Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - How Beautiful We Were

i appreciated the alternating perspectives with chapters from "The Children" then chapters from Thula's family. my fault for expecting a different type of outcome at the end, how things played out were consistent with the storytelling, it was just upsettingly realistic.

i was a little uncomfortable that when Thula arrives in NY, Austin is described kind of like a father figure? and the ritual that the twins subject her to didn't seem to have any further reason in the story.

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mauricekofi's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Mbue writes yet another insightful yet heartbreaking story, more so than her previous Behold the Dreamers. Again, the follies and pride of African men destroy the dreams of the women they claim to love and protect. But more importantly she writes a story of resistance that while fraught, should be a lesson to all about the fruits of struggle and the need for unity when we are at our lowest

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cyden's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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tlaynejones's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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emalderwood's review

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dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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gesinecauer's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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mscalls's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

I loved Mbue’s debut book, Behold the Dreamers, and after enjoying this one as well she’s officially become an auto buy author!

The story takes us through generations of Kosawa residents with switching POVs from Thula, different members of her family, and the children of the village. Their stories are emotional but contain glimmers of hope as they fight to get their land back from an oil corporation poisoning their families.

How Beautiful We Were has beautiful writing and well written, complex characters. I just love her storytelling style and ability to create such depth with all of her characters, giving each their own unique voice.

The chapters are a little too long for my taste making it feel slower/harder to read here and there, but as I got further into the novel, the chapters started to go by faster.

Overall a heartbreaking but enjoyable, groundbreaking novel! I can’t wait to see what Mbue writes next.

TW/CW: child death, kidnapping, imprisonment, death, miscarriage/stillbirth, grief, colonization, violence, blood, child sexual abuse, gun violence, mass shooting, slavery, religious bigotry (brief mention), rape

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