writing is exquisite. The way that Mbue captures atmosphere in her words, and transports you between settings is incredible, and it seems almost effortless – it is as if she can create whole rich tapestries with one or two simple brushstrokes. One stylistic disagreement I have with Mbue’s writing – and it is really a tiny one – is that she tends towards reporting speech rather than writing it directly. I found that this could sometimes lead to me having to reread a paragraph because I wasn’t aware that something was intended as conversation, or that it was meant to be a character’s view and not that of the narrator.

On the topic of writing style, this book introduced me to something I have never experienced before: prose written from the first-person plural point of view. I understand the use of this viewpoint when writing as “The Children”, and I found it effective in its execution, but it was definitely unusual and something I needed to wrap my head around a bit before I could enjoy it to the same extent as other sections of the book.

As beautifully written as what this book is, though, I feel it fell apart in terms of plot progression. Each chapter or part of the book is told from the viewpoint of a different character. In the beginning of the book, the plot moves forward relatively linearly and is engaging. However, as the book progresses, Mbue seems to employ a strategy of jumping forward an inexplicable amount of time and using her chosen character to reflect alternately on the plot that was missed and the distant past that has little to do with the current storyline. I can understand this being an artistic choice, but to me, it felt like there was an awful lot of padding that didn’t need to be there for the message and the story of the book to still shine through.

Overall, I think this book was good. Better than average, but not life-altering. I liked it well enough, and it kept me reading, but if I had been the editor, I think I would have felt inclined to trim some of the fat around the edges and tighten it up. All that being said, Imbolo Mbue has crafted a book that is immensely atmospheric and written beautifully, even when it wanders a little bit far from its track.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canongate for the ARC.