rokinjaguar's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This was a very interestingly-written memoir. Artistic, emotional, and a little abstract, the author focuses more on how details tasted and smelled than a clear timeline, which I enjoyed. It had a lot of interesting insights and I got a lot from it. :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug use, Pregnancy, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Child abuse, Antisemitism, and Domestic abuse
jack_jack231's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
honeydewfelon's review against another edition
4.0
A quick and interesting read. Part of my deep dive into the idea of "split identity." Rebecca Walker is the daughter of Pulitzer-winner Alice Walker and civil rights lawyer Mel Leventhal, who would later divorce. This is the story of reconciling her identity, of feeling anchor-less, parent-less. I couldn't stop thinking how hard it must be to grow up in Alice Walker's shadow. What a complex and interesting figure. I got lost in all the different characters that Walker refers to in this book. Did she intend for that to be disorienting? Generally a compelling book.
razishiri's review against another edition
3.0
Black White & Jewish is a compilation of compulsively readable memoirs by Rebecca Walker, who happens to be Alice Walker's daughter. I call them "memoirs" rather than autobiography because the author makes many stylistic choices which, astute though they may be, definitely mar the chronological format. The chapters are also artistically brief, sometimes mere vignettes, divided once again by theme. This singular style, compounded with Walker's direct but moving prose, is what makes her story so easy to fall into.
As for the actual content... from reading other reviews, I've seen some complaints about too much sex and relationships. I may just be a hormonal teenager, but this didn't bother me at all. There are many parallels to be drawn between sexual and racial identity, and while the author could have drawn these parallels more clearly, her experiences are still relevent. That's another reason I put this book under the category of "memoir" and not "autobiography"; it is primarily emotive and does not attempt much of an intellectual or moral message. This may leave the reader feeling unsatisfied at the end, for we leave Walker's world as abruptly as we dive into it. Even during the story, the reader is sometimes left floundering, unsure of where we are in Walker's life, deprived of a deeper understanding of characters as importance as her own parents. Still, Rebecca Walker has a lot of interesting things to say about being a biracial person, and her voice cannot be easily forgotten.
As for the actual content... from reading other reviews, I've seen some complaints about too much sex and relationships. I may just be a hormonal teenager, but this didn't bother me at all. There are many parallels to be drawn between sexual and racial identity, and while the author could have drawn these parallels more clearly, her experiences are still relevent. That's another reason I put this book under the category of "memoir" and not "autobiography"; it is primarily emotive and does not attempt much of an intellectual or moral message. This may leave the reader feeling unsatisfied at the end, for we leave Walker's world as abruptly as we dive into it. Even during the story, the reader is sometimes left floundering, unsure of where we are in Walker's life, deprived of a deeper understanding of characters as importance as her own parents. Still, Rebecca Walker has a lot of interesting things to say about being a biracial person, and her voice cannot be easily forgotten.
annacmae's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
falturani's review against another edition
4.0
A quick, engaging read, Walker covers the terrain of her fascinating, if troubled childhood, split between multiple homes, schools and identities. Simultaneously, she paints a rich portrait of the different layers to American culture in the 1970s and 80s. As a child of divorce whose parents took two-year turns with her in different cities and then on separate coasts, she was often left to her own devices and had access to many different communities, of which she never felt quite a part. Walker has a great ear as a writer and a keen sensitivity to culture, gender and race, which together go a long way toward understanding not only herself but this country.
I have a guilty pleasure for memoirs, even if it's one I don't over-indulge. I may also have been partial to this title because of our shared mixed-race and part-Jewish backgrounds, and general political bent (Walker's a progressive and a prominent third-wave feminist). Indeed, while race and heritage are immensely important to Walker, she has never capitulated to what people, particularly from her respective backgrounds, have wanted her to be or expected of her. My own childhood was undoubtedly different, but it was interesting to see someone arrive at similar positions and utilize the same approaches to understand certain issues.
I have a guilty pleasure for memoirs, even if it's one I don't over-indulge. I may also have been partial to this title because of our shared mixed-race and part-Jewish backgrounds, and general political bent (Walker's a progressive and a prominent third-wave feminist). Indeed, while race and heritage are immensely important to Walker, she has never capitulated to what people, particularly from her respective backgrounds, have wanted her to be or expected of her. My own childhood was undoubtedly different, but it was interesting to see someone arrive at similar positions and utilize the same approaches to understand certain issues.
hollysue22's review against another edition
4.0
this book was very real. she doesn't hold back on intimate details and i'm ok with that. i mean, there were parts and while i was reading i was thinking, "omg. her mom is gonna read this." or "omg. her (insert family member here) is gonna read this." i'm honestly not sure if i could have been as open as she was about some things. i really enjoyed the book. i found myself frustrated with her parents at different times because, in my opinion, they did some jacked up stuff. the only thing i didn't really like was that it seemed to end rather abruptly to me. there was lots of detail throughout childhood but then when you get to about older high school age, all of a sudden she's an adult and it's ending. i would have liked it if it elaborated more on the older teen and young adult to whatever age she was at the time of writing.