For fans of Linda Sue Park and A Long Way Gone, two young boys must escape a life of slavery in modern-day Ivory Coast 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. The higher the number the safer they are. The higher the number the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home. 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 money 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 three band together as family and try just once more to escape. Inspired by true-to-life events happening right now, The Bitter Side of Sweet is an exquisitely written tour de force not to be missed. “A gripping and painful portrait of modern-day child slavery in the cacao plantations of the Ivory Coast.”—The Wall Street Journal “A tender, harrowing story of family, friendship, and the pursuit of freedom.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
Reviews with the most likes.
The writing is a bit uneven, but the story is compelling enough to make the book worthwhile.
Fair warning,: the first third of the book is absolutely excruciating. There is horrific child abuse, tragic misfortune, and rape used for the purpose of maintaining a power imbalance. (The rape scene is not graphic and not even directly mentioned, but it's clear what is happening and nauseating despite the vagueness.)
It's hard to separate “the story” from “the message.” This is definitely a book with an agenda (an important one). Many reviewers felt like it got too preachy at the end, but (as the mom of a middle-grader) sometimes the target audience needs connections made explicitly.
The author made good use of the theme of “counting the things that matter,” and that's one of the ideas that makes this book so good: in a world full of overwhelming, uncountable tragedies, telling the story of ONE tragedy makes it possible to see it. Stories are so much more powerful than facts.
As for the story itself, it was compelling and believable. The characters were conflicted and sometimes contradictory in a way that felt true. Even in a world dominated by abusers, there is nuance; humanity still exists even in dark places, and it brings up good questions about what leads a person to exploit others.
Like most reviewers, this solidifies my commitment to only purchase fair-trade cocoa products. I'm on the fence, though, about when I'll recommend it to my son.
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