Rating: 
Summary: Captivating
Review: I have just finished reading this book and am still reeling from how completely it took over my life for a couple of days.Buy, beg, borrow, steal a copy of this book and read it. Buy it for everyone that you know. It is an excellent portrayal of not only racial relations, but the unshakeable strength of a mother's love and the quiet power of an amazing woman. Read it if you have ever felt at odds with the world. Or if you've ever looked at your mother (or father) and wondered at their innate strength and unconditional love. Read it if you're feeling as if your life is getting all too difficult. Just read it.
Rating:
Summary: Reflections
Review: I am a junior at a private high school and my schedule allows very little time to read for my pleasure alone. However, "The Color of Water" was such an amazing story of the relationship between the author and his mother, his family, and his own self image. It was so enveloping that I could not stop reading it! I strongly urge everyone to read this book. I myself reflected upon my own racial background and how important a family can be. This book does not limit one certain ethnicity to read or to relate to the story...I am neither black or Jewish but could empathize with the author's obstacles. This is one of the best qualities about the book...it is universal. James McBride's tribute was touching and his mother, Mrs. Ruth McBride Jordan, was well deserving of such praise. She sets an example and epitomizes the word strength. Words cannot explain how much I truly love this book...
Rating:
Summary: Lesson for everyone
Review: Ruth McBride Jordan, a white, southern, Jewish woman, who converted to Christianity, married two black men, help start a church, and raised 12 successful, professional children. What more is there to say? James McBride pays tribute to his mother in a way that any mother would hope to be remembered, yet without the sugary sweetness and unrealness that often accompanies such tales. He gives us his mother with all her faults and inadequacies, yet with the reality of a woman who has seen the downside of life, yet found love twice, despite rejection by her own flesh and blood. Her love stories of life with two incredible men, her fabulous children, and her ability to see brightness where others will only see sadness is a lesson for us all.
Rating:
Summary: Biographical Book
Review: In my 10th grade English class, I was given the asignment to read a biographical book. The majority of the class picked stories about famous people like Celine Deon and Princess Diana, but I picked this book. I really enjoyed the chapters and the split writing (between a mother and her son) and found myself unable to put the book down. It was an excellent book and I would reccomend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Opening My Eyes
Review: I just started a book for the ladies in my church. I wanted to open their eyes to other ideas of the lives of people different from theirs. Our lack of understanding each other is only a lack of knowing each other. The Color Of Water certainley opened my eyes to the heart of one man's view of both the "black and the white"of our living together and appreciating the value we all have as brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope Mr. McBride favors us again with another book to show us how much we are all connected.
Rating: 
Summary: The Color of Boredom
Review: I think this book is definately one of the most boring books I have ever read and I which that I never had read it. I enjoy action books with twists and turns and this book is a book about a white woman with 8 black kids. This book talks about racism and the trouble of a woman's heart....YAWN...why not just watch paint dry, I also could not remember what I had read just minutes before because the excitment level was low. I saw that Amazon gave this a 4.5 rating, a woman must of been the reviewer.
Rating:
Summary: Indomitable spirit and nurturing love
Review: Subtitled, "A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother", the author, James McBride, a journalist and musician, has written his true and remarkable story. Ruth McBride Jordan was born in 1921, in Poland, the daughter of Orthodox Jews. As a baby, her family immigrated to the United States where she was raised in Virginia where her father had a grocery store. Her life was harsh and when she married a black man in 1942, her family disowned her. She raised 12 children, every one of them college educated, her indomitable spirit strong through poverty and the tragic deaths of two husbands. Her color confused her children who lived in a black world and it wasn't until they had grown to adulthood that her true story came out. James McBride is a good writer, and his lively clear prose reflect a home that might have been lacking in material things, but was extraordinary in its warmth and love and nurturing atmosphere. Ruth McBride Jordan's story is told in her voice through alternating chapters and her strength comes through in her words. Never once is there a shred of self pity as she tells her story. When she was first married she and her husband lived in a cockroach infested single room in Harlem with the bathroom in the hall. Her first four children were born while they were living in that single room. "It was one of the happiest times of my life," she says. Later they moved to an apartment with their own private bathroom which was quite a luxury. The reader feels the emotions that James feels as he struggles with his own identity. He is the 8th of the 12 children and watches his older brothers and sisters being influenced by the "black power" movement of the 70s. Often, he's embarrassed by the color of his mother's skin. Ruth is an active Christian avid churchgoer. James knows little or nothing of Jews. It is fascinating to read his point of view which is told with insight and honesty. And it is perhaps even more fascinating to hear the words of Ruth. The book is an inspiration, a testament to love, and social exploration through the eyes of a mixed race family. Read it! You'll love it!
Rating: 
Summary: "A Black Woman in White Skin"
Review: A white woman in the middle of Harlem, in an all black part of town, 12 children, 2 husbands (one dead), and no family to turn too. Could you live that life? Ruth was a strong white woman who struggled and made it through many problems in her life. She had a father who molested her as a child, racism, she married a black man, that led to her family not communicate with her, her frist true love died and left her with eight children, and to top it off she lived in poverty. In "The Color of Water" Ruth's son James is interviewing and writing about her so he could find out who "he" is and the family past. This book journeys threw Ruth McBride Jordan's life and challenges. If you are the kind of reader who believes in solid values and true compassion I would sugest to go out and get this book.
Rating:
Summary: Color of Water
Review: Rachel, who is now changed her named to Ruth because of her yucky dad, and he past history of being a jew. Rachel's father would malest her when she was sleeping, or when she went swimming. Rachel's mom is handicaped on the left side, and her husband used her to get in to America. Rachel moved away to New York to her mom's family, because she got pregnet by a black man. Back then you would have been shot, so her mom moved her to New York. Rachel went back home once then she moved back to New York to make a living. She changed her whole life. And she is completley dead to her jewish family.
Rating:
Summary: The Color of Water
Review: James McBride has been through a lot in his life. He has a mother that is white, and jewish, and a father that is black, which was something that other people did not execpt, even Ruth's parents. They had 12 children including James. They lived in poverty, with little money to feed her children. When Ruth (James mom) got home from work late at night the children would go and get her purse for food. Ruth went through a lot. Both her husband's died. She had very little money. Her children including James had a hard time with figuring out if they were black or white. This novel is very inspiring. I reccommend it to anyone that wants to read a novel that you won't want to put down.
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