The Bitter Side of Sweet, Tara Sullivan
The Bitter Side of Sweet, Tara Sullivan
List: $17.99 | Sale: $12.59
Club: $8.99

The Bitter Side of Sweet

Author: Tara Sullivan

Narrator: JD Jackson

Unabridged: 9 hr 21 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/23/2016


Synopsis

Fifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. This number is very important. The higher the number the safer they are because the bosses won't beat them. The higher the number the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home to Moke and Auntie. Maybe. The problem is, Amadou doesn't know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won't tell him. The boys only wanted to make some money during the dry season to help their impoverished family. Instead they were tricked into forced labor on a plantation in the Ivory Coast. With no hope of escape, all they can do is try their best to stay alive—until Khadija comes into their lives.

She's the first girl who's ever come to camp, and she's a wild thing. She fights bravely every day, attempting escape again and again, reminding Amadou what it means to be free. But finally, the bosses break her, and what happens next to the brother he has always tried to protect almost breaks Amadou. The old impulse to run is suddenly awakened. The three band together as family and try just once more to escape.

About Tara Sullivan

Tara Sullivan is the author of the award-winning and critically acclaimed novel Golden Boy. She was born in India and spent her childhood living in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic with her parents, who were international aid workers. She received a BA in Spanish literature and cognitive science from the University of Virginia, and an MA in Latin American studies and an MPA in nonprofit management from Indiana University. She currently lives with her family in Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kym on June 08, 2020

One has to be extremely angry, heartbroken, and sad when reading this novel. I know I certainly was. While accounts of such a story are nothing new to me, just like the conditions on the mining of blood diamonds, cocoa farms, using child slavery to harvest cacao pods without pay at remote cacao plan......more

Goodreads review by Caden on September 15, 2018

The characters were bland. The ending was pretty expected too.......more

Goodreads review by Gary on June 16, 2016

Amadou and Seydou are two young Malian brothers enslaved on a cacao farm on Africa’s Ivory Coast, the origin of much of the world’s chocolate trade. When another kidnapped worker arrives, the first girl among the enslaved children, her “wildcat” tendencies challenge the overseers and lead to horrifi......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on January 04, 2016

I received a free ebook in exchange for an honest review. "The bosses said we could leave when we'd earned out our purchase price." I add. "But they wouldn't tell me how much we owed, and in all the time we worked there, I only saw boys arrive or die, never leave when they wanted to. And we never onc......more