For Cameroon, I read How Beautiful We Were: A Novel by Imbolo Mbue. This is the story of a fictional village called Kosawa, and a fictional American oil company that sets up camp nearby and wrecks havoc upon the land with pipeline spills and noxious fumes. The water is poisoned, the soil is ruined, the air is toxic, and children are dying in heartbreaking numbers. If I had to describe this book as quickly as possible, I’d call it Erin Brokovich: The African Edition.

The novel is told from different perspectives, including many chapters told from the perspective of “the Children.” The Children are a group of age mates, and when it’s their turn to narrate, the story is told from the perspective of “we” and “us.” Over the course of several decades, the persons included in this group change and shift. This sounds like a narrative disaster, but Mbue makes it work. (Also, how lovely is the concept of age mates?)

This book does something that I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered in a novel: it raises questions about the role of corporations in modern society. What is a corporation? Does it have a sense of morality? What happens when an American corporation does business in countries ruled by corrupt governments? Can the American legal system hold American corporations responsible when the corporation engages in illegal acts in distant continents? Should it?

I kept thinking about the gas I buy to fuel my SUV. Where does the oil to make the gas come from? What harms are being done? What uncomfortable truths am I ignoring?

I could go on, because this book really made me think and raised a lot of questions about environmental degradation, corporate morality (or lack thereof), corruption, courage, resistance, and revolution. If I was a high school literature teacher, I’d definitely want my students reading this book. I do believe I’ll be adding Imbolo Mbue to my list of favorite authors.