Breaking Ties, Making New Ones | The Color of Water 10th Anniversary Edition

This story felt "watered" down | The Color of Water 10th Anniversary Edition | James McBride

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	• The Color of Water 10th Anniversary Edition James McBride Riverhead Trade, 2006 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 47 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great book!!!

Beautiful story!

It worth it!!!

Good investment for my life!

Breaking Ties, Making New Ones

Ruth McBride was born Rachel Zylska, later Ruth Shilsky. She was born a Jew, left her family, became a Christian, and married a Black minister. She lived as a "light-skinned" Black Christian for the rest of her life, but she couldn't stop being a "Jewish mother".

James McBride wondered why his mother looked White, and so did his (numerous) older siblings. They all became successful adults, going on to college and good careers. Though they questioned their origin, and took their mother's word that she was "just light-skinned", few of them ventured into it in any detail. Except James.

Ruth Shilsky had a heart-pounding, eye-popping life story. She was born a Jew; her father was a Rabbi in the South, and a mean one too. First he was mean, then he became outright malicious. He did horrible things to his wife, children, and the Black people who patronized his store. Locals recalled him as "horrible old man Shilsky" but had the fondest memories of his wife. His wife, crippled by Polio, took the worst of his abuse. Nobody knows what became of his other children.

Ruth Shilsky cut herself off 100% from her past life, and I don't blame her. Jewish-Americans said "why would she want to give up a life of luxury to be a Black minister's wife?" But I can see why; her life offered her nothing, and she wanted to be in a family and a community where she would be loved.

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This story felt "watered" down

While I admire the chutzpah of Mr. McBride's mother and Mr. McBride's easy writing style, this story left me wanting to know more about the challenges faced by his mother and siblings on how they decided what careers to select and why (was it because of their family experiences or an unrelated incident?) and how they managed as a family to afford it. I believe a huge opportunity was missed to show their strength and solidarity as a family to successfully put 12 children through higher education. It left me with an image of a white woman walking amongst blacks and yet oblivious to them. I really wanted to be left with how she and her children worked as a unit to achieve the astounding educational feat that they did.

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Heartwarming Read

I read the Color of Water after my supervisor at work told me it was a story about her grandmother who had just recently died. It was a wonderful story of family, courage, persistance, and love. What a woman the main character was! Someone we should all strive to be.

awesome teaching tool

I've used this book as required reading for my middle/high school at risk students. It's a great tool for history, social studies, ethnic studies, and language arts. My students LOVE IT. I LOVE IT.

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