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PRODUCT
The Color of Water
Product Description:
Price:
$12.99
Detailed description:
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction, and Kill ‘Em and Leave, a James Brown biography.
The incredible modern classic that launched James McBride’s literary career.
Over two years on The New York Times bestseller list
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 confusion—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 college—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.
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Product group:
Categories: Women Writers
Product name:
The Color of Water
Price:
$12.99
hope –
Compelling, thought invoking, wonderful, great writing! Wonderfully written, a lot of profound insight into many hard topics and times! The writer having lived it himself how wonderful to let us in to look at how he, triumphed over hardships! Great Job!!
Denise H –
I’m not a huge reader, normally it would take me over a month to finish any book. My usual feeling of trekking through the pages of a book was not, yes I said not, found in The Color of Water by James Mcbride. This book is universally relatable on so many different levels. Within most of the chapters there was something that emotionally impacted me on a certain level. This book is a roller coaster, it has it’s ups and it has it’s downs . This is why I decided to give my book 4 stars.
James Mcbride is one of twelve mixed race siblings, with a white, single, jewish mom, during the 1940’s. During that time, there was a lot of racial discrimination, along with the holocaust occurring. Throughout his memoir James not only shares his life story, but Ruth’s (his mom) as well. This makes for an even more impactful story because we are seeing how Ruth grew up, and learning about the different events that has happened in her life. Knowing her background while reading the story, allows us to understand the way she has raised her children and how she handles different situations with life and/or her kids.
I’m not a mom, but I know raising 12 kids is an arduous effort. Ruth wasn’t able to keep everyone in check all the time, no matter how hard she tried. When James step-father passed away, James started to head down a bad path. His grades slipped like a man on ice, along with his behavior. He started getting involved with drugs and petty theft. When Ruth learned that James grades were slipping, and that he also was skipping school she sent him to his sister’s house down in Louisville, Kentucky. James was a mad as a bull. James ended up spending 3 consecutive summers down there. While he was down there he met a man named Chicken Man. Chicken Man played a very influential part in James life, they first met on the “corner” where a lot of the druggies or drunks could be found. While James and Chicken Man were standing on the corner, he explained to James that “everybody on this corner is smart, you ain’t no smarter than anybody here”(Mcbride 150). The Chicken Man shakes James belief that his knowledge makes him smarter than someone else. The Chicken Man shows James that all people are smart, it’s just what they do with their knowledge individualizes them.
This part of the book impacted me the me the most because i’ve started to head down bad paths in life simply because I didn’t know how to deal with the pain or emotion. During these times, my two coaches, along with my parents, are the ones that helped get me back on track. They showed me what could happen if I continued to head down the path I was on. Everyone should have a role model in their life, for James that was chicken man or his mom, and for me; my parents, along with my coaches.
This book changed my view on life and how no matter how hard times get you still need to keep going. Life is a mountain that we must continue to climb, no matter how many times we slip.It covered racial discrimination, how you can go from a bad situation and turn things around, how far religion can take you, and what you can accomplish with perseverance. James mom came from a dad who had molested her, but she didn’t let that hold her back. She went on to be married 2 times, and have 12 mixed race kids during the 1940s. She kept most of the kids in check ¾ of the time, and was able to provide for them all. Ruth, “wipes her memory instantly and with purpose” (271).She allows the bad to roll right off because she knows she has responsibilities to her kids. She is formidable, she is knowledgeable, she is unexpendable. The way Ruth raised her kids, and dealt with her own life is impeccable.
Thank you James Mcbride for giving me a new perspective on how I few things, along with having a new genre of books to read.
sgl –
The Color of Water by James McBride
This morning I finished reading James McBride’s sensitive memoir honoring his mom, whom he unabashedly calls “Mommy.” Near the end, he generously lists the names and achievements of his 11 siblings, and by that time, my heart was so invested in this family that tears welled up…both a demonstration of gratitude and somehow pride…as if I were part of this family…this family whose individuals had experiences I could only imagine.
He carefully weaves his mom’s voice (in italics) with his own in alternating chapters. Some offer gentle cliffhangers, as if I actually needed them to turn the page.
The family saga is told in rich detail, some masked, because his mom was fiercely private and often dismissed his imploring questions. There is passion, strife, poverty, secrets, faith, camaraderie, hatred, prejudice, perseverance, survival, and gratitude.
I have no idea why it took me so long to get around to reading this book (published 1/1/2006), and I have afterglow to thank after reading/loving his recent novel, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. Man, this dude can feel and write!
Lizzie –
It was an interesting insight into a world I have never known – a white Jewish woman falling in love and marrying two Christian black men, her life through the racially tough period in the US – bringing up 12 talented and educated black children without giving any of her children an I sight into her own and her family’s history. James’ long efforts to get his mother to open up to him about her past in order for him to know himself was really fascinating.
Johnsson JAN –
A must read for all!
GUGLIELMO J –
For a white woman to walk through lower Manhattan hand in hand with her twelve brown children says remakable to me ! Her sons recolllections made me smile &augh out loud page after page . I would lve to see the movie !
Annie Ann –
The book is very well written and a real feel good book.
He told the life story of his mom and it was very sweet and touching.
It is a book you will remember.
Carlo –
Uno squarcio interessante sulla america del passato. Gli ebrei, i neri e i bianchi attraverso i decenni con il filo conduttore di una donna che ha vissuto attraverso tutti questi mondi.
Reva Stern –
Product? What did I use it for? It’s a book. “The Colour of Water.” Not a product.
It’s a memoir of the challenging life of a complex family that overcame enormous barriers to find enormous success.
I preferred his new book “The Heaven And Earth Grocery Store,” which was brilliantly written and made for compelling reading.
Zoraida –
This is one of the most beautiful and moving books I have read . McBride delivers a splendid account of growing up in a mixed-race family with 12 children. The heroine is the Jewish mother who abandoned her people to marry a black man. The book recounts both the story of the courageous mother of 12 children, surviving against all odds, and that of young James McBride struggling to find his identity as a gifted musician and writer, a black man who is also the son of a white woman. The writing is superb and the book ends being a homage to his mother.
Reader in Upstate NY –
I read many different types of books – history, psychology, mythology, philosophy, and novels, literature from all periods of time. When I read a novel, I ask for two things – that the book be written well and that it have heart. If it makes me cry, all the better. James McBride certainly writes well. And he has heart, lots of heart. This book made me cry and I couldn’t stop reading it. After this experience, I’m going to read as many of his other books as I can. Wonderful author.
And clearly, I also read memoirs. This memoir read like a novel at times. It was beautiful and honest and sad and happy. After I posted my review, it hit me that this was NOT a novel. But now I’m committed to reading his novels as well. Sigh. It’s a good book, period!
Laurie Daniel –
Beautifully written. One of my all times favourite books.