How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were begins in the 1980’s, in a fictional village whose land has been invaded and occupied by an American oil company that plunders the areas resources, leaving the village and it’s children dying from toxic chemicals and poisoned water. 

Every eight weeks, the company representatives host a meeting in the village alongside the corrupt village leader, where concerns are voiced and promises for action are made, but the people have long since believing help will ever come. Their government is in cahoots with the oil company, leaving them to figure out for themselves how they will protect themselves and the future of their children. During the meeting, Konga, the madman of the village, stands and offers the villagers another avenue of action which will change the future of generations to come. 

This story explores the deep-rooted nuances of capitalism, neo-colonialism, power, and corruption, and “charts the ways repression, be it at the hands of a government or a corporation or a society, can turn the most basic human needs into radical and radicalizing acts”. 

Mbue has proved herself a skilled storyteller, whose prose is so vivid and will take you through an unbelievable range of emotion and into the thoughts of the characters. It left me feeling bittersweet, yet hopeful the fight would go on.

Happy reading!

Reviewed by Emma

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