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Loading... The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother (original 1995; edition 2006)by James McBride (Author)
Work InformationThe Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride (1995)
  
Black Authors (31) » 15 more No current Talk conversations about this book.  RachelRachelRachel | Nov 21, 2023 |    ) nogomu | Oct 19, 2023 | BJMacauley | Oct 3, 2023 | A white woman living with a Black man in 1941 would have been dangerous in the South, but they found acceptance in Harlem, eventually marrying and having seven children. Dennis McBride was religious and Ruth finds solace and joy in the Baptist Church. When Ruth was pregnant with James, their eighth child, Dennis becomes sick and dies of cancer. Ruth overcomes her profound grief and goes on to marry again and have another four children. When her second husband dies when James is 14, Ruth raises her twelve children on her own. All of them go to college and become successful professionals. Her story is one of perseverance and determination. The book is written in alternating chapters with first James and then Ruth narrating. James writes of his struggles with his mixed heritage and identity and the lure of life on the street as a teen. He knew little of his mother's background, not even that she was Jewish, until he was an adult. This book is both a tribute to his mother and an uncovering of her past. Clearly she was a tremendous force in the lives of her children, although not always a gentle one. The audio version is wonderful. The narrators do a fantastic job of bringing the words to life with subtle accent and cadence changes. I highly recommend it. (  )1  labfs39 | Sep 4, 2023 | ) MGADMJK | Jul 25, 2023 |
 Wie fatal die entschlossene Weigerung dieser Frau, irgend etwas anderes zu sein als sie selbst, sich auf die nächste Generation überträgt, macht den Leser schier atemlos. Wie erfolgreich sie und ihre Kinder andererseits Teil des amerikanischen Traumes werden, nicht minder. James McBride liefert mit seinem Debut nicht nur eine Familiengeschichte ab, sondern ebenso ein Sittenbild des amerikanischen Südens der 40er Jahre und New Yorks in der Mitte dieses Jahrhunderts. Und dieses Bild ist alles andere als schwarzweiß. Belongs to Publisher SeriesKnaur Taschenbuch (61278) Has as a student's study guideAwardsNotable Lists
Biography & Autobiography.
Multi-Cultural.
Nonfiction.
HTML:From the bestselling author of Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird: The modern classic that spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list and that Oprah.com calls one of the best memoirs of a generation. Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in "orchestrated chaos" with his eleven siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. "Mommy," a fiercely protective woman with "dark eyes full of pep and fire," herded her brood to Manhattan's free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best (and mainly Jewish) schools, demanded good grades, and commanded respect. As a young man, McBride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusionâ??and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long-buried pain. In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, Ruth describes her parents' loveless marriage; her fragile, handicapped mother; her cruel, sexually-abusive father; and the rest of the family and life she abandoned. At seventeen, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all- black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the color of water," Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, Ruth's determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through collegeâ??and most through graduate school. At age 65, she herself received a degree in social work from Temple University. Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self- realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)974.71004960730092History and Geography North America Northeastern U.S. New York New York (city)LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.97)
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Wikipedia in English (2)
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Some very sad moments, as well as funny stories, are recounted. I found it really interesting how scared McBride was for his white mother's safety, when he was growing up.
The ending was a little anticlimactic and disappointing, though I can't quite put my finger on the reason for that.
There was some profanity and a couple of vulgar comments that I really wish had been edited out. (