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The Color of Water 10th Anniversary Edition (Paperback) (Paperback)
by James McBride
| Category:
Race, Religion, Family, Memoir, Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 158.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A powerful portrait of growing up, a meditation on race and identity and a poignant, beautifully crafted hymn from a son to his mother. |
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Author: James McBride
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Pub. in: February, 2006
ISBN: 159448192X
Pages: 352
Measurements: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00268
Other information: 10th Annv edition
ISBN-13: 978-1594481925
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- Awards & Credential -
The winner of the 1997 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Literary Excellence, an ALA Notable Book of the Year, and more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. |
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- MSL Picks -
James McBride is an African-American journalist, author and saxophonist. Once he was a little boy growing up in a strange chaotic family of twelve kids, and a mother who was-different. Was she black? white? What? She wouldn't talk much about it. Later in life James is determined to find out who his mother is, so that he can understand who he himself is. Out of that search he has written this wonderful, deeply moving book.
Ruth, his Mom, is really Rachel Shilsky, daughter of an orthodox Jewish family from Poland, who grew up leading a life of quiet desperation in one of the most dysfunctional families you will ever read about. Ruth leaves her family and religion behind to start a new life of constant challenge. After many years of running from her history, she is finally forced to confront it under her son's insistent questioning.
Author James McBride writes in clear, lucid prose. The book flows easily and is delightful reading. It is a tribute to his mother, but it is also a tribute to the human spirit, the crossing of uncrossable barriers, and overcoming of impossible obstacles. It is a story of social change in America, the changing relationship of races and relgions, and the search for identity. It is all these things and well done.
Target readers:
General readers
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James McBride is an award-winning writer and composer. His critically acclaimed memoir, The Color of Water, won the 1997 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Literary Excellence, was an ALA Notable Book of the Year, and spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. In 2003 it was the inaugural selection of "New York City Reads Together," as well as the 2004 selection of "One Book/One Philadelphia." The Color of Water has sold more than 1.7 million copies in the United States alone and is now required reading at numerous colleges and high schools across the country. It is a perennial favorite among book clubs and community-wide reading groups, and has been published in 16 languages and in more than 20 countries. McBride's 2003 release, Miracle at St. Anna, is the story of an Italian orphan who befriends a black American soldier in Italy during World War II. It has been hailed as "an outstanding novel" by The Dallas Morning News, called "greathearted, hopeful, and deeply imaginative" by Elle Magazine, and is described as "searingly, soaringly beautiful" by The Baltimore Sun.
McBride is a former staff writer for The Washington Post, People Magazine, and Boston Globe. His work has also appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. Aside from his literary honors McBride is also a musician. He has written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Purafe, Gary Burton, the Silver Burdett music textbook series, and even for the television character Barney. He is the recipient of several awards for his work as a composer in musical theater, including the 1996 American Arts and Letters Richard Rodgers Award, the 1996 ASCAP Richard Rodgers Horizons Award, and the American Music Festival's 1993 Stephen Sondheim Award. His 2003 jazz CD/documentary project, "The Process" was seen on Comcast Cable nationwide in fall 2003.
McBride has been featured in People, Newsweek, Savoy and USA Today. He has appeared on several national radio and television shows including The Rosie O'Donnell Show, NPR's All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Morning Edition, and in major news outlets in Australia, New Zealand, and across Europe. James is a native New Yorker and graduate of New York City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. James is currently a Distinguished Writer-In-Residence at New York University.
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In this touching homage to his mother, James McBride paints a portrait of growing up in a black neighborhood as the child of an interracial marriage. Although raised an Orthodox Jew in the South, McBride's mother abandoned her heritage, moved to Harlem and married a black man. A wonderful sense of realism is offered by the dual-voiced narration. André Braugher's earnest presentation is matched perfectly with Lainie Kazan's character-rich representation of the headstrong matriarch. The result is not only a duet of victory over racial intolerance, but also a very personal celebration of familial bonds.
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| View all 13 comments |
Jeanne Scott (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
James McBride reveals his life in a story that proclaims the life of his mother. His vivid account of his mother's is a tribute to her, in all her human failings and successes. He embarks on this journey with an astounding honesty, that shines with the fervor of childhood and then glows with the understanding of maturity, and he never misses a beat!! His mother was the daughter of a dictatorial Rabbi and a handicapped mother who arrived in the United States from Poland. His mother made decisions to live her life on her own terms and learned to see beyond what was on the outside of a person, to see others for who they were, not what they were. When James McBride discovers things about his heritage that he never suspected he unveils them with an open heart and a new appreciation for what his mother's life entailed. Her hardships, her strengths and her weaknesses are placed carefully before the reader like valuable gems in their raw and unpolished state and then he becomes an artisan, transforming them into a moving tribute to crown his mother in this emotional, unforgettable memoir.
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Lawyeraau (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
This book is, indeed, a tribute to the author's mother. In it, the author, a man whose mother was white and his father black, tells two stories: that of his mother and his own. Tautly written in spare, clear prose, it is a wonderful story of a bi-racial family who succeeded and achieved the American dream, despite the societal obstacles placed in its way.
The author's mother was a Polish Orthodox Jew who migrated to America at the age of two with her family during the early nineteen twenties. They ultimately settled down in Virginia, where she led an isolated and lonely life; shunned by whites because she was Jewish and shunned by blacks because she was white. She was raised in a predominantly black neighborhood, where her father, a despicable and harsh man who brutalized his handicapped wife, ran a local grocery store, where he priced gouged his black clientele.
She left home and moved to New York when she was nineteen and never looked back. She met and married the author's father, a black man, when mixed race marriages were still frowned upon by both whites and blacks. Still, she always felt more comfortable around blacks than around whites. When he died sixteen years later, she married another black man who nurtured her eight children by the author's father and proceeded to give her four more children.
The author tells of his childhood, of his family, and of the issue of race that ultimately colored his life while growing up in predominantly black neighborhoods, where his mother stood out like a sore thumb because of the color of her skin. It was always an issue his mother avoided discussing with him, as for her it was not an issue. It was not until the author wrote this book that his mother discussed the issue of race within the context of her own life. From this dialogue emerges a fascinating look at the issues of race, as well as religion, and how it impacts on an individual's identity within our race conscious society.
It is also a very personal story. While the author's family was economically disadvantaged, his eccentric and independent mother always stressed education. She was a strict disciplinarian who brooked no nonsense from her twelve children. A convert to Christianity through her first husband, with whom she founded a Baptist church, she provided her children with the will to succeed. Consequently, all twelve eventually went to college and did her proud. The story of this unique family is told from two distinct, parallel perspectives: that of the author and that of his mother. While both are interesting, it is his mother's story that dominates this beautifully written book, which is, indeed, a tribute to her. It is truly a story told from the heart, as the love that the author has for his mother is evident with every written word.
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Barbara Stegner (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
This is a great inspirational book that keeps you interested the whole time. James McBride ( the author) did a really good job of telling the story of his mother's history. You will truly get an understanding for what it is like to stick to your dreams and goals and achieve them. In this book the author skips from present to past to give you a feel for both his mother's life and his. Through out the story James is trying to find out why his mother is so different from everyone else. Why she is so pale compared to him and his siblings. While his mother wants him not to worry about her past and to worry about his future. She encourages him and the rest of her children that homework is to be done before anything else. "Educate yourself or you'll be nobody". Despite her constant nagging James is led astray and starts getting into things that he shouldn't do. After a tragedy happens James gets back on his feet and begins to educate himself again. He eventually is able to attend college. Although his mother goes though the loss of two husbands and being the mother to eleven children she is still has a great outlook on life. All eleven children end up attending college and educated themselves so they wouldn't be nobody. This is truly a book that everyone should read some time in their life time.
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Molly B. Miranda (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-25 00:00>
I really enjoyed this book. James McBride tells the story of his mother and of his own life, intertwining chapters to give you an understanding of his mother's struggles and how she has affected and impacted him. James McBride's mother was a Polish Orthodox Jew who never felt completely accepted by others. To whites, she was different because she was Jewish, while to blacks she was different because she was white. She moved to New York when she was 19, married McBride's black father and had 8 children. After her husband died she married another black man and had 4 more children.
This book is a tribute to James McBride's mother, but more than that it is the story of a family who was able to achieve success and prosperity. McBride's mother was one of few whites in a predominantly black neighborhood, and his family one of the few bi-racial families at the time. His mother made education a priority and all 12 of her children went to college. McBride's writing makes his love and admiration for his mother clear, and the writing is quite moving. I really enjoyed it.
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