Successful journalist writes touching memoir his life with a mother who has overcome a lifetime of hard knocks. (Possible spoiler alert!) As a youngster, the writer's Jewish "Mommy" immigrates, has a crippled mother, abusive father, and lives with both poverty and hunger. Later she's a runaway, disowned, married African Americans in decades full of prejudice and discrimination, widowed (twice), raises 12 kids, etc. Despite all this she co-founds a church, survives cancer, and raises 12 successful professionals who still trek to her house on holidays. It's an inspirational story and a loving tribute, along with being a thought-provoking piece on what actually determines an individual's cultural identity. ( )

A wonderfully written, exquisite story of the complex relationship of a mother, race, religion and her children. ( )

This real-life story has so many ununusal elements, in the late 30's a woman escapes her oppressive Virginian based family, to ultimately move in with her black NYC lover whom she doesn't marry until they have a few children, she converts to christianity from judaism, supports him setting up a community church and following his death (and the birth of 8 children), marries her 2nd husband, to whom she has another 4 children - and so she raises her large family in a housing project - they all receive through her absolute drive and single minded focus a great education - chapter by chapter, her story is contrasted with that of the 8th child (James) born into this complex arrangement, and with his mother (and various family members) support, successfully navigates his way through the challenges that confron him - in between all of these facts is the wonderful emotional glue of the mother's determination and how her various children respond to her call. ( )

Wonderful story of the author's upbringing by his very unorthodox mother who herself was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family. Due to the narrowness of her family's views and the abusiveness of her father, she leaves home at a young age. She winds up in New York City, falls in love with a black man, marries, has 8 children with her husband and they start a church in Brooklyn. When he dies at a young age, right when the author was born, she marries again to another black man and has 4 more children. The children mostly grow up in the Red Hook Housing Project in Brooklyn and due to their mother's emphasis on education, and the love in the home they all graduate college, with most obtaining advanced degrees and become professionals in various fields. The author's mother never talks about her past, the author did not know her maiden name until college, or even that she was white, instead she says she is light skinned or the color of water, meaning that there is no color and color is not important. Their story is fascinating and the book is very easy to read. Highly recommended. ( )

An interesting true account of a white woman raising 12 successful black children. Similar in many ways to Barack Obama's Dreams from my father. ( )