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One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life--A Story of Race and Family Secrets
Ever since renowned literary critic Anatole Broyard's own parents, New Orleans Creoles, had moved to <st1:place w:st="on">Brooklyn</st1:place> and began to "pass" in order to get work, he had learned to conceal his racial identity. As he grew older and entered the ranks of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on...more
Paperback, 544 pages
Published
September 9th 2008
by Back Bay Books
(first published September 27th 2007)
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I really don't think Bliss Broyard has the chops to do justice to her father's life--but then again who does? Not even Philip Roth was up to it (as a study in racial ambiguity, 'The Human Stain,' its protagonist modeled on Broyard, is a distinct disappointment). To render Broyard well you would need to be a novelistic triathlete possesing the ease and understatement of Henry James, the historical sense of Faulkner or Ellison, and the tragico-symbolic grasp of Melville at his best. And a dash of ...more
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Anatole Broyard was the New York Times' daily book reviewer for quite a few years. He lived an upper middle class (though usually overextended) life, raising his and his wife's two children in Southport, Connecticut. Shortly before his death, his wife insisted that he tell their children his secret. They learned that his family background was not solely French, but Creole and of mixed race. By the "one drop" rule that had applied in some Southern states, he was black, and had been "...more
This almost 500 page tome focuses on the author's father and her search to discover his African-American roots, which he never divulged to his son and daughter (the author). Much time is spent on the genealogy of the Broyard family, and at times, which is ubiquitous with this type of subject matter, gets confusing with the relationships between the family members and the main character. I found Bliss's fantasies of several events in her research to be annoying and, for me, took away from the t...more
I'm glad Bliss wrote this book. I didn't make it all the way through. I think she might still be wrestling with some big issues, and maybe in another 5 years could write a more concise book. That said, the history of New Orleans and slavery was fascinating.
I got kinda mad when she said her brother was showing his "blackness" by playing blues on the harmonica. She has a pretty rigid idea of stereotypes.
My mom read the whole book, and I asked her if Bliss had any...more
I got kinda mad when she said her brother was showing his "blackness" by playing blues on the harmonica. She has a pretty rigid idea of stereotypes.
My mom read the whole book, and I asked her if Bliss had any...more
I waited to write about this book until I attended a book discussion because I thought maybe the group would inspire me. Most agreed that the book is WAY too lenghty: the first 100 pages and final 100 pages would do the trick. Bliss Broyard learns shorty before her father's death that he is "black" in part anyway and though many of his friends and colleagues know this (his wife also) he has kept this information from his family. His job as an outstanding literary critic has allowed...more
A decade ago in Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man, noted black scholar Henry Louis Gates wrote an unflattering portrait of Anatole Broyard and his "passing." Critic Art Winslow suggests that Bliss Broyard's memoir may be "intended as a rejoinder to Gates." Author of the short story collection My Father, Dancing (2000; New York Times Notable Book), Broyard offers a passionate, lively narrative packed with hundreds of interviews with family members (both black and white),
...more
This is a extremely interesting memoir. The author learned, at the age of about twenty-one, as her father was dying of cancer, that he was an African American, who had been passing for white for most of his adult life. That she had an entire other side of her family she had basically never met (including relatively famous Civil Rights activists). Her father was a Creole, whose parents had come up from Louisiana to New York before the Second World War, and he had decided, when in college that ...more
The author's father was Anatole Broyard, the former editor of the NYTimes Book Review. He wrote about his illness at the end of his life in a one page article in the NYTimes magazine and a quote from that piece propelled me through my thesis. I read more of his work and liked it less, but that one article was fabulous. She and her brother discovered that their father's family was African American or "Black" just before he died. As a reader, you extrapolate that he had cut off relations...more
I heard about this book through a documentary by Henry Louis Gates. Broyard's time at the NYTimes Review of Books was a bit pre-RJ literary awareness era. I admired the Bliss Broyard interviewed in the Gates documentary but the woman narrating the book often tread upon my nerves. Her need to be 'cool' by being colored, black, having slave ancestors, annoyed me. Her act as historian was dry and insufficiently interesting. However, her own family's history was quite interesting not only their h...more
So many people who reviewed this book on this site said that they didn't like the book because they didn't like Anatole Broyard because he was an elitist or a distant father, etc. While I agree that he was portrayed as such and was probably really as his daughter described him, I felt sympathy, not disdain for him because of his situation. I assume that the reviewers who didn't feel sympathy for him don't understand what it is like to live as a hidden minority able to blend in with the majority,...more
I liked this book. I liked history of the last 100 years the best, I has some trouble getting into the history of New Orleans - it was pretty dry. I think it was interesting that none of her ancestors were really slaves. I went back and forth on what I thought of the Dad. At sometimes I agreed that it was up to him to pick and live the way he wanted to, that someone shouldn't be able to tell him how to behave - but then it always came around to -- but he wrote his sister out of his life beca...more
This book actually encompasses three, deeply interconnected books, but still three books in one. The first book explores Bliss Broyard’s struggle with identity after the revelation of her father’s ancestry. The second book documents Anatole Broyard’s life, exploring his decisions and life using careful research. The third book delves into Bliss Broyard’s genealogical research into her father’s family. This last book provides the reader WONDERFUL historical context, aiding the reader’s unders...more
Enjoyed this story quite a bit. Although a long book with many different aspects of the issue, I stayed interested and compelled to finish it. Ms. Broyard undertook quite a lot with this book, it is partially her father's story, part her family history story (and story of Creoles in the US) and part her own memoir. It was fascinating to me how her father separated from his own history even as he was well-known for his work and, as such, in the public eye. Another reviewer noted that it seemed ...more
Like most of my writing, it felt like this book was more for the author to process her own life than to share her life with the population at large. There were some great snippets of national history along with the personal history shared; at least now I am slightly less ignorant about Louisiana's role in our united states. The narrative as the author uncovered her history and followed the familial strands to cousins, aunts, and uncles was exceptionally personal, which is to be expected. The...more
Pretty disappointed with this book. The fact that I couldn't relate and didn't even like any of the characters in the novel made it difficult for me to become engaged or invested in them. I did admire the admittances of the author in some of her prejudices as well as how open she seemed to share her innermost feelings and insecurities. However, her entire journey irritated me. I didn't like that she was trying to find soem slavery in her background that could validate that she was black. I also ...more
My enjoyment of this book was mixed. Bliss is a decent writer, but will probably never live up to her father’s legacy. Although Anatole Broyard was an amazing columnist, the way he was described makes me truly dislike him, and hence it was hard to like the book. Anatole called his children boring because he considered himself an intellectual - he went so far as to tell them not to talk if they didn‘t have something interesting to say. He was absent from his children’s lives while his wife su...more
It's all about Bliss, and what a sheltered lass she was.
This book desperately needed an editor with heavy pruning shears. There's an important story buried underneath her embarrassing reminiscences, but she is not the one to tell it.
This book desperately needed an editor with heavy pruning shears. There's an important story buried underneath her embarrassing reminiscences, but she is not the one to tell it.
Bliss Broyard's "One Drop" is a complex and troubling story of her father's racial identity.
The book opens talking about her childhood in an upscale area of CT. The level of snobbery and shelteredness in which she was raised becomes almost painful to read.
She then launches into long chapters detailing her ancestors' histories as seen through black history of the time. This can get a bit tedious but when the book wraps back around to her father's individual...more
The book opens talking about her childhood in an upscale area of CT. The level of snobbery and shelteredness in which she was raised becomes almost painful to read.
She then launches into long chapters detailing her ancestors' histories as seen through black history of the time. This can get a bit tedious but when the book wraps back around to her father's individual...more
Bliss Broyard has spent years researching the history of her father's Creole family in an attempt to understand her racial heritage. While his mixed racial background was known to many, he did not tell his children until very shortly before his death.
This book was a good follow up to the history and historical fiction books I read about women who lived in St Augustine this summer, adding more depth and perspective to the sociology of race. I found Bliss not always insightful. Her father in...more
This book was a good follow up to the history and historical fiction books I read about women who lived in St Augustine this summer, adding more depth and perspective to the sociology of race. I found Bliss not always insightful. Her father in...more
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This book may have well been a history book with it's detailed account of events and historical "state of affairs" reporting on life in this country for blacks, coloreds, Creoles and whites from the 1920's until present day. This Bliss Broyard does as she "re-weaves" the story of her father, Anatole, trying with all her heart to understand his choice in "passing" as white. She traces not only her own families' experience but opens a door of understanding on the wh...more
I learned a lot more about this book and its subject from reading the other reviews so I suggest you read them before reading the book. It is long, and plodding at times, interesting but not absorbing, and race-obsessive - which of course is the subject of the book. I learned the most from the historic info about New Orleans and the Civil War. Geneologists will probably love it, as it shows how you can personalize the life of someone you've never met by learning about the times in which that ...more
Bliss Broyard discovers shortly before her father dies that he is of black Creole descent. He had been mostly "passing" as white for his adult life, though many people knew of his heritage. The book is about how she came to understand what that means to her as well as the results of her research in to family history. She is very honest about her own racial biases. Having lived in New Orleans, I found the section on her family history particularly interesting. This book makes you c...more
This started out as a 5-star book for me - a very well written, blend of a fascinating personal story and history of race in our country. However I think Broyard could have trimmed this book, it was just too long, particularly the last 100 pages, which I know were critical because they addressed her father's history, but I don't think I had the sympathy for him that I was supoosed to, so I felt that section of the book was simply too long. Additionally, I found myself frustrated with her own e...more
I'm in the process of thinking through what I'd like to say about One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life. What immediately comes to mind as I begin, is the fact that my rating system does't work with this book. Its out of sync. Here is a book where deft technical skills produced well written paragraphs and chapters, and yet that higher level of nuance - the wit (caustic or fun), insight, and synergy of truly great writing was missing. Ah, but the technique. If this had been a book of how to put toget...more
This book reminds me of when I was a Census enumerator. In training, they told us not to ask, "What race are you?" but instead to ask, "What race or races do you consider yourself to be?" They then said that someone who looked white could answer black and vice versa and to never assume.
I enjoyed the historical aspects of this book: the history of Grenwich Village in the 1950s; the history of New Orleans for the past 250 years or so. I found it fascinating that the...more
I enjoyed the historical aspects of this book: the history of Grenwich Village in the 1950s; the history of New Orleans for the past 250 years or so. I found it fascinating that the...more
Kristy Trauzzi
rated it
·
review of another edition
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
anyone who seems interested in the back of the book
Recommended to Kristy by:
My mother in law
There were some really interesting parts to this novel. I really couldn't have cared about the history lesson though. I found it quite boring. I didn't like how she was trying to be "black". I thought she wanted to just know her history since it had been denied to her, but I felt like she was dissapointed when she didn't magically change. And it seems like it wasn't that much of a secret with her father. It seemed like a number of people already knew. It was weird.
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Bliss Broyard's story - and her father's - is a captivating one in part because it deals with two of the most American things: race and reinvention. It starts well, urgently, but after all that family history in the middle some of the narrative drive fades, and in the end I felt that it could have been much shorter and more forceful. But Bliss' energy, and her unwillingness to provide easy answers or conclusions, makes up for some, if not all, of the book's shortcomings.
Bliss Broyard grew up in a priveleged white environment. Nice house, private school etc. Shortly before her father's death he revealed he had some black ancestors. This sends Bliss into a tailspin trying to find out about her father and his family and figure out why he would have never chosen to reveal to her and her brother part of their ethnic identity. Though the topic was interesting I just wasn't drawn in. I'm not sure if it was Bliss' writing style or that her ruminations on her black heri...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Race issues in the U.S./"Passing" | 3 | 15 | Aug 31, 2011 04:54pm |
