My Beloved World
by Sonia Sotomayor
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Description
"An instant American icon--the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court--tells the story of her life before becoming a judge in an inspiring, surprisingly personal memoir. With startling candor and intimacy, Sonia Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood and the refuge she took with her passionately spirited show more paternal grandmother. She describes her resolve as a young girl to become a lawyer, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. She writes about her deeply valued mentors, about her failed marriage, about her cherished family of friends. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book, destined to become a classic of self-discovery and self-invention, alongside Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father"-- show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
I've read so many books lately that have made me increasingly cynical about our world. "My Beloved World" has finally broken the jinx. Justice Sotomayor lays out her life in candid terms, both the hardships and the joys. Her character comes through loud & clear, and she's a woman every girl should look up to as a hero. I loved loved loved this book; it just ended too soon.
Sonia Sotomayor is the quintessential American success story. From next to nothing to the Supreme Court, Sotomayor made the best of what she had and sought out what she didn’t have. I was impressed not only by the description of her hard work during her early life, but also about the candor with which she talked about not only her deficiencies, but also the help she received because of her ethnic heritage. She is an affirmative action success story having received a leg up where she deserved it to make up for some of the hardships of her early life where nothing was given to her. One thing I leaned in the book that surprised me is how Yale law school where Sotomayor attended, was understandably competitive to get into, but show more surprisingly uncompetitive to survive with no grades and no class rank, two benchmarks that make other law schools brutal. Doubtless, Sotomayor would have excelled wherever she had decided to go to law school. I didn’t know much about Sotomayor before reading this book, and having read it, I learned the most important thing I could have hoped for: I learned that we are more than well served by Sonia Sotomayor’s sitting on the Supreme Court of the United States. And I can’t say that for all of the rest of the Court. show less
I think this may be one of my favorite memoirs I've read in a long time. If you're looking for recent stuff, such as being nominated and then appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court, you won't find that in this book. What you will find is a candid, forthright description of Justice Sotomayor's earlier life: growing up as a girl of Puerto Rican heritage, in a low income, but hard working family, overcoming economic odds, health threats (Juvenile Diabetes in that time had far worse outcomes), school and university experiences, and life in her early days as a lawyer and wife. It was fascinating, particularly those early days. Justice Sotomayor's description of her interview at Radcliffe was especially great, enough so that I read it to show more my husband. Essentially, she'd never encountered anyone in a little black dress and pearls giving an interview before, had never seen an oriental carpet, nor a white couch (as was in the interviewer's office) let alone a couch without plastic on it. Then these two little lap dogs came barreling down on her, barking furiously, and she knew Radcliffe was not a fit for her. (Later, my husband and I ran into a pair of lapdogs yapping at us, and christened them "Radcliffe rats".) I was impressed with Justice Sotomayor before reading this book, but after doing so, really do admire her for what she has done with her life, and for holding true to her principles and the law of the US. show less
What a refreshing memoir by a fascinating woman! Her honesty about herself makes her an endearing writer to read. From losing her father at a young age to finding her way in places where people like her were not always welcome, she comes with a big heart and soul. I tagged this as an author I think I would be friends with!
Incredible self-portrait of Sonia Sotomayor growing up in an impoverished Latinx community in NYC and how she got to law school, despite the difficulties. It is very detailed; her feelings at each stage of her life and her feelings about the people she meets are fully 3-dimensional. Her strength of spirit really shines throughout this memoir. Fantastic read.
Another library audiobook serendipity, not a book I would have considered otherwise, My Beloved World was engrossing. I can picture so easily Sonia's apartment in the projects, her grandmother's parties, their vacations to Puerto Rico. Even when her life moves beyond all that, she weaves in memories of her extended family throughout the narrative, so you never forget how her past forms her present.
The saddest part of the book, from my perspective, was her divorce. She and Kevin met in high school, spent every weekend in college together (studying!), lived a happy life together as a married couple for three years in New Haven, and then as soon as Sonia starts working, it all falls apart. She doesn't tell us what becomes of Kevin -- does show more he get married, have a big family? I respect her discretion -- but the memoir seems incomplete without a better understanding not so much of what went wrong, but of how she feels about it now. Is her life better off without him? Could she have even lived her life the way she wanted if she were married? This is the key question. She clearly revels in a wide network of close friends: Could that network have been created and maintained if she were devoting that energy to her marriage? This omission is only a slight drawback, however, in a memoir where she's surprisingly open about so many things. show less
The saddest part of the book, from my perspective, was her divorce. She and Kevin met in high school, spent every weekend in college together (studying!), lived a happy life together as a married couple for three years in New Haven, and then as soon as Sonia starts working, it all falls apart. She doesn't tell us what becomes of Kevin -- does show more he get married, have a big family? I respect her discretion -- but the memoir seems incomplete without a better understanding not so much of what went wrong, but of how she feels about it now. Is her life better off without him? Could she have even lived her life the way she wanted if she were married? This is the key question. She clearly revels in a wide network of close friends: Could that network have been created and maintained if she were devoting that energy to her marriage? This omission is only a slight drawback, however, in a memoir where she's surprisingly open about so many things. show less
It is a rare event for any political memoir to exhibit anything like true honesty, feeling, and candor. This book was a pleasure to read. I'd even pass it along to my mother.
Justice Sotomayor's legal opinions and courtroom style are a tough, 'just-the-facts' approach, and it is easy enough to see the roots of this toughness in her own upbringing. South Bronx, juvenile diabetes, Catholic education, father died young. Yet instead of becoming wholly cynical from this or her later trials, this feeling of personal drive and self-reliance continues to the present day.
Perhaps another sign of the book's quality is that it is not too political (with the exception of a whole-hearted defense of affirmative action, but this is entirely show more understandable). Instead, it is more empathetic and personal, offering courtroom banter and the stories of friends and family as a more background look at her view of life. Empathy is a quality which is only too rare in the higher echelons of power and law these days. In "su mundo adorado", perhaps those who have been at the very darkest valley can be fit to judge at the top of the highest mountain. show less
Justice Sotomayor's legal opinions and courtroom style are a tough, 'just-the-facts' approach, and it is easy enough to see the roots of this toughness in her own upbringing. South Bronx, juvenile diabetes, Catholic education, father died young. Yet instead of becoming wholly cynical from this or her later trials, this feeling of personal drive and self-reliance continues to the present day.
Perhaps another sign of the book's quality is that it is not too political (with the exception of a whole-hearted defense of affirmative action, but this is entirely show more understandable). Instead, it is more empathetic and personal, offering courtroom banter and the stories of friends and family as a more background look at her view of life. Empathy is a quality which is only too rare in the higher echelons of power and law these days. In "su mundo adorado", perhaps those who have been at the very darkest valley can be fit to judge at the top of the highest mountain. show less
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But if the outlines of Justice Sotomayor’s life are well known by now, her searching and emotionally intimate memoir, “My Beloved World,” nonetheless has the power to surprise and move the reader. Whereas the justice’s legal writings have been described by reporters as dry, methodical and technical, this account of her life is revealing, keenly observed and deeply felt.
added by lorax
My Beloved World is filled with inspiring, and surprisingly candid, stories about how the Supreme Court's first Hispanic justice overcame a troubled childhood to attend Princeton and Yale Law School, eventually earning a seat on the nation's highest court. But readers hoping to gain insight from the book into how Ms. Sotomayor might rule in key cases will have to dig deep for hints of her show more legal philosophy. The book, which covers he life prior to becoming a judge, barely says a word about the Constitution and even less about ideology. Yet one doesn't get the sense that politics were scrubbed from the text; it is rather that the topic isn't of much interest to the author. show less
added by sgump
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Author Information
8+ Works 3,663 Members
Sonia Sotomayor was born in the Bronx, New York on June 25, 1954. She graduated from Princeton University in 1976 and from Yale Law School in 1979. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York and then at a law firm. From 1992 to 1998 she served as a judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York and from 1998 to 2009 show more on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court on August 8, 2009. She is the author of the memoir My Beloved World. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- My Beloved World
- Original title
- My Beloved World
- Original publication date
- 2013
- People/Characters
- Sonia Sotomayor; Celina Báez; Juan Luis Sotomayor "Juli"; Juan "Junior" Sotomayor; Nelson; Mercedes (show all 26); Gloria; Gallego; Omar; Carmen; Aurora; Eddie; Miriam; Lillian; Kevin Noonan; Ken Moy; Elisa; Dolores Chavez; Dave Botwinik; Kiley; Alessandro Saracino-Fendi; Theresa; Robert M. Morgenthau; Jose Cabranes; Conner; Corey
- Important places
- The Bronx, New York, New York, USA; Puerto Rico; Washington, D.C., USA; New York, New York, USA
- Epigraph
- Perdonadle al desterrado
ese dulce frenesi
vuelvo a mi mundo adorado,
y yo estoy enamorado
de la tierra en que naci.
. . .
Forgive the exile
this sweet frenzy;
I return to my beloved wor... (show all)ld,
in love with the land where I was born.
- from "To Puerto Rico (I Return),"
by Jose Gautier Benitez - First words
- (Preface) Since my appointment to the Supreme Court, I have spoken to a wide variety of groups in different settings, answering all sorts of questions.
(Prologue) I was barely awake, and my mother was already screaming.
I was not yet eight years old when I was diagnosed with diabetes. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Afterward, back in the robing room, I confessed my satisfaction: "Theresa, I think this fish has found her pond."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)In this life I am truly blessed. - Original language
- English US
Classifications
- Genres
- Politics and Government, Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 347.73 — Society, government, & culture Law U.S. Supreme Court - Judicial Decisions North America Civil procedure and courts of the United States
- LCC
- KF8745 .S67 .A3 — Law Law of the United States Law of the United States (Federal) Courts. Procedure Court organization and procedure
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 1,601
- Popularity
- 14,199
- Reviews
- 56
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- 6 — English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 23
- ASINs
- 9