Caucasia

Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: I loved it. Was great and wonderfully written. I suggest to any one who enjoys to read.

Rating:
Summary: Concerned about Race? Read This Book!
Review: I read this book over a year ago and I still think about it almost daily! It is a beautiful, well written, heart and brain tickling story about a young girl coming of age in New England having to juggle her mixed race and her unbalanced, flighty mother. I won't give away any golden plot nuggets but the protagonist's, Birdie, ultimate goal is to find her cherished older sister Cole. You feel what Birdie feels growing up, you see what she sees, and you cheer her along through the whole journey. This is truly an excellent book and everyone should read it. I regretted the day I finished it an I am eagerly anticipating Danzy Senna's next book. P.S. Her author picture is breathtaking! My god she's beautiful! And talented!

Rating:
Summary: Run of the mill biracial theme
Review: Other reviewers have used words like powerful and enlightening.
I respectfully disagree. The character development of every chaacter was weak. Birdies parents were so one dimensional. Ms. Senna seemed to think that there history was unimportant to the story. For a white woman and a black man to marry in the 60's the was radical and possilby life threatening yet she didn't think it was important enough to really explore other than a paragraph or two. Did her mom marry a black man to hurt her mother?? Did her father marry a white woman as part of his long term social expermiment?? Or did they really once upon a time love each other?? We never learned what Birdies mom was doing in her basement.
We had nothing prove that she was involved in a social and politcal relovution. Was it as serious as her mom made it out to be or was she just being paranoid? More imporantly why did her parents breakup and separate the girls?? Was it really because the FBI was after thier mom or was thier father tired of his biracial family experiment?? These were some unanswered questions that Ms. Senna did not bother to explore.
Instead of really exploring to complex world of a biracial family Ms. Senna spent way too much time on Birdie and her time passing a white. "Jesses" involvement with Nick was so pointless and and waste of time. Instead of Nicholas and Mona Ms. Senna should have developed a relationship between Samantha and Jesse. Of course Samantha knew that Jesse was passing. Many people of color can tell when someone is passing. Why Ms. Senna wasted this wonderful opportunity for these two girls talk and explore how they coped in an all white town will always remain a mystery to me.
There were also some sterotyping that I found very weak and annoying. For example this obsession that Ms. Senna had with lotion. Just becasue Samantha was raised by a white family meant that she had never heard of lotion?? Just like Birdie and Cole never used lotion until they when to school. She made it sound like lotion was well guarded secret by the Black community. Also was they Samantha and Stuart were portrayed. They were written as two people who tried too hard to ignore that they were black and were willing to accept slights and racist jokes to be accepted. Maybe that was one way to cope but not the only way. Finally the book took way too long to get ultimately nowhere. It took me three long months to finish this book and it was not worth the effort. If you want to read a "powerful" and "enlightening" book please read Ladies Coupe by Anita Nair.

Rating:
Summary: Caucasia
Review: From page one Birdie and Cole grabbed my attention and kept me reading long after I planned to turn the light out. Their story set in the 1970's rings true with anyone struggling with their race. Years before mixed marriages became acceptable, Birdie is stuck between two worlds and is force to pretend to be something she does not feel she is. I highly reccomend this novel, and give it 5 stars; confident every reader will enjoy the story!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I have never read a book that has needed so much understanding of a subject or made me think hard about society as Caucasia. The author, Danzy Senna, portrays the racial tensions of the 1950's and 60's in 1970's Boston. Birdie and her sister Cole are the result of a biracial marriage. The racial tensions of their time eventually tear the family apart. The girls' mother Sandy must flee with Birdie and go into hiding while Cole will go with her father and search for racial equality. This book is a page turner, I couldn't put it down. It always left me with a earning for what was to come.

Rating:
Summary: Birdie's lost Identity
Review: I couldn't put this book down, I had to know how it ended. I'm always looking for that page turner, but most often not finding it. Then Caucasia appears ... a jewel.