From the Bookshelf of JCHS of the Bay Books…

[close] A memoir by James McBride, The Color of Water alternates between telling the story of McBride’s own upbringing, and the one of his mother, Ruth. Ruth grew up as an Orthodox Jew who immigrated to the American South, living with an oppressive father and surrounded by racism. Her hellish childhood caused her to flee from her childhood home and shed her Jewish identity. The book rotates between scenes of Ruth’s childhood and that of her son, James McBride, and his experience growing up in poverty with a strong mother guiding him. I very much enjoyed the compelling scenes which McBride depicts about both his and his mother’s childhood, but I felt like there was a lack of cohesion between the two stories. In the beginning of the book, Ruth seems to be the only thread between the two, and it was confusing to have to read two chopped up stories. However, once the author’s scenes depicted his adulthood years, the connection was made more clear. His memoir explains the phenomenon about how a son can have such a drastically different upbringing from his mother’s. Review by Zoe M.