A review by bookmaddie
The Yellow House: A Memoir by Sarah M. Broom
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Broom has created a really powerful memoir that explores family and her bond to a specific place—New Orleans, and how it has shaped herself and her family. Her writing is absolutely beautiful, and really struck me throughout my reading experience. The depth of feeling that Broom is explores is beautiful, and her love for her family, and for New Orleans, really shines through.
I found it interesting to witness how Broom climbs up the socioeconomic ladder to occupy spaces that her family never imagined before. Broom's observations of the French Quarter were really special to read and consider, especially as my ancestors lived and grew up there. I really valued reading another perspective of what that area of New Orleans meant to those who aren't wealthy and white.
Of course, Broom's family's experience of Katrina was also powerful and heartbreaking to read. It was a life changing event, and the effects of the storm haven't ended or disappeared. I was young when it happened, so I don't remember or know much about what happened. Reading Broom's narrative really opened my eyes to all that went wrong, and I would love to continue reading about the effects of the storm and the displacement of people from New Orleans.
This memoir is approachable, intimate, and enveloping. It makes you clearly and deeply understand what it is to be so strongly tied to a place, and what leaving and returning to that place is like. It is a memoir of New Orleans, and one family, and it is gorgeous. Definitely a late favorite of 2020!
Below are some of my favorite quotes:
"From the beginning, no one could agree on what to call the place. But namelessness is a form of naming."
"She seems, in an illogical way, the most memorable adult in my growing up. I always dwell on absences, I think, more than the presences."
"I did not yet understand the psychic cost of defining oneself by the place where you are from."
"Remembering is a chair that is hard to sit still in."
I found it interesting to witness how Broom climbs up the socioeconomic ladder to occupy spaces that her family never imagined before. Broom's observations of the French Quarter were really special to read and consider, especially as my ancestors lived and grew up there. I really valued reading another perspective of what that area of New Orleans meant to those who aren't wealthy and white.
Of course, Broom's family's experience of Katrina was also powerful and heartbreaking to read. It was a life changing event, and the effects of the storm haven't ended or disappeared. I was young when it happened, so I don't remember or know much about what happened. Reading Broom's narrative really opened my eyes to all that went wrong, and I would love to continue reading about the effects of the storm and the displacement of people from New Orleans.
This memoir is approachable, intimate, and enveloping. It makes you clearly and deeply understand what it is to be so strongly tied to a place, and what leaving and returning to that place is like. It is a memoir of New Orleans, and one family, and it is gorgeous. Definitely a late favorite of 2020!
Below are some of my favorite quotes:
"From the beginning, no one could agree on what to call the place. But namelessness is a form of naming."
"She seems, in an illogical way, the most memorable adult in my growing up. I always dwell on absences, I think, more than the presences."
"I did not yet understand the psychic cost of defining oneself by the place where you are from."
"Remembering is a chair that is hard to sit still in."
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence