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Title: The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride ISBN: 1-57322-578-9 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: February, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (454 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Past history isn't history, it isn't even past.
Comment: "The Color of Water" is a wonderful, moving story of an amazing family. I was absorbed in the narrative immediately, and transported to a world quite unlike any I'd read about in a while.
The author, James McBride, recreates his childhood after he came to better understand the life of his mother, a white Jewish immigrant who abandonded a painful childhood to move to New York and raise a family of 12 children. She was disowned by her family when she married a black man, and spent most of her exiled life in black neighborhoods in New York. She fits in quite well, much better than she would elsewhere.
Only as an adult does the author find out the full story of his mother's previous life, and it is told by his mother in gripping first person segments between chapters written by him. Although this device could have been distracting, it's actually the most effective way of doing it, because it reinforces how removed that life is from the one his mother has lived since. But, as all good memoirs remind us, our past isn't history because it informs who we are to this day.
Ruth McBride's life is amazing, both for what she endures and for the fact that manages to instill in her children a strong faith in God. She values education above all, and all of her children are hugely successful today. Anyone who has tried to balance their own life and finances will marvel that one woman was able to do all that she had done.
This book isn't perfect, but I really enjoyed it. McBride is only an average writer, with a tendency to fall into cliches and repetitive phrases. What lifts it up is the story itself, which is moving and inspiring.
Rating: 5
Summary: Black, white, tan, yellow. Doesn't matter. Read it.
Comment: Beautiful memoir by a gifted musician and writer, offering a hymn of praise to his Jewish mother (Orthodox, born in Poland, abusive childhood, etc.) who married two remarkable African American husbands, gave birth to a passel of kids, and refused to discuss issues of race with her many children. She answered their question, Am I Black or White?" by telling them, "You're a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!" How this remarkable woman succeeded in raising what? about 11 kids in a crime ridden, all-black ghetto, instilling in them respect for religion and education, is at the core of this book. Told in a linear format, alternating chapters of his childhood with his mother's story (told in her voice), it sucks the reader along like riding the rills of a swiftly-moving stream. When the author asked his mother what color God is, she replied, 'The color of water,' i.e. colorless. But this novel is anything but colorless.
Must reading for all thinkers, people of all races and religions.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Incredible book!
Comment: My husband purchased this book for me for Christmas. It was hard to put down! I would recommend this to anyone ... enjoy!
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Title: Miracle at St. Anna by James McBride ISBN: 1573229717 Publisher: Riverhead Books Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools by Jonathan Kozol ISBN: 0060974990 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams ISBN: 0452275334 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: February, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich ISBN: 0805063897 Publisher: Owl Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: San Francisco Tenderloin - Heroes, Demons, Angels and Other True Stories by Larry Wonderling Ph.D. ISBN: 0965941515 Publisher: Cape Foundation Publications Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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