Bayou Pages | “How Beautiful We Were” by Imbolo Mbue

review by Meredith McKinnie

“Someday, when you’re old, you’ll see that the ones who came to kill us and the ones who’ll run to save us are the same.”

Acclaimed as one of the best books of 2021, Imbolo Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were explores what happens to the powerless when they demand power. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, beginning in 1980, a village tribe is reckoning with the American corporate giant Pexton that is polluting its land and water. Initially promised to the tribe as a way to build generational wealth, the oil company enriches itself while generations of the villagers die from strange diseases. And Mbue stretches this classic tale of colonialism, with an environmental bend, to document the village turmoil as insiders turn against their own. The generational saga unfolds as a constant tug-of-water, reminiscent of a David and Goliath tale. 

In the opening scene, Pexton representatives visit the tribe to hear complaints of mysterious deaths. After promising change for the umpteenth time, local madman Konga steals the rep’s car keys and demands the villagers hold the men prisoner. What unfolds is a decades-long battle with the company and the country’s dictator who has sold the wellbeing of his citizens for corporate profit. The villagers appeal to American journalists, American activists, and the American legal system, desperate to save themselves and their homeland. The story is told through the viewpoint of several villagers, namely, Thula who is educated for the purpose of saving her people. And while this might sound like a slow march to an ultimate death, as the title suggests, Mbue shows the heart and commitment of a collective fighting for their very lives. 

Mbue’s magic is found in the nuances of such a story, how the African villagers rely on America for help from an American company. With rich character description and vividly detailed landscapes, Mbue can make readers long for a simpler way of life, even with the threat of extinction knocking at the door. This multi-generational novel shows how these problems affect generations and how generational differences affect the villagers’ response. Mbue illuminates the pride and connection of a people entirely dependent upon themselves. 

While impressive in scope and heart, this novel can start to feel like a slog about 200 pages before its end. Initially riveted and on the edge of my seat, I found myself taking longer gaps between reads. I see why it received critical acclaim, and I do think it is worth reading, though I wish editors had taken more liberty with its length. Mbue’s previous novel Behold the Dreamers won the PEN/Faulkner award for fiction. 

“We should have known the end was near.”