What's Elizabeth Reading? ...James McBride

For what may have been the first time in my life, I read a nonfiction book that was not assigned and was not solely about religion. I read it because it sounded fascinating. I heard of it through Goodreads.

The book was The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother. My main reaction is amazement that James McBride's mother let him get it published. She was still alive at the time of its publication about two decades ago.

The Color of Water is two stories; it tells the story of James's life growing up and his mother's life while she was growing up. For James, this means having 11 siblings, living in the Projects, coping with the death of a step-father, and learning that hanging out with drunks really isn't the best lifestyle. For his mother, this means being sexually molested by her father (who is also abusive to her crippled mother), working in the family store, finding Christianity (I wasn't planning on this element, so no saying I still picked a book about religion), and trying to make a life for herself in Harlem. There are no boring chapters in this book.

However, there is a part near the end that I skimmed because it was a listing of where her children all were at the time of publication; each one of them has a degree (more than one has a doctorate) and is working in a respected position.

The one thing both stories definitely have in common, to get back to that train of thought, is that both James and his mother struggled with cultural identity. His mother was raised a Jew in a discriminatory sense, meaning that she wasn't even allowed to enter a "Gentile chapel," including when she was having her high school graduation ceremony. She married two black men, and she said she did so not only because she loved them, but she was able to love them because of how accepting she found the black community to be. It was her first husband who introduced her to Christianity, which was what helped her to put her past behind her. Actually, she put it so far behind her that until he was an adult, James did not know his mother's maiden name, much less who his relatives were. It wasn't that she was ignoring the family, either: His mother was disowned by the family at large. They even sat shiva for her, which means they washed their hands of her and acted as if she had literally died. As for James, he was always a bit ashamed of his mother while he was growing up. He thought she was awkward and white, which was embarrassing to him. Writing the book was his way of trying to reconcile the two halves of himself, his mother and the black side.

I need to quit going on and on about this book. Just read it for yourself, because it is wonderful.

One caveat: Don't read the book if you do not want some talk about drugs, crime (he confesses to some crimes he committed as a minor in here), molestation, or anything else along those lines. Nothing is graphic, and I think the language itself isn't vulgar, now that I think about it. It is tastefully done, but the content is there. Your call.

Someone, and I can't remember who or where I saw this, made a comment about the book and how it is like a mashup of The Color Purple and Cheaper by the Dozen. That person is wrong. First off, I started but couldn't stand to finish The Color Purple. It was too graphic for me. Also, just because it is about black people does not mean it is like The Color Purple. That's a cultural fallacy, if I may create a term, where society assumes that any book or movie or TV show that has mainly black characters must be about race, with The Color Purple being the epitome of black literature or something. Please realize this is a memoir. Black people can write memoirs, too. As for the Cheaper by the Dozen bit, having a lot of kids was a fact of the life he was telling. I'm sorry if you think it's unoriginal or beating some dead horse. NONFICTION. It's not like he was going to knock off one of his siblings. A large family is a part of life for some people. You keep yours small if you would rather. James's mom wanted a big family, looks like.

I'm done ranting now. The book was good. Go read it. I have no idea why it hasn't been made into a movie yet, because that movie would be incredible.