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raymond_murphy's review against another edition
4.0
I have been buying lately, rather than borrowing books from the library. Pandemic and all.
But I waited in a long hold line to get this one from the library, and when it came, I realized it was not nonfiction.
Nonetheless, I read it, and actually liked it a lot. It is a Black author and about New Orleans, and it is novel-like. A thorough--if not slightly embarrassingly obsessive--history of a family, as told by the youngest.
I may pick this one up for the perm collection.
But I waited in a long hold line to get this one from the library, and when it came, I realized it was not nonfiction.
Nonetheless, I read it, and actually liked it a lot. It is a Black author and about New Orleans, and it is novel-like. A thorough--if not slightly embarrassingly obsessive--history of a family, as told by the youngest.
I may pick this one up for the perm collection.
jwelchreads's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
chief_cook_and_librarian's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
rsinclair6536's review against another edition
4.0
The youngest of 12 children in a poor black family in New Orleans, Sarah Broom overcomes much to become a working journalist in NYC, a fund-raiser for a non-profit radio station in Burundi, a speech writer for Mayor Ray Nagin back in New Orleans, and finally a chronicler of her family’s members' lives along with the yellow house in which they were raised. The book is a bit too long, but so has been the hard road of blacks in New Orleans which this family’s story reveals so well. I recommend looking at photos in Google Maps of the streets in East New Orleans where she grew up (and where Katrina caused some of the worst flooding).
sctittle's review against another edition
4.0
Beautifully told, if a tad long. An illuminating glimpse of a world that is totally foreign to this white, middle-class, midwesterner.
foldedpages's review against another edition
3.0
The Yellow House is a 3.5 star memoir, in my mind. I was intrigued by the geographic lens she uses to describe her family’s fracturing following Katrina, the vulnerability of her years of being lost following that event, and the healing journey of writing the book and reconnecting with some of her family members. The book reminded me of the emotional importance that many people place on home ownership, and the emotional trauma of climate change events that have and will become more intense in my lifetime. The story is interesting, the insights are interesting, and I think a stronger editor could have helped the memoir become just a little more cohesive, a little less repetitive. It was very good as it is, but could have been great.
jackiejackiejackiee's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Such a thoughtful way to understand who you are, what does it mean to be from somewhere, and how those considered family or not shape that. I think it’s even more fitting considering the authors from New Orleans and she gives an insightful perspective folks experience during Katrina, even her who wasn’t there.