A review by yellowinter
My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

4.0

Beautifully written memoir of Justice Sotomayor of her implausible ascent to the highest court from the projects as a child of an immigrant from Puerto Rico. She opens with her reasons for writing this honest and vulnerable account, which was born out of various opportunities where she received surprisingly many questions about her personal life and experience from her young audience. As such, there is much in her writing that feels like she is talking to that particular audience, giving guidance and perspective from her vantage point having certain number of years and experiences behind her. There is also much gratitude for people and opportunities that opened doors for her, as well as the recognition of those facets of her life that rose to those opportunities. She recognized the inequalities, she embraced her cultural community within the limitations inherent, but she did not stay there saturated in anger or guilt. I could relate to some aspects of her early years, and I cried hearing her experience of getting into an Ivy League school from her humble background.

I used to love seeing sheer number of books that adorned my shelves. After multiple moves, I have learned to let go of many and utilize the library more, only keeping books that are worthwhile for my kids to read and for me to read again. This one, after reading the audio version which was wonderful, I will buy my copy in print to underline some passages, but more importantly, I think it will be a required reading for our household during early days of high school. So glad I picked up (?) this book.