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The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
Unavailable
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
Unavailable
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
Audiobook8 hours

The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

Written by James McBride

Narrated by JD Jackson and Susan Denaker

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

The New York Times bestselling story from the author of The Good Lord Bird, winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction.

Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician, and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother.

The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, James McBride grew up in "orchestrated chaos" with his eleven siblings in the poor, all-black projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. "Mommy," a fiercely protective woman with "dark eyes full of pep and fire," herded her brood to Manhattan's free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best (and mainly Jewish) schools, demanded good grades, and commanded respect. As a young man, McBride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusion-and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long-buried pain.

In The Color of Water, McBride retraces his mother's footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant Orthodox rabbi, she was born Rachel Shilsky (actually Ruchel Dwara Zylska) in Poland on April 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to America and ultimately settled in Suffolk, Virginia, a small town where anti-Semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, Ruth describes her parents' loveless marriage; her fragile, handicapped mother; her cruel, sexually-abusive father; and the rest of the family and life she abandoned.

At seventeen, after fleeing Virginia and settling in New York City, Ruth married a black minister and founded the all- black New Brown Memorial Baptist Church in her Red Hook living room. "God is the color of water," Ruth McBride taught her children, firmly convinced that life's blessings and life's values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, Ruth's determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college-and most through graduate school. At age 65, she herself received a degree in social work from Temple University.

Interspersed throughout his mother's compelling narrative, McBride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed-race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self- realization and professional success. The Color of Water touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 25, 2014
ISBN9780698183902
Unavailable
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
Author

James McBride

James McBride is a civil servant in the United Kingdom who has been deployed on operations in Afghanistan. This is his fi rst novel, the culmination of ten years of writing and research. He and his wife, Elaine, have three children and live in Barry, on the coast in South Wales.

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Reviews for The Color of Water

Rating: 3.9874428566971085 out of 5 stars
4/5

1,314 ratings52 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting, but a little disjointed or me. A great tribute to his mother.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This could have been a great book, but the stories that the author recounts as true, really do not ring authentic. It seems like it is one fabricated story after the next, embellished to seemingly heighten awareness of racial tensions - but we already KNOW the tension exists. The author is a mulatto who recounts the story of his white mother and how her identity is hidden from him until he is older and forces his mother to recall the past, a past she prefers to keep silent about. However, her past is not that profound or traumatizing, one wonders why she keeps silent? I grew up in the era the author writes about surrounded by racial division and tension and kept thinking, this author is injecting his personal inner wrangling into the story and not his mothers. I think he could have done a better job by just being honest and not trying to make up fictitious stories. I don't recommend the book - there are better, more realistic writers out there.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Lovely book
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    outstanding
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Read this ONLY because it was a book club book. ONLY finished it because it was a book club book!!!! Completely unimpressed with James McBride and his story. Yes, it is satisfying that he and his many siblings made something of themselves after knowing about their childhoods and what they lived through, but that sum and substance. I absolutely do not recommend this book. AND I was in the clear minority of our bookclub's opinion of this book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was another book I came across while browsing at Barnes & Noble. The story was so inspiring, difficult and humorous at times too. James McBride is a fabulous story teller. In The Color of Water, McBride goes back and forth between two stories, telling his story growing up as one of eleven children, born to a white mother and black minister father, and his mother's story, growing up as a daughter of an orthodox Jewish rabbi.

    I loved the title, The Color of Water. It was the phrase his mother used when McBride asked her what color God was: 'God is no color, he's the color of water.'

    Fascinating read and highly recommended!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Touching and real. The alternating voices of McBride and his mother allows the reader to enter into both characters and share in the truth that slowly unfolds to the son over his lifetime. It works well to keep the story moving and interesting. Ruth is an amazing woman, and her growth is no less admirable than the successes of her children.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Story of a black man from a mixed race family uncovering his mother's origins. Ruth concealed her former life from her children but managed to raise a family of 12 children, all of whom go on to successful careers. Moving story of a woman's indomitable will and spirit. The intertwined accounts, told alternately by mother and son, are well done.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I live in the same building where she went to school as a kid! It's so surreal!

    The audiobook was awesome with the two narrators for the mother and the son. All I can say is that it was real. This is the book to pick if you want to know about racial identity, racism, and inequality exactly how it was from the 1930s in Virginia to the 1970s in New York.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book helped me so much. I first read it freshman year in high school where I wasn’t white enough in my fellow classmates’ eyes with my Puerto Rican heritage. Being white in skin and in name wasn’t enough. But then going to a school with only people were black and Hispanic, I wasn’t Hispanic enough. This book made me know that I wasn’t exaggerating, this is hard to deal with. I even discussed this with my English teacher in the second school(who is black) about this and I told him, “ how different do you think is it that you are intelligent and only seen as black while I’m a white raised by what people see as trashy and loud.” This book will always have a place in my heart.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    An intriguing glimpse at a biracial man's coming-of-age and discovery of his Jewish heritage. I'd read this 11 years ago for a class, but am re-reafing for my book club.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very interesting look into the life of a woman who chose to enter a mixed-race marriage at a time when doing so could be dangerous. It was also clear that the author was uncovering mysteries of his own childhood and putting things into perspective of his lived experience. A fascinating book!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The title comes from the author's mother's answer to one of her children's questions about the color of God and was meant to signify that God doesn't see the color of our skin but rather sees our hearts and minds. In this book, the author explores his roots after he finally gets his mother to divulge them. James McBride grew up a black boy/man with a mother who called herself light-skinned. Only many years later did he discover that she was a caucasian Jewish woman who chose to align herself with the black world. For a while the book switches between the mother's recollections of her life (italics) and the author's remembrances of his life growing up (regular text). The author also attempts to return to some locations his mother mentions to see if anyone there remembers her or her family.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I came to this memoir well after many of my friends who immediately told me they loved it. A white Jewish, Southern women lives a life in the North married to two fine husbands, both black, and raises 12 children to be proud of. The love in this book overflows. I listened to the audiobook read by Laine Kazan and Andre Braugher which added a lot to the experience. I learned a lot about the life of the 1940s and 1950s, but even more about this man's family.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very Good Book.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Author James McBride's mother, Ruth, rarely spoke of her past during McBride's childhood in Queens. McBride knew his mother as a hard-working devout church-going Christian who was determined that all twelve of her children receive a college education. Her past was nothing like her present. Ruth McBride Jordan had been Rachel Shilsky in Suffolk, Virginia, the daughter of an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. Her family had emigrated from Poland to the US in the 1920s when Rachel/Ruth was two. By the time McBride was born, Ruth and her first husband, Andrew McBride, had founded the Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn. Ruth eventually opened up her past to her son. He writes his mother's life story in chapters that alternate between McBride's childhood memory of his mother and her recollections of her early life and her transformation from Rachel Shilsky to Ruth McBride Jordan.This book is as much about McBride's coming to terms with his mixed race heritage as it is about his mother's life. The title comes from a childhood conversation between McBride and his mother. McBride and his siblings were conscious of the fact that their mother didn't look like them. When he pressed his mother about his race – was he black or white – she responded that he was “a human being.” And what about God, he asked? God is “the color of water.”Ruth McBride Jordan left the world a better place than she found it. The world needs more people like her.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    “You want me to talk about my family and here I have been dead to them for fifty years. Leave me alone. Don’t bother me. They don’t want no parts of me, I don’t want no parts of them. Hurry up and get the interview over with. I want to watch Dallas. … “Ruth “Shilsky” McBride was born in Poland, in 1921. Her abusive father was a rabbi. Her family moved to the U.S. when Ruth was two years old. Ruth moved to NYC and married a black man, Andrew Dennis McBride, in 1941. Her family disowned her. Ruth went on to raise 12 children, mostly on her own, after her first two husbands died, struggling with poverty and racism. All of the children graduated from college, with several of them becoming doctors and engineers.This beautifully written memoir, by her son James, is a true marvel. It is sad, joyful, funny and heart-breaking, told in alternating perspectives- one from James' own story of his childhood and the other in the voice of his mother, based on many reluctant interviews he had with her, over the years. I have read many fine memoirs, but this ranks right near the top.This was also a fantastic audiobook, narrated by Andre Braugher and Lainie Kazan. I highly recommend this format.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I had actually wanted to read this back when it was big, but never did. Anyway, we had it sitting on the shelf, and it came to mind when I was trying to think of something easy (but not too easy) to read to help me out of the reading slump I've been in. Turned out to be a pretty good book for it, actually. It's a memoir, which I'm discovering (against everything I'd ever suspected) to be a genre I'm really drawn to. And it has an engaging—though not overly serious—tone throughout.

    The subtitle of the book is "A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother." James McBride is—sure enough—a black man who grew up with what he assumed to be a WASP mother. Which, growing up in Harlem during the Civil Rights era, would be drama enough. But then as an adult he gradually came to realize that his mother was actually a Polish-born Jewish woman. She had shed her Judaism, and an entire life along with it, many years before he was born. This book essentially tells the story of his quest to learn about that abandoned life, and along the way it's a fairly typical memoir of growing up. Or rather, it's two of them—in alternating chapters, he intertwines his own story with that of his mother.

    Still, even if they are typical, these two stories are not uninteresting. McBride has a somewhat unique take on the racial tensions & struggles that surrounded him as he came of age. And his mother's story is both heartbreaking and triumphant, though one can imagine it being better told.

    There's a lot to think about here, though I'm sure the story is even more complex than this telling of it. Still, worth reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "What color is God?" asks the young James of his mother, confused by all the white images of Jesus that surround him and his black father and mother. "God's not black. He's not white. . . . God is the color of water," is the wonderful response of Rachel, an astonishingly gifted and driven woman who despite numerous adversities managed to raise, often on her own, twelve amazing children. They all grew up to be doctors, lawyers, nurses, a chemistry teacher, social worker or other kind of professional. That she was a white Jew –at least initially, she later converted to Protestantism and started her own Baptists church with her second husband –living in a black ghetto with little income and virtually no support from her family makes it even more remarkable.

    Two voices complement each other in this moving narrative: Rachel, James' mother, writes about growing up and the Jewish family that ultimately rejected her, and James, her musician and composer son, who describes his own journey from the ghetto to middle class society. Rachel, who almost became a prostitute at one point to support herself, had the good sense to marry two very dedicated black men. Unfortunately, both died young, leaving Rachel to care for an enormous household of children.

    Their two accounts are suffused with the issues of race, identity and religion. All of these issue are transcended by the force of Rachel's will and her unshakeable insistence that education and religion were paramount. James was puzzled by his mother's whiteness. She was the only white in the neighborhood who was disdained by other blacks who saw her as an interloper, and whites who disliked her for being a white person surviving in a black world. The question of race was always in the background during this time of racial struggle, the civil rights movement, and Black Power. One of the older brothers became an activist; James drifted into truancy and drugs. Finally, after moving to Delaware, he discovered music in the hands of a talented white teacher at an otherwise all black school. Rachel shrewdly used the busing system to have her children attend schools in neighborhoods where learning was a priority. She took them to every free cultural event she could find it certainly helped living in New York. To top things off, Rachel went back to school herself and earned a bachelor's degree in social work. She ignores her children's pleas to stay out of the ghetto and enjoys walking around the Red Hook Housing Project that was her family's old stomping grounds. This book is a testimony to a mother's love and to education's value in overcoming adversity.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    McBride and his eleven siblings knew their mother was a free-thinking, intensely private, strong-willed woman, who demanded excellence from her brood. She was disorganized and overwhelmed, but they knew she loved them. She believed firmly in Jesus Christ and insisted they all attend church each Sunday. She also insisted that they attend the best possible public schools … which meant the Jewish public schools where they were frequently the only Blacks in attendance. They lived for most of their youth in Brooklyn’s Red Hook projects. Certainly they knew their mother wasn’t like the other kids’s mothers; but when they asked, she would simply say, “I’m light-skinned.” When James asked if he was black or white his mother’s curt response was, “You’re a human being. Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody!” When he asked what color God was, his mother answered, “He’s the color of water.”But eventually, and after repeated pleas, James convinced his mother to tell the story that he and his siblings never knew – or even suspected. She was not only white, but Jewish – the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi.The book is told in alternating chapters – Ruth’s story, and James’s story. McBride doesn’t hold back in this memoir of “A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother.” He clearly outlines the missteps and tragedies, as well as the joy and success of his extended family.It is emotional and heartfelt, tender and raw, full of the personal issues of race, religion and identity, as well as the societal issues of race and religion.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Growing up in a family as one among twelve children is a definite challenge. For author James McBride this situation was made more complex by the fact that despite his appearance of being black, his mother was a white woman brought up as an Orthodox Jew. He doesn’t learn very much about her background during his youth, but later he pressed her for more information. The result is two stories presented simultaneously. One is the author’s life and the other is about his mother’s life.The Color of Water is a candid and heartwarming account of how one family deals with the issue of racial differences. The author reveals how his mother, despite her different physical appearance from others in her African-American community and her continual shortage of adequate income, thrives and encourages her children to excel through decent values and using education as the key to self-improvement.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A great motivational piece, again something to be read and talked in schools, definitely. James McBride's mother is an amazing, brave woman with strong opinions which were neither popular nor even tolerable in the society she found herself in most of the time. Still, she made the best out of it , and was the best example for her children, by showing them how to be resilient, tolereant and courageous. McBride writes with great care about his mother and his family, and is always respectful and loving.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow! This was such an interesting book. James McBride weaves an incredible account of growing up in a blended family in the 1950's . It touched me with his relationship with his mother and her real life. Thanks, James!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The author tells the true story of his amazing mother’s life. She was an Orthodox Jewish woman, the daughter of a rabbi, who married a black man in 1942. She was molested by her father and eventually ran away from home. She raised 12 children who never knew her story until they were adults.One of the most fascinating and enthralling looks at race in America that I’ve ever read. It’s a completely unique view. McBride’s mother was white and Jewish and his father was black. Mix in there the fact that there were 12 kids in his family and the author’s desire to succeed in both the world of music and literature and you’ve got one hell of a book. It’s hard to have too many preconceived notions about race when you come from such a diverse background.  
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    They made us read us prior to arriving at U.T. I was skeptical, but all in all not bad.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the true story of James McBride and where he came from. He is mixed; his mother is white and his father is black. He tells his story of how he figured out who he was and where he came from. This book brings up issues of identity, which many students may be dealing with in high school. It also deals with issues of race, which is always controversial but would probably spark good class discussions if led the right way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    James McBride tells us the story of growing up black, in Harlem, then in projects in the Bronx. Raised by his white mother (his black father died before he was born) and black step-father, he was one of 12 children. He describes a loving family life, where children were expected to be successful, respectful, and STAY IN SCHOOL. Children were due in the house by 5:00 in the evening, and slept 5 to a bed. Dinner might often be a jar of peanut butter or several spoons of sugar. He never met his mother's family and did not discover until he had completed his master's in Journalism at Columbia U, and decided to write a tribute to his mother, that she was jewish, that her family had disowned her, that her father was an orthodox Jewish rabbi who abused her, and just how hard her life had been.The story is told both in the son's and the mother's voices. It is very well-written, and gives us an incredible insight into each mind. James' father was a preacher, and his mother converted to Christianity and insisted on church attendance and prayer from all her children. As he begins to realize that his mother is different from other mothers, he asks her "Is God Black?" "NO" she answers. "Well is he white?" Mom replies in the negative. Still the young boy persists. "Well what color is he?" "The color of water." I just loved that image, and fell in love with this family.As he lovingly recounts his search for his mother's family, and helps her confront a past she has repressed, he comes to an acceptance of his Jewishness, his multi-cultural roots, and gives us a picture of an exceptional family. In the epilogue he gives us a breakdown of the incredible achievements of them all. Every one of the 12 graduated from college. There are two doctors, school teachers, musicians, journalists, nurses, artists, and the mother completes her degree in her late 60's.It's a tribute any mother would be proud to have her son write.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book, I read with special interest as I'm in an interracial marriage myself, in NY/NJ. Inevitably I wonder about how this will affect my own children. Although times have changed significantly (maybe not as much as they should), and we do live in a multiracial, middle-class community.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The parallel accounts of James McBride and his mother's lives are haunting. His matches the cliche of 'growing up poor and black in New York city' just as poorly as hers does 'growing up the daughter of an orthodox Jewish rabbi'.We learn a lot less about James than about his mother, but I think that is intentional. Even the autobiographical chapters are really about how she affected him, and how her upbringing affected the way she brought her children up.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    We read this in April 2000. One of us rated it 10 out of 10 and cried in the end too. The others rated it average! There were a lot of issues to be discussed though and it generated an interesting discussion.