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Dec 17, 2009

Sara rated it:

this book spent two years on the new york times bestseller list and it's easy to see why. mcbride's "tribute" is a beautiful story, rich with detail, about his own life and his mother's. he smartly introduces almost every chapter with memories from his mother's life, in her own voice. as he tells us at the beginning and reminds us at the end, he spent 8 years talking to her and recording their conversations, so the memories in her voice are an interesting contrast to the memories in More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Amanda rated it:

I read so many books, that very few actually stick with me, even 8 years after the fact. I cannot recommend this book enough. McBride writes from two different points of view: himself, and his mother. He parallels his growing up in poverty to his mother's story of moving to Harlem, before the civil rights movement. It is amazing. I had the opportunity to meet the author at a writer's conference right after we read this for bookclub, and he is a gentle soul who has the most respect for his mother More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jul 10, 2009

Sparrow rated it:

If Cheaper By the Dozen, by Frank Gilbraith Jr., and The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, ever somehow met and had an "I like you as a friend, not a lover" child, The Color of Water would be it - race and a ridiculous amount of kids. The concept is compelling, and I would recommend this book to anyone who was disappointed that Run, Ann Patchett's most recent book, didn't deal more directly with race issues in a mixed-race family. Nominally, this book is a tribute to James McBride's moth More...

11 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2007

Gabriel rated it:

Have you ever thought about not living with your real mom after being with her while you growing up all your life. The book " The Color of Water" is about a teenage kid who thinks that hes not living with his real mother. The reason he thinks that is because they are not the same color skin and his mother wont explain why is it like that. His fathers is in jail for committing a crime so he really doesnt know alot about him because he didnt grow up with him. This kid has a lot of strugg More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 13, 2008

T.J. rated it:

I am so thankful this book exists. As a child of a black father and a white mother, I was immensely drawn into the narrative of James MacBride's life. My story is not one as connected to the racism he encountered, but it nonetheless moved me considerably. He paints a tender, endearing, nuanced portrait of his mother and her life and times, and manages to take a deep and conflicting life story and not sink into maudlin recollection or saccharine moralism. An amazing tale.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 07, 2009

Glenna rated it:

This story is about the daughter of an orthodox jewish rabbi who married a black man in 1942. She raised 12 children. Her children grew up not knowing anything about their mother's past. It's written by one of her sons. It is quite an amazing story. Absolutely loved the last chapter. The insights he finds on this journey helps him lay his own demons to rest.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 13, 2008

Sarah rated it:

This book made me feel lucky, lucky that James McBride and his mother were willing to share their story with the world. I wished I could be a family friend and get to know the characters event better. But since that isn't possible I'm glad that the author decided to write this memoir and share his family story so that people like me can experience it and learn from it.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Feb 25, 2009

Lisa rated it:

When I first started reading this book, I wondered why my friend had recommended it to me. This true story relates the life experiences of a young Jewish woman who eventually determines to choose a different and unconvential path for her life and is completely disowned by her Jewish family. Some of the events in her youth were difficult to read about, but in the end I came to admire her resiliency and strength. Despite her hardships, her sacrifices and determination on behalf of her 12 childr More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2008

Marika rated it:

The Color of Water by James McBride
This book is the "summer read" for my school book club. The Color of Water was written by a black man growing up in the 60's in a family of twelve children raised by a white mother. In seeking answers about his familial roots, James McBride discovers that his mother grew up in a Jewish family with a strict, racist father. In the search for his identity, James recalls his mother's strength, individuality, and persistence in raising twelve childre More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 20, 2008

Melinda rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2007

Stephanie "Jedigal" rated it:

Memoirs have popular for a while now, and I hate to be on the bandwagon with everyone else. But this story really touched me. I love it when a book can bring me to weep or laugh out loud. This is one of those. The author's style is matter of fact, and economical. McBride alternates between his own story, and his mother's story. At the culmination, he has brought both stories together. He allows his mother to tell her own story in her own words. When discussing his own memories, he manages to tel More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2007

Falcon rated it:

Relationships are all about expectations. And unfortunately I think my relationship with this book was unfairly hindered by my hope that it would measure up to one of my favorite books, “Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness.” Each feature a white mother of black children, and mark the struggle to define identity in an interracial family. This one fails to provide the complex anaylsis, but offers a poiniant story about a mother and son’s identities.

Author James McBride simultaneously t More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 03, 2007

aarthi rated it:

We read this in my book club, and the consensus was: Incredible story, incredible journey, and in the passages narrated by the voice of his mother, an incredibly moving and authentic voice. However, this seems to suffer from its form/style - the author is trained as a journalist, and expanded an article he initially wrote about his mother and family into a book, and it reads journalistically instead of like a memoir. You feel distant and collected when you want to feel wracked with the emotion More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 29, 2011

Joanna rated it:

This book was a revelation full of inspiration and honesty. Being mixed, I understood James' confusion with identity, especially in his mother's time and his time as well: a time when you could only be black or white. His Jewish mother is amazing, ignoring the issue of race and encouraging her children to go to school. She is a strong woman who was able to leave her past and sorrow behind in order to find happiness, which she found in Harlem with the African American community. She fell in love More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2011

Colleen rated it:

I read this book years ago, on the recommendation of my mother. It is the most amazing biography/autobiography that I've had the honor to read. I'm not a big fan of nonfiction, and often find it hard to enjoy. The Color of Water was one of those few books that shook me out of my fantasy haze and fed me some hard truths in a way that I could - and wanted to - absorb them. I recommend this book far and away above Dreams from My Father for its clarity of statement, its depths of meaning, and it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 30, 2008

Rae rated it:

McBride's mother was a white Jew who married a black man in the early 1940s. He died, leaving her alone with many children to care for. She remarried another black man and had even more kids with him. The author explains what it was like to have a white mother but live, for the most part, in a black world. All of her children graduated from college because education was so important to her.

One thing I took away from the book is that we don't have to be perfect parents in order to rai More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 19, 2007

Laura rated it:

James McBride's moving and unique story falls onto the pages as I imagine his notes must fall when he's playing jazz. It's so lyrically written that you forget it's a true story. And what a story it is. I'm amazed at how his mother managed to bring up so many accomplished and educated children, given her circumstances and enormous odds. And that's just the beginning. We learn how James comes to terms with his identity, being the son of a white Jewish mother and a black father, and we follow the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 24, 2009

Lexi rated it:

I enjoyed reading The Color of Water, although I wouldn't rank it one of my favorites. One of the reasons why is because of the author's style, I found that James McBride originally wrote this as a newspaper article and then turned it into a book. So the book reads as if it were written more from a journalist than a novelist.

Although the story itself is very amazing. McBride tells the story of his mother's life and fits his own in-between hers. It's a book that flips back and More...

2 comments like

Dec 12, 2008

Rossi rated it:

Have you ever felt that tour life was tough? Things weren't fair? Have you ever been confused? Struggling? Imagine living nearly your entire life that way. The book The Color of Water by James McBride is a story about a black boy with eleven siblings, both older and younger and also black, and their white mother. The mother, born Jewish during the Holocaust, lived with her older brother, younger sister, disabled mother, and self - centered father as a child. She ran away as a teenager with no More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Leslie rated it:

In the autobiography, The Color of Water, James McBride tells the emotional and inspiring story of growing up in Brooklyn, born to an African-American father and a Jewish mother. During his early youth, James recognized that his mother seemed different. Of course, as any youth would, he began asking questions. James asked his mother about the color of her skin, she remarked that she was simply light-skinned. James also asked what color God was and she said: “God is the color of water. Water does More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Antof9 rated it:

My lame review from BookCrossing:

I really need to write journal entries on these books when I read them! To put in perspective how far behind I am on journal writing, this book was #58 for me for the year. I'm currently on #85! oh dear ....

And now for the ironic part: one of the reasons I re-read this this year was so that I could actually write a real journal entry. Sadly, I didn't mark anything specific and have nothing brilliant to say! I do, however, know beyond More...

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Jan 26, 2012

Gregory rated it:

This is memoir of James McBride, who recounts his early childhood and present life as he researches his mother’s background because he had always wondered where his mother had come from. The whole curiosity starts up when he was seven and he asked his if she was white, she simply said that she was "light-skinned", which started his personal confusion about his own racial identity. In the memoir McBride retells his story by alternating between his mother's personal story and his own More...

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Jan 25, 2012

Stephane rated it:

In “The Color of Water,” James McBride tells an inspiring story of growing up in Brooklyn, after being born to an African-American father and a Jewish mother. His mother Ruth, came to America as a young girl with a family of Jewish immigrants. The family settled in Virginia where her father attempted to dedicate himself as a rabbi. Upon discovering that he would not be able to find work, he settled for owning a grocery store where Ruth spent a large portion of her day working. The family lacked More...

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Oct 29, 2011

Colleen rated it:

Very interesting book. James McBride, born to a white, Jewish mother and a Black father has a hard time coming to terms with his identity and his mother would never tell her children about her background. Finally, when James became an adult, he convinced his mother to tell her story. It's a fascinating story of her own parents who lived in Poland and came to the U.S. with her and settled in the South. It was taboo for a white woman to marry a black man, but, for James' mother, it was the Black c More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 03, 2011

Noah rated it:

The Color of Water was a pretty good book. The story was very well planned out. I liked the change between James and his mother. It added a good twist to the story. It would let you know the story of how James came to be the way he is. On the other side, it shows how James had to deal with being mixed.

This brings me to the time line, which was very well written. Cause, the story was written around the 50's/60's. Back then, in the U.S., we weren't all the best of friends, blacks and w More...

1 comment like

Oct 03, 2011

Deathreader rated it:

When I first saw this book, I thought it would be full of religious trouble. But I was wrong, though it was about trouble. It was mostly about a boy and his mother and his family and his mother's past. It was good and others would probably love it, but for me, I would only read it once. The things his mother's father did to her were horrible and I am glad that he is dead.
The style was good and made me see things in the first person point of view. But then it would go into past tense when it More...

1 comment like

May 24, 2011

Kristine rated it:

"The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride is a story about the life of a woman named Ruth. Ruth and her family were Polish, Jewish immigrants coming to America, so they had to adapt to society. A major theme that occurs throughout the story is identity. Ruth had changed her name twice as she got older, trying to fit better into society. She also had a difficult time because she was white and her kids were dark. One of her children, James, would co More...

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Apr 15, 2011

Claire rated it:

Yet another book that I wanted desperately to love like everyone else. I just couldn't though. While the rest of America seemed to be inspired, I just found it mildly depressing. I hate it when that happens. Synopsis in a nutshell:

Mean, stingy rabbi beats his crippled wife, makes his family miserable, and repeatedly molests his daughter.

Daughter (white) gets pregnant by a man (black) and has an abortion (circa 1940s. Both actions highly illegal.).

Jewish family falls More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 11, 2011

Book Concierge rated it:

McBride and his eleven siblings knew their mother was a free-thinking, intensely private, strong-willed woman, who demanded excellence from her brood. She was disorganized and overwhelmed, but they knew she loved them. She believed firmly in Jesus Christ and insisted they all attend church each Sunday. She also insisted that they attend the best possible public schools … which meant the Jewish public schools where they were frequently the only Blacks in attendance. They lived for most of their More...

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Jan 08, 2011

Elaine rated it:

A black man's story of his life interwoven with his white mother's journal entries/memories

It's been several years since I first read this book, so I cannot remember a whole lot of detail about it but it is one of the first to earn a muchly coveted * in my book diary. And I copied out the following quote from the book:

"Sometimes without conscious realization, our thoughts, our faith, our interests are entered into the past. We talk about other times, other places, More...

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