In Kosawa, the fictional African village at the heart of Imbolo Mbue’s epic new novel, “How Beautiful We Were,” the children die because the land and water have been poisoned by an American oil company. Even the magical realism Mbue sprinkles in is no match for the twin forces of domestic corruption and American corporate imperialism. “You have to have a crazy amount of hope and maybe a little bit of madness. That’s what Thula has.”The author first conceived of what would become her second novel 17 years ago as purely Thula’s narrative. “I just felt, ‘This is a story I have to tell.’”Imbolo Mbue’s first novel, “Behold the Dreamers,” became a bestseller in 2016.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 09, 2021 15:00 UTC