REVIEW: The Color of Water by James McBride

James McBride and Family

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride has been on my must-read list for over a year now. I was browsing my local Barnes and Noble with a friend and she highly recommended it to me. A story about a man whose father was a black and his mother a white Jewish woman estranged from both her family and religion? I’m all in! Lately, I’ve been very interested in reading stories regarding finding one's identity. What I’ve learned is that it's hard to know who you are without having a deep understanding of your family lineage. This definitely rings true in The Color of Water.

  This memoir tells the compelling life story of Ruth McBride, a polish immigrant who came to America at age two who eventually went on to move to Harlem, marry a black man, convert to christianity, become the founder of a church in NYC, and raise twelve children. Not to mention she was twice widowed It also tells the story of her son, the author James McBride, and his journey to discovering who he is at his core while uncovering years of family secrets from his mothers side. In this enthralling autobiography, readers can expect to feel the push and pull of two sides of the same story. The writing style is very simple and conversational. Personally, I felt as though I was listening to a family member speak about their life story for three hundred and one pages. It was a very quick and intriguing read.

I was particularly drawn to this book because I find that the conservation of family stories is so incredibly important. It’s well known that every family has its secrets. In the case of James McBride, the stories his mother told him allowed him to discover a new sense of identity. Though the telling of his own life story in the book, we come to know that James McBride’s lack of groundedness in his own identity as a mixed person comes as a consequence of his mothers lack of transparency when it comes to her personal background.

I was very inspired by the story of Ruth McBride and how despite all of her life trials and tribulations, she successfully raised twelve children who grew up to be academics, professionals, and beyond all, well-rounded human beings. It’s possible to simply commend her for being such a great mother; however, I believe that the greater feat was that all her life she was an outsider, but never wore it as a chip on her shoulder. From being a young jewish woman living in the south dreaming of more, to raising half black children New York City, one could argue that through withholding stories of her past, she placed a suit of armor around her whole life. Perhaps that was her strength. In the epilogue, James McBride explains how therapeutic writing this book was and that he not only gained clarity into his mother’s life story, but she was able to heal through the process. She survived many instances of trauma throughout her entire life and yet she lives her life with wit and grace. Her personality leaps off of the page.

Without spoiling too much, I believe that this is a story about starting over. For both James and Ruth McBride, they found solace in the retelling of their stories and learned more about how these instances and stories shaped them into who they are to this day. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks to reflect on the meaning of family, strength, and looking beyond class, race, and religion.