I think this story trancends race. It's really just a story of a mother who made choices and gave her all in an extremely trying environement. I was moved. I read this after reading Miracle at St. Anna which was great!

I enjoyed the insight into the authors life and experiences. I was a little confused as he went back and forth between characters at first, but figured it out quick enough. I thought it was a good read overall and was fascinated by the devotion of his mother to her children and Christianity. The successful lives of all of the children is a testament to the strength of his mother.

Excellent book which talks about transracial issues....excellent also for people considering adoption of trans racial children....very informative.....

loved this book. my son is also bi-racial. i was born in 1956 and could really relate and re-read the book with my son. he never experienced most of the things in the book so it was an incredible sharing and bonding experience for us and it opened a whole new dialogue with his dad who's family originated in north carolina. great read for all parents and children. truly enlightening

This is such a good book. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It reminds me of so many strong women I know who raised their kids to the best of their ability regardless of their circumstances.

WOW! In addition to being a tribute to his mother, James McBride allows us to peek inside his incredible family history, his upbringing, and wrenching emotional conundrums. His extremely well-written and insightful book is a treasure trove of information. Words cannot express the positive impact that his story has had on me. The love of the parents for each other and the major contributions of both of the fathers was exceptional. When I got to the part about James's mother (who had hundreds of reasons to give up many times in her life) was enrolling in college, at age 65, to help others, I had to pause and send everyone involved a congratulatory mental-telepathy message of appreciation for all of their hard work, tenacity, abilities, and compassion for each other and the folks in their communities. I was delighted with the eventual world travels (of Mommy), huge family celebrations, and across-the-board positive - and extremely well deserved - outcomes for each of the 12 siblings. It's enough to encourage and uplift an entire nation, if not planet. Stunning!

This was the second copy of this book I purchased after the first disappeared into circulation among my friends. A timeless story interstingly structured and skillfully told. A worthwhile read.

Some reviews here say it all. This is indeed a remarkable biography/autobiography, so I would only add my praise for such a loving, touching homage to a very special lady and her remarkable family. I loved the forthright descriptions of this numerous mixed-race family and was touched by Mrs. McBride Jordan's personal tale, kept inside for so long. Her buried past and the author's own reminiscences entwine flawlessly, making this an emotion-stirring book. By writing it, James McBride is finally able to piece together his own past and that of his mother, thus quenching his desire to learn more about his origins.

The difference with the original edition is an interesting Afterword, summarizing the 10 years since its first publication (1996) and the impact its success had on the author himself, his family and, above all, his mother. I shall not disclose anything here, but it is worth to look into.

I truly think this is a standout among the various memoirs I have read so far, an inspiring and remarkable contribution to race-related literature.

I feel almost silly adding another review when others have said so much already. So, I'll keep it brief. This is an extremely well written book. It flows seamlessly back and forth between time periods and generations until, before you know it, it's over. And, contrary to what some others have written, it is not obsessed with race. Race, as McBride presents his struggles, can be seen as a metaphor for exclusion. McBride's experience brings to life the consequences of the unfortunate human tendency to separate people into in-groups and out-groups, and to denigrate those who belong to any out-group. Most of all, this is a heartwarming story about the power of love to overcome trauma. I recommend it to everyone, and most especially to anyone who has ever felt that they didn't fit into someone else's dichotomous box.

There are many people today who live their lives completely oblivious to different parts of the world and the unique histories that have brought us to where we are today. I'll be the first to admit to this naivety. I have lived my whole life in Arizona. It was quite shocking, as a result, to read James McBride's memoir. McBride attributes this memoir to his mother and opens the reader's eyes to the hardships and struggles of both religious and racial discrimination in the twentieth century.
James McBride was born in 1957 to an African-American father and a mother who was not only a Polish, Jewish immigrant, but white. McBride delves into what life was like growing up, and also reveals the many struggles that his mother overcame. Throughout the memoir, McBride describes the unique character of his mother and triumphs when he finally is able to uncover the past that she tried all her life to hide from. It wasn't until James was in college that he finally learned the truth of his mother's past and how hard it was for her as a Jewish immigrant living in Virginia in the 1920's and 1930's. Her childhood was hard enough growing up with an abusive father and discrimination against her Jewish family, but she eventually ran away to Harlem, New York to marry an African-American. She survived the death of two husbands and was left to care for a total of twelve children all on her own. And yet, she sent every one of them to college where they each got degrees and grew up to lead very successful lives.
James also relates what it was like growing up in a chaotic household of twelve children with a single mother. He reveals the racial discriminations promulgated toward his black siblings and white mother. He also opens the reader's eyes to what it was like to live in hunger and poverty. But if there was one thing James' mother instilled in her children, it was a belief in Christianity and the importance of an education; and even though they were constantly scraping by for food, they all made it through college with the value of education and with divine help. It is a true story of fulfilling the "American Dream."
One of the very unique aspects of McBride's writing is his original organization. The entire memoir is a puzzle. With each chapter, the point of view shifts back and forth between his own personal story and his mother's in her own words. This creates a fascinating effect as the reader seems to inch along through the discovery of James' mother's past just as he inched along throughout his whole life. It's almost like reading two separate memoirs; and yet they intertwine so skillfully that they aid each other.
McBride's style of writing also adds to the memoir and reveals what he has gone through and how far he has come. He has a great balance of comical facts and intense judgments of life. Before I was even through the first chapter I compared McBride's style to that of The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Even though this novel is not a memoir, it takes the reader through the life of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield who is also trying to find out who he is. Both of these works relate to each other and have a similar style. They are both very blunt and the honesty shows through as they just "tell it like it is." Both works also follow characters through their lives and their different struggles and trials that they had to overcome. They both deal with issues of education, personal morality, values, and self understanding. However, McBride adds racial and religious discriminations, poverty, and death to the list of issues.
The Color of Water is not only educational in describing life in the north and south during the early years of America, but it is an inspiring book. There are many instances where McBride will step back and give his views and beliefs on different issues. "Given my black face and upbringing it was easy for me to flee into the anonymity of blackness, yet I felt frustrated to live in a world that considers the color of your face an immediate political statement whether you like it or not. It took years before I began to accept the fact that the nebulous "white man's world" wasn't as free as it looked; that class, luck, religion all factored in as well...Yet the color boundary in my mind was and still is the greatest hurdle." The unique racial insight that James McBride exposes is something every human being should be aware of. It is also good to know the different kinds of hardships that many people face in our country's history and how they can pull through hard times and still succeed. As a whole, The Color of Water wasn't the most thrilling or romantic memoir. It is honest and tells things as they are. But it also draws out deep emotions from the reader as you sympathize with those who have to live through struggles yet conquer them in the end.

This may be my favorite book. It's a beautiful, engaging story. Several friends and I read the book around the same time and all agreed that we hated to reach the end. If you just want to enjoy a great story, read this book.

This was a great book that told a story of a young boy who wanted to know why his mother didn't look like him. I really enjoyed reading this book, and I got an inside look at a bi-racial family.

I loved this book because it shows, in plain and clear terms, that a mother's love trascends everything. Even though the main focus of the book itself is on the mother's past and the circumstances that, for better or for worse, determined her life, and by extension the life of her children, what stuck with me the most is how very deeply loved this woman was by her children, which can only be a reflection of the devotion, love and sense of pride and purpose that she in turn instilled in them all while growing up, even in the face of bigotry.

I loved this book, I could barely put it down until I finished. The story-telling is excellent and the vignettes are beautifully done. McBride's autobiography is just really good. His stories about his childhood and his mother's experiences crossing between cultures is a total page turner.

Find out what it was like as a mixed-race family growing up in 1960s New York. Find out what it was like living as a Jewish family in the 1930s Deep South. Enjoy!

The book is beautifully written and has a lovely "message" which is not message-y or preachy at all. I am Jewish and maybe because I grew up in Washington DC in the 50's (which had a population predominantly African American) The Color of Water really spoke to me. In fact in many ways I felt he could have been describing my own mother for her beauty both physical and spiritual. However, I think this is a great story excellently told for anyone.

This book made me laugh and cry while reading it, and reminded me that love of family and people and a spiritual nature is the source of continued happiness and joy. And how important moms are and good fathers too as this family possessed both. Highly recommend this book as a feel good about people book.

I actually felt somewhat guilty for not enjoying this book more. But I appear to be the sole dissenter here.

Positives first: Mr. McBride is a very graceful writer. His prose is fluid and easy, a breezy read, and he has a gift for description.

And, there is no doubt that the subject of the book, the author's mother, is a remarkable woman and quite a story. She came into the world with terrible odds against her; a foreigner in a foreign land, an outsider by ethnicity and religion, poor, molested by her father, with a disabled mother who was also a victim of abuse, and with no real support for her at any stage. From this impossible situation she remade her own world, she raised twelve remarkable and accomplished children, relying upon nothing other than her will, her faith, and her strength of character.

But the book suffers from the author's absolute obsession with race. Race colors almost every page of this book; What color am I? What color is God? What color is Jesus? Do I feel more comfortable on the "black side" or the "white side?" Why doesn't my mother look like everyone else's? And on, and on, and on.

When it's not race, it's group identity in other manifestations; religious groupings, ethnic groupings, and so on. The author writes about the treatment of blacks by Jews and vice versa, trafficking in group identifications at nearly every turn. He expresses surprise when someone from one group acts differently than he expects, based on his previous internal generalizations. When he interviews someone, he almost invariably remembers and records an observation that is race-related; for example, that his Jewish grandfather regularly cheated black customers to his store.

I found the persistent hammering of racial themes to be relentless and depressing. Not depressing in terms of the difficult circumstances facing the family; that I could handle. I found it more depressing that the author emerged from his childhood seeing almost anything and everything through this prism, clouding others' true individualities, filtering away the presentation of more penetrating ideas. At the end, the author claims that his book is about love, not about race, but that's not the impression given for 200 pages.

It has been observed to me by another person who read the book that, although the race consciousness depicted within it is not nearly as prevalent in the world through which we ourselves move, that this doesn't mean it wasn't very real in the world of the author and his mother. I accept that, and accept that there was (and is) real racism with which they must contend. But it is equally clear from the writing that a great deal of the race-obsession is a function of the author's obsessions, as opposed to his environment.

And, while I hesitate to admit it, admirable though the subject was, there were times when I found her a bit of a twit. She uproots her family and moves to Wilmington almost at the drop of a hat. She can't be bothered learning how to drive properly. She regularly leaves her kids in a state of unsupervised chaos, relying on older siblings to keep order. She can't really prepare food or keep house (I am not creating a sexist expectation here; she was the only parent in the house). And, though having children is obviously everyone's own personal decision, one has to wonder whether a woman in such difficult economic circumstances exercised an occasional forethought about whether it made sense to bear no fewer then twelve of them.

There is no doubt about the result; twelve accomplished, remarkable children, the mother's true legacy. But after reading of her many quirks and the environment in which they grew up, I'm not as convinced as the author that the mother's values and child-rearing skills are solely responsible for the good result. It seems equally likely, based on the descriptions of their chaotic home environment, that passing on some good genes had at least as much to do with it.

Still, the mother did try to impart important values to her children. At one point in the book, the young author asks his mother what color he is. She retorts that he's a human being and if he doesn't focus on his education, he'll be a nobody. One wishes the author had internalized that lesson a little bit better.

I have used this book with an Advance Placement Language class in high school. It is an astounding biographical account of both James McBride's mother as well as a semi autobiography of McBride himself. How McBride's mother was able to sustain herself through many difficult and trying early years, and to raise a large mixed race family is the stuff that one assumes can only be found in imaginative fiction. It reads easily and frequently has one gasping, or laughing, at the many recounted incidents over many years in the evolution of this family. It is inspiring, thought provoking and illuminating.

One man's respect for his Mother's trials in life, I truly enjoyed this book and have given it as a gift several times.