The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
Product Description
A powerful portrait of growing up, a meditation on race and identity and a poignant, beautifully crafted hymn from a son to his mother.Amazon.com Review
Order this book … and please don’t be put off by its pallid subtitle, A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, which doesn’t begin to do justice to the utterly unique and moving story contained within. The Color of Water tells the remarkable story of Ruth McBride Jordan, the two good men she married, and the 12 good children she raised. Jordan, born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew, immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Jordan met and married a black man, making her isolation even more profound. The book is a success story, a testament to one woman’s true heart, solid values, and indomitable will. Ruth Jordan battled not only racism but also poverty to raise her children and, despite being sorely… More >>
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
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.
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.
Personally, I thought this book was just looking for some sympathy from its reader. Sure its sad and all that he’s had this crazy life, but please, we all have nutty lives and we all have even nuttier stories, but we are not all compelled to write a hudge novel about it and then have sophomore English classes make it apart of their required curriculum. Thats rediculous.
thank you – fast shipment, good condition, as described.. great deal and great book!
In his book, The Color of Water, James McBride states: “I realized then that whoever had said kaddish for Mommy – the Jewish prayer of mourning, the declaration of death, the ritual that absolves them of responsibility for the child’s fate – had done the right thing, because Mommy was truly gone from their world.”
Kaddish is a prayer glorifying God that is said in honor of the deceased. It is not “the ritual that absolves [the Jews] of responsibility for the child’s fate.” That is one of the most bigoted statements I have read in a long time, and it is the statement of a person who should certainly know better.