msbookworm's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
It was okay. I'm not familiar with her or work. She didn't really go into details about her mom really. Wasn't looking for a tell all but figured she'd mention her mom a lot but she didn't really. She discussed her dad more so than her mom. It was interesting reading about her struggles as a biracial woman. This is something I struggle with as a mom to a biracial little girl. I enjoyed it very much.
hagiasophia's review
the narrative jumped around way too much, with nothing to tell the reader when the events took place. did not enjoy the writing style either.
meeks5679's review
5.0
As a 20 year old black and white woman navigating race, I found this very enlightening,relateable, and inspiring!
wlotus's review
4.0
"How sad," is the only coherent thought I have right now, five minutes after completing the book. She was given so much and so little all at once. Perhaps after my shocked, projecting soul has had time to process what I have read I can be more specific.
miam's review
3.0
On growing apart from a white friend:
"I feel every inch of our separation, miss her every time I choose to go with my black friends instead of with her. I wonder what she is doing when I wake up alone in my house on Saturday mornings, wanting to call her, wanting to be close the way we had been but not knowing how to cross that divide that is drawn somewhere I can't locate and by someone who doesn't seem to be me. It is more than growing apart, what happens between me and Lena, it is not knowing how to grow together, not knowing how to bring her into the world that is slowly claiming me, marking me, not knowing how to teach her how to walk and talk so that she can fit into my world, not knowing how to let her be her and fit in without doing any goddamn thing."
On making fun of a white friend in suburban NY to a mixed friend from SF:
"I laugh with Theresa as I say this but in the pit of my stomach I feel some guilt, like I am betraying Allison, choosing sides because it's convenient. After Theresa leaves I am exhausted but relieved. I love her but it is too hard to be the translator, the one in between, the one serving as the walkway between two worlds."
"By now I am well trained in not breaking the code, not saying something too white around black people, or too black around whites. It's easier to be quiet, aloof, removed than it is to slip and be made fun of for liking the wrong thing, talking the wrong way, being the wrong person, the half-breed freak."
On giving advice to a monoracial parent of a mixed-race daughter:
"People are going to question your daughter no matter what, I say. She may as well be armed and prepared to fight back with what is, rather than what those people wish was."
"I feel every inch of our separation, miss her every time I choose to go with my black friends instead of with her. I wonder what she is doing when I wake up alone in my house on Saturday mornings, wanting to call her, wanting to be close the way we had been but not knowing how to cross that divide that is drawn somewhere I can't locate and by someone who doesn't seem to be me. It is more than growing apart, what happens between me and Lena, it is not knowing how to grow together, not knowing how to bring her into the world that is slowly claiming me, marking me, not knowing how to teach her how to walk and talk so that she can fit into my world, not knowing how to let her be her and fit in without doing any goddamn thing."
On making fun of a white friend in suburban NY to a mixed friend from SF:
"I laugh with Theresa as I say this but in the pit of my stomach I feel some guilt, like I am betraying Allison, choosing sides because it's convenient. After Theresa leaves I am exhausted but relieved. I love her but it is too hard to be the translator, the one in between, the one serving as the walkway between two worlds."
"By now I am well trained in not breaking the code, not saying something too white around black people, or too black around whites. It's easier to be quiet, aloof, removed than it is to slip and be made fun of for liking the wrong thing, talking the wrong way, being the wrong person, the half-breed freak."
On giving advice to a monoracial parent of a mixed-race daughter:
"People are going to question your daughter no matter what, I say. She may as well be armed and prepared to fight back with what is, rather than what those people wish was."
miavernon's review
3.0
Really interesting reflection on growing up as a multi-racial "movement child" but a lot of the book was about her sexual exploits which I found tiresome.
purlewe's review
5.0
I read this as part of the Free Library's immigrant stories collections. I enjoyed this.. even if it isnt your typical immigrant story. It is more of how she felt likea stranger no matter where she went.. her father's family didn't make her comfortable.. neither did her mother's. A good book about growing up in the 80s and feeling like you were always in teh wrong place at the wrong time.
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