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Summary: Leaves you wanting more...
Review: Like many of the reviewers below, I found this book to be touching and inspiring. James McBride, a black man, tells the story of his immigrant, white Jewish mother with great sensitivity and with an impressive lyrical sense. It's a remarkable story, one that deserves the acclaim it's been receiving since its initial publication three years ago.The book is actually more of a dual biography (a dual auto-biography in fact, since every other chapter is related in Ruth McBride Jordan's own words--culled from taped transcripts). Chapters devoted to James' experience growing up in NYC with 12 siblings and his eccentric, but devoted and insprirational mother, are juxtaposed with Ruth's (nee Rachel Shilsky) own experiences growing up as a Jewish girl in the American South. The book spans an era from the 30's to the late 90's--in under 300 pages. It's conciseness is a genuine strength. However, I'd be lying if I said it didn't leave me wanting to know more about this remarkable family. For starters, I'm curious to learn more about the author's eleven siblings. Scenes from McBride's early childhood are vividly portrayed, and family dynamics are outlined well enough. But later episodes seem sketchy. Did James lose touch with older siblings during his rebellious teen years? What happened with Helen, the sister who ran away from home as a teen, only to return a few years later with a child--and a nursing degree? And that is what's remarkable about the entire clan. Despite troubled times, all of the twelve children became accomplished, productive professionals. Somewhere along the line, even the rebellious ones absorbed their mother's message about the need for education and the need to strive for excellence. I'm sure all twelve have their tales to tell. Perhaps someday they will--or perhaps James has a sequel or two up his sleeve.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Eye-opener!
Review: I think this book is a real eye-opener. It made me think about if I really know who my mother is. The Color of Water is a very moving true story. The story starts with Ruth McBride Jordan, the daughter of an angry failed Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a handicapped mother, growing up in the South, writing a summary of her life. "My father's name was Fishel Shilsky...he married my mother in an arranged marriage..." She wrote her chapters towards her son and not the readers of the book. This is very moving to me because James McBride wanted to tribute this book to his mother and in a way, she also tributes it to him. "My family mournedme when i married your father..." This book's format of the chapters alternating so James can tell his story and feelings, and his mother can also do the same, was very interesting. All through James' life, he asked his mother about her history. She would never answer him. This would discourage him because he wanted to know about why his mother looked different from his friend's mothers whom were black. "I began to notice something about my mother, that she looked nothing like the other kids' mothers." Ruth would tell her children that she was black but light. "...'(H)ow come you don't look like me?' I asked. She sighed and shrugged...' I do look like you. I'm your mother. You ask too many questions..." She raised her children and sent them to college and graduate school, all by herself after both of her husbands died. James never knew what his mother had gone through in her life until he started to write this book. This book really moved me. It made me want to learn more about my own mother. Before I started reading, I didn't know their story was going to be told by both Ruth and James. That really made an impact on me. I wasn't just learning about Ruth from James'point of view, but I was also learning about her life from her own explanations
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Summary: Water Isn't Black or White
Review: We don't like to hear that we look like our moms, but what if you were "black" and your mom was "white"? The Color of Water is a biography of McBride's mother taking place in the mid 1900s. In the simple context of a slightly unusual family, governed by an unusual mother, I can say that it is the most capturing, and thought provoking book I have ever read. McBride's mother was white and raised an Orthodox Jew. Her past terrifying, though strangely simple and not obsurdly unusual. After learning of a sad childhood, we hear of her life as an adult and the affects she had on her children. She was ridiculed for marrying a black man, living in poor housing, and having twelve, black children. However, we are surprised that from her values and perseverance, she is able to send them all to good colleges, making doctors and professors out of all of them. McBride wrote an incredible biography in tribute to his mother. His purpose of identity was well met. The development of his characters helped his purpose. In addition, his writing style was capturing and thought provoking as it repeatedly shifted points of view from the mother to the son. As I mentioned earlier, one of McBride's strong points was achieving his purpose. The purpose of this book was to give a perspective on human identity, which was also the underlying theme. The Color of Water portrays the importance and weight of a mere individual. An example of his purpose is the way his mother couldn't handle her past. It shows how everyone has a hard time facing the truth. People look disgusted in his mother when she married a black man. That is an example of how people can't handle seeing others act against their own beliefs. Most of all, his own need to understand himself and what it meant having a white mother. This is an example of a problem everybody has about their identity. He shows the human need for understanding their family and themselves. Through our eyes as an outsider we can see this family as unique as an outsider could see our own family. In addition, one of the ways he accomplishes his purpose so well is through the characters. Mc Bride has very good characterization. This is done with simply sticking to the facts and not elaborately playing up people's ordinary ways. However, at the same time, he throws in little creative touches that give readers a slightly more visual interpretation. He does this in the description of his mother's "bow-legged" walk. Instead of describing his grandfather as greedy, he sticks to the facts of what his grandfather would truthfully say or do. It is a skillful and interesting way of accurately portraying his character. McBride portrays all the characters fully in this succint way. Like his grandfather, there's also the grandmother, his mother, various minor characters, and even himself that he captures with their true characteristics. Also, another good point is that I really liked his writing style. There was suspense and direct links drawn by alternating a chapter of his life through his own eyes with a chapter of his mother's life through her eyes. Like his character description, he used concise detail. It was evident but not over abundant and unnecessary. Also, I appreciated the relevant and interesting content with powerful links to each event individually as well as to the theme as a whole. In all, it was a great book. The Color of Water made me think alot about the ideas of race, identity, and human nature. This is what the author intended. I thought family life, and people's influence on eachother. I realized how much all these things can be for the good, in truth, how much of a hold people can have on their lives and the impacts they can make on others. One can hold onto the good impact of others and learn and forget about the bad impact people make. In thinking on all this, I agree with a quote on the inside cover saying, "this book will make you proud to be a member of the human race."
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Summary: Reaction to The Color of Water
Review: Akilah Good Reaction to The Color of Water I thought the book was good and interesting. This is like familiar territiry for me because my husband is white and I am black. Since we come from different backgrounds, I can identify with this book. There are a lot of things I went through that James went through like living in a town that was once segregated with the blacks on one side and the whites on the other and the belief that you could not date anyone outside of your race. Having to overcome an obstacle that you can date outside your race when your family is against it, is difficult to overcome. Having to always debate whether something is good or not and having to debate the issue of racism is controversial. In conclusion, I highly recommend this book for those who need encouragement.
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Summary: Color of Water
Review: The entire story of this book is good but a little bit confusing for the beginner. There are many new and unusual vocabularies in the book about the Jewish culture. This book is unique, because the author's experiences and his mother's experiences are almost the same and they are compared in the book.
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Summary: good stories
Review: Actually I don't like reading novels, but this book is quite okay. This book tells good stories about some people's lives and what they had done in the past. A story about a black man always interests me.
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Summary: A Great Book !
Review: This book is about the narration of Mr. James McBride and his mother Mrs. Ruth McBride. The entire story is very touching and affecting. It makes me think that I really don't have any problem in my life, that everything that we thought that was a problem, is just part of living in this world.
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Summary: Color of Water
Review: I think the story of this book is very interesting. For example, the story shows many contradictions that the author's mother believed at that time. Personally, what I like the most from this book is the story of his mother who faced her life alone after her husband die.
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Summary: thanks for sharing
Review: This is the most meaningful and the greatest books I have ever read in my life. Race, love, mother, and God are the important topics that support our life. This book hit me in a profound way: it caused me to rethink how to live.
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Summary: An Amazing Story
Review: I like this amazing story, and the alternative format is quite new for me. We can learn the life of James McBride and his mother, a powerful Jewish white woman. It is very meaningful and touching.
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