Friday, December 9, 2016

Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan Chapters 1-6

Hello, world! Today, I will give you a short summary of my notes on what has happened in chapters 1-6 of the book Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan.

In Chapter 1 of Golden Boy, we discover the main character named Habo is a 13-year-old boy who is an Albino, meaning his skin is white instead of the others who have black skin. Habo lives with his 2 brothers, his sister and his mother in Tanzania. His father abandoned his family once Habo was born as he thought Habo was bad luck. Since Habo is different, people treat him in a bad way: “ It’s that stupid ghost boy’s fault.”

Later, in chapter 2, we find that Habo works hard on the fields of his family’s farm. We learn about some of the difficulties being Albino. Habo has white skin that burns quickly, and his eyes are not suitable for seeing in long distances. The family begins to prepare to leave their house. They are destitute and want a better life, so they plan to go to Mwanza.

The family begins the journey to Mwanza in chapter 3. They disguise themselves as Maasai, so people take them as one of their own. We find that Habo’s sister, Asu is nicest to him. They meet Alasiri while camping on the roads. Alasiri is a man who offers them a trip North to Mwanza in his Jeep. Habo and Alasiri don’t like each other, this may be foreshadowing, Alasiri might hurt Habo in some way.

In Chapter 4, we find out that Alasiri is a poacher. He kills elephants and other animals for ivory and other materials. I feel sorry for Habo, even his own brother is mean to him. Habo cares about the animal, so he starts to hate Alasiri. Alasiri confirms the trip to the North, so Habo thinks that it’s okay.

They begin the trip to the North in chapter 5. Habo realizes nobody really cares if Alasiri was doing something illegal. Chui gets mad at Habo for saying that what Alasiri does is bad. Alasiri informs them that witch doctors are starting to hunt Albinos. They take their body parts and sell them in products and medicines for luck.

Lastly, in chapter 6, they reach Mwanza. They go to Habo’s aunt’s house. His aunt mentions that there are more Albinos in Mwanza. She also confirms Alasiri’s story, the people hunt albinos and sell their body parts to witch doctors for significant amounts of money. Since they repeat this multiple times throughout the chapter, I infer that Habo might get hunted at one point by someone, maybe even Alasiri.

I hope this book sounds interesting to you and without having too many spoilers, you read the book anyway.

Signing out,


-Rishab Jain

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