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How Beautiful We Were
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi, Janina Edwards, Dion Graham, JD Jackson, Allyson Johnson, Lisa Renee Pitts
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Historical Fiction
Publisher's Summary
A fearless young woman from a small African village starts a revolution against an American oil company in this sweeping, inspiring novel from the New York Times best-selling author of Behold the Dreamers.
“A novel with the richness and power of a great contemporary fable, and a heroine for our time.” (Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend, winner of the National Book Award)
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 of a people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to the villagers are made - and ignored. The country’s government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interests. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price.
Told from 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 on to its ancestral land and a young woman’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people’s freedom.
What the critics say
"Sweeping and quietly devastating...How Beautiful We Were 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.... Profoundly affecting." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Mbue reaches for the moon and...has it firmly held in her hands." (NPR)
"What a stunningly beautiful writer Mbue is, and how lucky we are to have her stories in the world." (USA Today)
More from the same
What listeners say about How Beautiful We Were
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Benjamin W. Adams
- 2021-04-04
powerful story, meh narration
This is a powerful and moving story beautifully written. I mainly struggled with being distracted by the very American accents of the supposed rural African villagers. It really took away from the book's authenticity.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mikal Gibson
- 2021-06-08
Performance
The performers (narrators) ruined this book for me. Good story though might be better to read it.
1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- David
- 2021-06-28
Oil and Water
“How Beautiful We Were” is a dark, complex tale of the fight between poor Africans and the American oil company that has contaminated their village with their own government’s support. The rivers and the farmland have been poisoned with toxic chemicals from the oil company’s operations. Children are dying. The villagers innocently believe they can persuade the oil company or their unnamed government to do the right thing and stop the pollution. But neither the oil company nor the government is willing to change. The novel follows several members of one family dealing with the crisis. These characters are well drawn, changing as time passes and the situation worsens. Different sections of the novel are narrated by different members of this family—three generations speak—as well as by “the children” who offer an overview of the village’s actions. There were some slow patches in the novel, but overall I found it a well-written, thought-provoking tale of very real problems. The several narrators did a fine job.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2021-06-25
Great story teller!
Such an amazing read! Sad but true and we’ll narrated. I’m looking forward to the next book Mbole Mbue .
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ang
- 2021-06-07
painfully beautiful
Excellently told! But the story was heartbreaking. So close to the reality of peoples around the world. If only stories like these could instigate change.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lmethot
- 2021-05-18
Loved this book
Wow such a great book so much to think about!
So much to learn.
Thanks so much Imbolo Mbue for writing and sharing this book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A. Koren
- 2021-03-14
A Masterpiece!
Easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. Deserving of all the most reknown book awards!!! Spectacular!!!