Orla Ryan
Autor von Chocolate nations
Werke von Orla Ryan
Getagged
Wissenswertes
- Geburtstag
- 20th Century
- Geschlecht
- female
- Nationalität
- UK
- Wohnorte
- London, England, UK
- Berufe
- journalist
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Rezensionen
Chocolate Nations: Living and Dying for Cocoa in… von Orla Ryan
Diese Rezension wurde für LibraryThing Early Reviewers geschrieben.A thought-provoking look at Ghana and Ivory Coast, which produce about two-thirds of the world's supply of cocoa beans, and the contributions, both good and bad, that the cocoa industry makes to the lives of the people of those countries. Ryan goes beyond superficial impressions to show how the cocoa trade developed in these countries and how a lack of government accountability and investment have prevented the producers from reaping all the benefits from their role in the chocolate industry.
Diese Rezension wurde für LibraryThing Early Reviewers geschrieben.I think the strength of this book is that it introduces the reader to the complexity of the issue. Politics and poverty interlaced with human need, greed, and the rights of children are not easy issues and the problems are clearly not going to be solved by buying one particular brand of chocolate over another. Which leaves the reader with an uneasy feeling, particularly if they are supporters of the Fair Trade initiative. My criticism of the book lies with the writing, which is sometimes amateurish, surprising for a journalist with experience. Maybe the book form is not her strength. And Orla Ryan does not always present the facts and the examples clearly, resulting in confusion over what is happening and what the causes of the problems really are. However, it's good to have the information she has researched, and gives the reader something to think about. Perhaps the next book to read on the subject is Carol Off's Bitter Chocolate published by University of Queensland Press.
Thanks very much to Zed Books for supplying the review copy.… (mehr)
Thanks very much to Zed Books for supplying the review copy.… (mehr)
This book was interesting, but I thought it was poorly written. For example, the author mentions that farmers don't necessarily sell their cocoa beans to Fair Trade organizations because there are an abundance of buyers, and at the end of the book she says that there are very few buyers and that this is a bad thing for farmers. Which is it? Also, she alternately calls farmers smallholders, producers and farmers. I knew smallholders was a synonym, but until the end of the book I thought the term producers referred to a completely different entity in the world of cocoa, which is not very well explained in this book. Finally, the writing itself was poorly executed, especially for a journalist. Several times while reading a sentence I would think to myself "didn't I just read that?" and sure enough, almost the same exact wording was used in a similar sentence earlier in the paragraph.
Chocolate Nations brings up a lot of issues but gives them relatively short space, which makes sense for a book that isn't super in-depth. This does, however, make you want to know more about something only for the topic to change. An entire chapter is devoted to child slavery which in essence said "it doesn't really exist and children only work because people are in a lot of poverty."
I guess this book would have been better off as a short article (and better suited to the author who is primarily a journalist for Reuters) or else a long, well explained, in-depth look into the cocoa industry. For now, I have a slightly better understanding of the issues than I did before, but more lingering questions than answers.… (mehr)
Chocolate Nations brings up a lot of issues but gives them relatively short space, which makes sense for a book that isn't super in-depth. This does, however, make you want to know more about something only for the topic to change. An entire chapter is devoted to child slavery which in essence said "it doesn't really exist and children only work because people are in a lot of poverty."
I guess this book would have been better off as a short article (and better suited to the author who is primarily a journalist for Reuters) or else a long, well explained, in-depth look into the cocoa industry. For now, I have a slightly better understanding of the issues than I did before, but more lingering questions than answers.… (mehr)
Diese Rezension wurde für LibraryThing Early Reviewers geschrieben.Thanks LibraryThing for this interesting book. Well researched and enlightening on various desperate and ill informed practices in the chocolate industry in West Africa. Sorry for the late review. A good read, and a truly thorough examination of this industry.
Will make you think about fair trade -- and if you want to consume this sweet that is made under quite poor conditions by poor farmers and desperate, often terribly underage, workers.
Will make you think about fair trade -- and if you want to consume this sweet that is made under quite poor conditions by poor farmers and desperate, often terribly underage, workers.
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