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Summary: Admirably blended perspectives of an extraordinary life.
Review: Recommended, purchased and read in a day! I was bound by the intertwining tale of Ruth McBride Jordan, a white polish rural south jewish mother and James,her black northern urban baptist son. Ruth's jewish mother is a giant of humility and service among women while Ruth's life convinces the reader there is a God who holds it all together in the worst of situations. The lives of these individuals demonstrate that we are not bound by our environment nor our genetics. Rather, that with knowledge, will and faith in God we can rise above any circumstance to accomplish the betterment of ourselves and those for whom we are responsible.
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Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ!
Review: SINCERE, FUNNY, SAD, HONEST AND A MUST READ. I WAS HONORED TO BE INTRODUCED TO THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THIS FAMILY AND LEARN ABOUT THEIR ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN LIFE. A TRIBUTE WELL DESERVED FOR THIS MOM!!!!!!!!!
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Summary: Truth is stranger than fiction
Review: A hollywood scriptwriter couldn't come up with more ingredients for a soap opera story line. And yet, this moving tale is a tribute to all the strengths and imperfections that make American society so complex and so interesting. Human beings both full of courage and energy and morally imperfect, an unfailing belief in the power of learning and the ability of each individual to shape her or his own destiny in the face of much evidence to the contrary, and the constant tension between solidarity and individualism. All this makes for a thought-provoking read.
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Summary: Thought provoking. Honest. Incredibly well written.
Review: James McBride's account of his undeniably complex world is moving, rythmic and compelling. The story sticks to what McBride can speak of with authority: his relation to and perception of that world. James and Ruthie, I applaude you.
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Summary: Politically Correct Anti-Semitism
Review: I found this book upsetting not only for its content, but because of the reception that it has received. Every single Jewish character reflected an anti-semitic stereotype - the mean Jew, the money grubbing Jew, the intolerant Jew, etc. The only exception is the mother who does eveything she can to become black. I couldn't blame her, since every black person was kind, accepting, responsible and generally a wonderful human being. Had the classes been reversed, the book would have quickly been labeled racist. I tried to find some redeeming value, but on top off its bigotry, the book was poorly written.
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Summary: Extremely well written and thoughtful work.
Review: I loved this book. I have a facination with true life accounts. I liked how the author wrote with honesty. I felt like I was right there in the family sphere. I came to admire not only his mother, but the author as well. No parent could ask for a greater gift than what he gave his mother. It took a lot of courage to tell the world in such intimate terms where he came from.The writing style is engrossing. It is a plain spoken style with some grit. Not difficult reading. Very well done. I've recommended this book a dozen times to people from two ministers to my own mother.
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Summary: Interesting story that raises more questions than it answers
Review: The Color of Water raised many questions in my mind, especially in regards to how his mother was able to guide her children to receive the academic scholarships to prestigious universities. I would have enjoyed knowing more about his mother's current life. I hope writing this book exorcized the deamons he seemed to be anxious to rid himself of.
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Summary: Politically Correct Anti-Semitism
Review: I was very disturbed by this book and by its reception. The implicit anti-Semitism was extraordinary. Every Jewish character, with the exception of the mother who was trying to be black, exemplified anti-Semitic stereotypes. The Jewish characters were mean, greedy, perverted, prejudiced, uncharitable and had no sense of family. On the other hand, the black characters were warm, loving, supportive, intellectually superior, responsible and generally all around wonderful human beings. If the characterizations were reversed this book would have been condemned as racist.
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Summary: A remarkable story
Review: I couldn't put this book down once I began and read it at one sitting. This is a story of endurance and triumph in the face of all odds,we have here a white woman with a Jewish upbringing who married a Black man , in days when race was a barrier that you did not cross or question.Well Ruth Shilsky did and was declared dead by her birth family , but her body endured and her spirit triumphed to raise twelve remarkable children. I do wish that James McBride had fleshed out the characters in his book a little more, his brothers and sisters, are for the most part shadowy figures who flit through the pages and there is no sense of them as a group of people who share the same heritage and its conflicts.Its as if he is implying that somethings are better left unsaid or that he couldn't make the effort to increase the breadth of this soul searching memoir. And so having aroused your curiosity and intrigued you sufficiently he leaves you feeling a little incomplete. The best part of the book is Ruth Shilsky's Southern Jewish upbringing ,its powerfully drawn, a gripping portrait of what made her run and look for love and truths that had nothing to do with the color of skin.
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Summary: o-v-e-r-r-a-t-e-d
Review: James McBride claims that this book is meant to be a tribute to his mother, but it smacks of self-promotion. "Look at me and my brothers and sisters and how great we all turned out!" In fact, he actually LISTS the children in his family and all of their academic/professional degrees in the last chapter. Perhaps this is meant to be some kind of tribute to how well his mother raised them, but it seems to me that he's just tooting his own horn. Moreover, McBride speaks little of his mother's mothering at all, preferring instead to concentrate on his own youthful experimentation with pot and his sisters' encounters with Black Power. And where was the discussion of racial issues that he hints at in the subtitle? McBride's book is most effective in the portions that he directly transcribed from taped conversations he held with his mother - when he records his mother's own, true voice - but when he intrudes with his self-satisfied narrative of his own life, the! book feels painfully contrived. If I want to read a book about a poor mother raising her children in poverty and against all odds, I will read the infinitely more graceful Angela's Ashes, or even the uneven but humorous All Over But the Shoutin'. But The Color of Water should best be left to those who read only what Oprah dictates.
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