The Color of Water
Author: James McBride
Reviewed by: Lexi Alvarez
The Color of Water is a novel written by James McBride. This book is the life story of James McBride and his mother. He describes his brothers and sisters and his mother and how he lived his life. Half of the book is the life story of Ruth McBride his mother and when she was a child and how being a Jewish family was very difficult in the South both have their totally different stories of their lives how they grew up, what they went through, what their parents were like and basically there life. The story was written by the son James, he interviewed his mother ABOUT her life and also wrote about himself. The Book it goes back and forth their lives. Ruth McBride told all about her life how her father was a very serious Rabbi. They would always have to move from place to place because the states or cities they stayed in didn’t really need him anymore. Ruth had gone through a tough time, with her father Tateh; he would abuse her and molest her without her mother knowing. She never wanted to tell her mother because she never wanted to hurt her mother. Her father was always too obsessed over his new store he had opened in one of the places they had moved too. They never had any workers so Ruth and her brother Sam always had to work at the place before and after school. Ruth also had a younger sister called Dee-Dee. Ruth always had the harder time because she was the one who had to keep her secret about her dad. She had a pretty tough time. She always had a hard time because of getting teased most of the time because she was Jewish. Her mother was also very hurt from getting Polio while she was younger; she got teased because of her mother. James McBride was the son of Ruth McBride and was 1 of 12 children. His mother was very tired from raising 12 children. His mother had only married black men; his first father had died at the age of 45 from lung cancer when he was young. After the first father died she had married another man named Hunter Jordan who was his stepfather but was more of a father because his first one died when James was very young. Hunter Jordan gave her 4 more children making a total of 13. Church was always very important to their family. The parents were strict, but not all of the time. The book is a mixture of both of their lives. They both want somebody to understand how they lived their lives when they were younger. Ruth had her troubles with her father and how she had to live her life as a young girl. Ruth lived in a place where Blacks and Whites were separated even on different sides of the streets. James had a difficult life because he had to help his mother with the children sometimes when he was an older child. They both had a difficult life, they did not know how to stick through it for their whole life until they grew up. Personally I thought that the book was a very great read. I loved the idea of how they told the story of two different people. I liked how they named it “The Color of Water” because I did not understand at first until it said in the book. It was a very great book written by James McBride.
