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How Beautiful we Were

Mbue, Imbolo. Book - 2021 Adult Book / Fiction / General / Mbue, Imbolo, Fiction / Mbue, Imbolo 2 On Shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Call Number: Adult Book / Fiction / General / Mbue, Imbolo, Fiction / Mbue, Imbolo
On Shelf At: Malletts Creek Branch, Traverwood Branch

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"'We should have known the end was near.' So begins Imbolo Mbue's exquisite and devastating novel How Beautiful We Were. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells the story of a people living in fear amidst environmental degradation wrought by a large and powerful American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of clean up and financial reparations to the villagers are made--and ignored. The country's government, led by a corrupt, brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interest. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight the American corporation. Doing so will come at a steep price. Told through multiple perspectives and centered around a fierce young girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary, Joy of the Oppressed is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghosts of colonialism, comes up against one village's quest for justice--and a young woman's willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people's freedom"-- Provided by publisher.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Book is ok submitted by chanteliu on July 29, 2022, 3:47pm It's a nice book that covers a lot of important topics. I found the story plot to be kind of slow.

The Greed of an Oil Company amongst the Villages of Africa submitted by ekjensen on August 27, 2022, 1:36pm The Ngani family (main character daughter Thula) from the village of Kosawa struggle, fight and die to stop/correct the pollution and destruction caused by the oil company Pexton

An African Story about Capitalism submitted by khrobinson on July 18, 2023, 6:29pm This book was set in a fictional village in Africa that was the victim of colonialism and environmental exploitation at the hands of an American oil company. It told the story of how the community fought back against the corporation and lost over and over again.

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PUBLISHED
New York : Random House, 2021.
Year Published: 2021
Description: 364 p.
Language: English
Format: Book

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9780593132425
0593132424

SUBJECTS
Villages -- Africa -- Fiction.
Oil spills -- Fiction.
Environmental degradation -- Fiction.
Corporations -- Fiction.
Africa -- Fiction.