Brown Girl Dreaming in Around the Year in 52 Books

Mar 09, 2017 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was ok

Shelves: poetry, memoir-and-autobiographical-essays, young-adult

This book just didn't work for me. Yes, I am cold and I have no heart.

What I didn't understand until I'd started reading this was that this is not a memoir told in verse, as the blurb indicates, but instead it's a book of poems that together tell a story of the author's childhood. Some of the poems are quite nice (I never really achieved "mesmerizing" as the blurb promises), but some of them are irritating, they don't feel like natural poems, they feel like stream-of-consciousness sentences with This book just didn't work for me. Yes, I am cold and I have no heart.

What I didn't understand until I'd started reading this was that this is not a memoir told in verse, as the blurb indicates, but instead it's a book of poems that together tell a story of the author's childhood. Some of the poems are quite nice (I never really achieved "mesmerizing" as the blurb promises), but some of them are irritating, they don't feel like natural poems, they feel like stream-of-consciousness sentences with somewhat random carriage returns sprinkled in. I think I would have liked this book a lot more if it wasn't trying to be a book of poems. I love poetry. And I love memoirs, and Woodson's story is mesmerizing, but the verse form memoir didn't work for me.

other people’s memory

You were born in the morning, Grandma Georgiana said.
I remember the sound of the birds. Mean
old blue jays squawking. They like to fight, you know.
Don’t mess with blue jays!
I hear they can kill a cat if they get mad enough.

And then the phone was ringing.
Through all that static and squawking, I heard
your mama telling me you’d come.
Another girl, I stood there thinking,
so close to the first one.
Just like your mama and Caroline. Not even
a year between them and so close, you could hardly tell
where one ended and the other started.
And that’s how I know you came in the morning.
That’s how I remember.

You came in the late afternoon, my mother said.
Two days after I turned twenty-two.
Your father was at work.
Took a rush hour bus
trying
to get to you. But
by the time he arrived,
you were already here.
He missed the moment, my mother said,
but what else is new.

You’re the one that was born near night,
my father says.
When I saw you, I said, She’s the unlucky one
come out looking just like her daddy.
He laughs. Right off the bat, I told your mama,
We’re gonna call this one after me.

My time of birth wasn’t listed
on the certificate, then got lost again
amid other people’s bad memory.

I feel like a cold-hearted jerk for not being blown away by this like everyone else seems to be. But there you have it: I'm a cold-hearted, soulless jerk. I guess a book-in-verse is not my thing.

The author's note at the end was much more interesting to me than all the versifying in the rest of the book, so I look forward to reading a prose-form book from Woodson. ...more

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Jan 14, 2015 Lacey Louwagie rated it really liked it

Shelves: youngadult, book-club, children-s, memoir, middle-grade, poetry, 100-book-challenge-2015

This was so beautifully written, and I love the idea of doing a memoir in verse. It seemed the perfect format to tell this story, to assemble hundreds of snapshots that make up a life.

I've read a handful of books by Jacqueline Woodson (Feathers, I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, The House You Pass on the Way, and The Dear One), and while they were all good, I felt as if something were missing from each of them; there was something that remained open and sad and left me wanting just a little bit ...more

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Mar 07, 2015 Beth Given rated it it was ok

Since this is a Newbery Honor, I expected to enjoy this more. I've liked other books written in verse (The Crossover was really good, and I loved Inside Out and Back Again), but I didn't feel like the story itself was particularly compelling, and telling it in verse didn't help.

Obviously I'm in the minority because so many others have loved this book. It's a short read, so don't let this dissuade you from picking it up and seeing what the hype is about. And there were a few phrases I really did ...more

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Dec 31, 2015 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016-reading-challenge, memoir-bio-autobio, audio, poetry, black

What an utterly beautiful, magical, dreamy set of poems about the early life of Jacqueline Woodson. I cannot recommend this book enough, especially the audio version, which is read by Woodson herself. This is a story full of realism, of the dark realities of racism and loss, divorce, death, even of learning disabilities--but when recalled through the eyes of herself as a child, the memories transform into things that are beautiful and magical. painful too, to hear her beloved "daddy" coughing hi ...more

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Jun 05, 2018 Beth Given rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Since this is a Newbery Honor, I expected to enjoy this more. I’ve liked other books written in verse (The Crossover was really good, and I loved Inside Out and Back Again), but I didn’t feel like the story itself was particularly compelling, and telling it in verse didn’t help.

Obviously I’m in the minority because so many others have loved this book. It’s a short read, so don’t let this dissuade you from picking it up and seeing what the hype is about. And there were a few phrases I really did ...more

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Dec 15, 2017 Celeste rated it it was amazing

Shelves: betterworld-books-challenge-2017

Great writing! Poetic memoir. (Betterworld reading challenge-a National Book Award Winner)

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Nov 22, 2014 Chelsea rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, childrens

magical. there's nothing I can say about this one that hasn't already been expressed much more eloquently in other reviews. winner of sooo many youth media awards recently announced.
#readharder challenge--poetry ...more

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