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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
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How Beautiful We Were
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Intimacies
- A Novel
- Written by: Katie Kitamura
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 28
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 25
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Story4 out of 5 stars 24
An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: Her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister. And she's pulled into controversy when she’s asked to interpret for a former president accused of war crimes.
Written by: Katie Kitamura
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When We Cease to Understand the World
- Written by: Benjamín Labatut
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize. A Guardian Fiction Book of the year. Sometimes discovery brings destruction. "When We Cease to Understand the World" shows us great minds striking out into dangerous, uncharted terrain. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger: these are among the luminaries into whose troubled minds we are thrust as they grapple with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, they alienate friends and lovers, they descend into isolated states of madness.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Manages to be both disturbing and pointless
- By James P. on 2022-01-30
Written by: Benjamín Labatut
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Behold the Dreamers (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
- Written by: Imbolo Mbue
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself; his wife, Neni; and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty - and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses' summer home in the Hamptons.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Narrator made the book come alive!!!!!
- By Baker on 2017-11-01
Written by: Imbolo Mbue
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The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
- An Oprah’s Book Club Novel
- Written by: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 29 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story5 out of 5 stars 30
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s problem on her shoulders.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Magnificent story telling
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-08-22
Written by: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
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No One Is Talking About This
- A Novel
- Written by: Patricia Lockwood
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
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Story4 out of 5 stars 20
As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms "the portal," where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts. When existential threats--from climate change and economic precariousness to the rise of an unnamed dictator and an epidemic of loneliness--begin to loom, she posts her way deeper into the portal's void.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Not for everyone.
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Written by: Patricia Lockwood
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The Marriage Portrait
- Written by: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt, Maggie O'Farrell
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating account
- By Tanya B Krueger on 2023-01-25
Written by: Maggie O'Farrell
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Intimacies
- A Novel
- Written by: Katie Kitamura
- Narrated by: Traci Kato-Kiriyama
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 25
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 24
An interpreter has come to The Hague to escape New York and work at the International Court. A woman of many languages and identities, she is looking for a place to finally call home. She's drawn into simmering personal dramas: Her lover, Adriaan, is separated from his wife but still entangled in his marriage. Her friend Jana witnesses a seemingly random act of violence, a crime the interpreter becomes increasingly obsessed with as she befriends the victim's sister. And she's pulled into controversy when she’s asked to interpret for a former president accused of war crimes.
Written by: Katie Kitamura
-
When We Cease to Understand the World
- Written by: Benjamín Labatut
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 5 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9
Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize. A Guardian Fiction Book of the year. Sometimes discovery brings destruction. "When We Cease to Understand the World" shows us great minds striking out into dangerous, uncharted terrain. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger: these are among the luminaries into whose troubled minds we are thrust as they grapple with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, they alienate friends and lovers, they descend into isolated states of madness.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Manages to be both disturbing and pointless
- By James P. on 2022-01-30
Written by: Benjamín Labatut
-
Behold the Dreamers (Oprah's Book Club)
- A Novel
- Written by: Imbolo Mbue
- Narrated by: Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself; his wife, Neni; and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty - and Jende is eager to please. Clark's wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses' summer home in the Hamptons.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Narrator made the book come alive!!!!!
- By Baker on 2017-11-01
Written by: Imbolo Mbue
-
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
- An Oprah’s Book Club Novel
- Written by: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo, Karen Chilton, Prentice Onayemi
- Length: 29 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 30
The great scholar, W. E. B. Du Bois, once wrote about the problem of race in America, and what he called “Double Consciousness,” a sensitivity that every African American possesses in order to survive. Since childhood, Ailey Pearl Garfield has understood Du Bois’s words all too well. Bearing the names of two formidable Black Americans—the revered choreographer Alvin Ailey and her great grandmother Pearl, the descendant of enslaved Georgians and tenant farmers—Ailey carries Du Bois’s problem on her shoulders.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Magnificent story telling
- By Amazon Customer on 2022-08-22
Written by: Honoree Fanonne Jeffers
-
No One Is Talking About This
- A Novel
- Written by: Patricia Lockwood
- Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
- Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 20
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 20
As this urgent, genre-defying book opens, a woman who has recently been elevated to prominence for her social media posts travels around the world to meet her adoring fans. She is overwhelmed by navigating the new language and etiquette of what she terms "the portal," where she grapples with an unshakable conviction that a vast chorus of voices is now dictating her thoughts. When existential threats--from climate change and economic precariousness to the rise of an unnamed dictator and an epidemic of loneliness--begin to loom, she posts her way deeper into the portal's void.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Not for everyone.
- By Tom Taylor on 2022-11-13
Written by: Patricia Lockwood
-
The Marriage Portrait
- Written by: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt, Maggie O'Farrell
- Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 71
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Moderna and Regio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Fascinating account
- By Tanya B Krueger on 2023-01-25
Written by: Maggie O'Farrell
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.
One of the 10 Best Books of the Year: The New York Times, People • One of the Best Books of the Year: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, The Christian Science Monitor, Marie Claire, Ms. magazine, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews
“Mbue reaches for the moon and, by the novel’s end, has it firmly held in her hand.” (NPR)
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)
"What a stunningly beautiful writer Mbue is, and how lucky we are to have her stories in the world." (USA Today)
“It’s a heartbreaking and relevant story that seeps into your bones, quickly engulfs you and doesn’t let go.” (The Seattle Times)
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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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Johannah
- 2022-02-19
Frustrating but real
an oil company takes everything from a people, a people rise in resistance, an oil company take everything from a people....
it is difficult not to feel angry with the author as hope for salvation from the violent and all consuming forces of imperialism and environmental destruction are first cultivated and then slowly and systematically destroyed. but why should our anger be directed at the author when the story she has written, about a fictional village in a fictional country destroyed by a fictional oil company, has played out in exactly this way and ways even more horrifying in real villiages and countries all over the globe - a thousand Kosawas over and over and over again. who really deserves our anger and frustration? I wanted another story. I wanted fiction to deliver the salvation that this world denies us. But maybe we are not meant to find salvation in stories. maybe it is something we must create for ourselves.
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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
- Anonymous User
- 2021-12-31
Absolutely outstanding
I completely enjoyed listening to this captivating story. The character development and different POVs are woven together beautifully.
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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.
6 people found this helpful
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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
- Anonymous User
- 2021-10-18
As relevant as it is heart-wrenching
In a time where folks in the US are defending the need for critical race theory and teaching a more complete and accurate history of our nation’s founding and coming of age ever since…. this novel drives straight to the heart of western colonization, extraction and extermination of African cultures. The extended chapters that illuminate the voices and private wonderings of each character are so moving, so insightful and passionate. Altho the story is fictional, we have too much information to deny the deep truth within it. As I finish the book this evening, I grieve for all the untold loss… of human lives, of homelands, of languages, music, the rituals. I won’t lie, this book was painful. Yet I’m glad to have “read” it for the belief that opening up to these difficult truths will allow me to tap the depths of humanity. My highest praise to you, Imbolo Mbue and thoughts of love and tenderness as you heal and emerge from the experience of the research and writing of How Beautiful We Were.
5 people 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.
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.
3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- dearpru
- 2022-04-12
Ambitious attempt to capture reality
This book bit off a big, toxic chunk of what is really happening to indigenous people all over the world and narrowed it down to the lives of a handful of individuals living in one African village who narrated the story. Entrancing at first, the tale soon grew preachy and heavy with on-the-nose wide-ranging reflections & observations made by the characters who became increasingly self-righteous, victimized or corrupted.
2 people found this helpful
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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
- S. Martin
- 2021-09-13
Powerful / Brilliant /Beautifully written
A must read! A story that needed to be told. Wonderfully developed characters. The narration on Audible was superb. Mbue is amazingly talented and she has such a beautiful way with words. I will remember this story always!
2 people found this helpful
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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 .
2 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- AnnaOakley
- 2023-01-27
Too slow for me to ever get in to…
Readers were not the problem, but after 2 hours I was still struggling to get engaged. This one will go on a very short list of DNFs. Couldn’t finish.
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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
- Michael Chavinda
- 2022-12-29
Great book
The voices were really soothing. I liked the reading a lot. the story itself was pretty sad at the end. I was hoping for something more uplifting.
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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
- Lydia
- 2022-10-16
A Masterpiece! Insightful & Articulate!
A saga relevant to anyone who cares about humanity (or those open to being informed). The depth of the narration makes me feel deep compassion for people "gamed"by opportunists without scruples.