Brown Girl Dreaming in Around the World in 80 Books

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

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

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 16, 2015 alana rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction, making-things, females-and-feminists, southernlit, young-adult, biography-memoir, teachers-and-pupils, kids-writing, 2015-read-harder

Wow! A memoir told through poems, Brown Girl Dreaming can easily be read by middle grade to high school students in conjunction with so many units of study – autobiography, African-American Civil Rights, American geography and regional differences, urban/rural comparisons, developing artistic talent, and fostering professional ambitions. Though the poems could stand alone and be appreciated individually, the collection progresses smoothly as Woodson draws on her vivid childhood memories and summ ...more

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Aug 02, 2017 Astrid Lim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: dysfunctional-family, new-york, america, children, newbery, race, cover-lust, biography-memoir, verse

3,5 stars from me- round it up to 4 stars because of the cover :D

I have mixed feelings about this book - love some parts of it and not really impressed with the rest. Perhaps because I'm not into stories in verse? It feels weird for me- like reading a half composed poem or something. Also, I had different expectation of this book, I thought the story would be more dramatic and tearjerking (kinda like Glass Castle) - but apparently, although some of Woodson's childhood is interesting, it's not a ...more

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