Review of Bitter Seeds:the quest for black gold

[nwankwo chibuchi]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Bitter Seeds:the quest for black gold" by Eddie Ferraioli.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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In Bitter Seeds; The Quest for Black Gold, Eddie Ferraioli wrote a story of great substance. This is a story with many layers that go deeper than the mind can fathom. Alessandro Ferriaioli Florenzano and his twin brother, Nicola, are brought down from their local village of Alciello. One makes it to Rome by becoming a priest and an official of the Holy See, while the other makes it through his own headiness. The latter does not wait for blessings to fall on his lap but bangs on the gates of blessings with strength, courage, and bravery. Regardless, they both end up in Vatican City, where politics, sex, crime, power, and wealth are the opiates of the masses. Sons are lost, men are made, and destinies are foreseen and molded in this story. In this book, one would find life-transforming narratives about love, power, and life. This book teaches perseverance and the necessity of hard work.

One beautiful thing about this book is that it contains intelligent commentary on the politics of Italy, Spain, and Puerto Rico. A rich narration of history abounds in it also. It is a fount of invaluable knowledge. I like the abundance of action and mobility in this book. Rome, as depicted in this book, is a city that never sleeps because new pathways are being found everywhere in it. That attribute of Rome made for a fascinating plot as something was always happening; there was something new happening every other day, which made for a great source of entertainment.

The exhaustive recollection of history became quite a drag at some point. The narration of history was needlessly extensive, and this made it a little difficult to get into the story. Without a doubt, history is a part of life that should be shared with pride, but most of the history narrated was tangential and had no actual bearing on the plot and its development. That stopped me from fully enjoying the story at the core of this book. I also did not appreciate the stereotypical portrayal of Black people in the book. The only Black people that were characters in the book were sex workers, menial labourers, or native doctors. It felt like Black people could not simply exist without being called the pejorative n-word or going out of their way to be impressive magical beings.

Despite my misgivings, I still find Bitter Seeds; The Quest for Black Gold to be entertaining and full of the grit used to build character. However, the book was not professionally edited; I found a lot of errors in it. Owing to the errors in the book and the points noted in the fourth paragraph of this review, I give it a two out of four stars rating.

This is a book that builds character, and I would recommend it to anyone who values the strength of character. For anyone looking to learn European history but with great fiction to make it enjoyable, this book is for you.

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Bitter Seeds:the quest for black gold
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[Adaeze Joan]

Though this book contains thought-provoking themes, it also teaches a lot, especially on politics and history. Thanks for the review.

[Blessing E]

Perfectly written. This is an exceptionally written review that gives every reader a proper information about what to expect. Well done.

[OTrain Disene]

I love politics, so those aspect of the book would be more appealing to me. Your review was honest and well detailed. I liked going through it.

[Mogashoa KM]

Great way of finding success in life is to see the gold. I like the book.

[Soraya Bayah]

The premise is intriguing, but the fact that it has exhaustive-history content is a dealbreaker for me. I tend to get easily distracted when reading tedious passages. Nonetheless, I enjoyed your insightful review and the way you approached the book's negatives. Thank you for a critical review!

[Mbrooks2518]

The characters sound interesting, and it seems like an entertaining book for people wanting to learn more about history. Great review!

[Nwankwo GC]

This seems like a really complex story that I would ordinarily have passed up on, but your comprehensive review draws me to this one. I'll check this out when I find time to do so. Great job.