Books Set in North America; United States; New York

The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, by James McBride (1995)

The Color of Water is a touching memoir of James McBride’s mother.  The book alternates between McBride, in his voice, telling about his life growing up and his mother’s voice recounting her life.  The author was an adult before he learned of his mother’s background.

Ruth McBride Jordon was born on April Fool’s Day in 1921 in Poland to an Orthodox Jewish family.  Her given name was Ruchel Dwajra Zylska.  When she was 2 years old, she immigrated to the United States with her mother and older brother.  Her father had already settled in the United States.  She became known as Rachel once in America, but later changed her name to Ruth because she thought it sounded more “American.”  Ruth is an interesting choice, since there is a Biblical Ruth who is known for converting to Judaism.  Ruth McBride, however, tried to hide her Jewish roots and converted to Christianity.

When the author finally confronts his mother about her past, she acknowledges that they sat shiva for her 50 years earlier, as she became dead to them when she left her Jewish background and married a Black man.  We slowly learn of her childhood.  Her parents were in an arranged marriage and there was no love between her father and mother.

As a child, he would sometimes ask his mother why she looked different from the mothers of his friends, but her response was simply that she was “light-skinned.”

Life in the McBride home was not easy, but it was filled with love.  The author was one of 12 children.  The author never knew his father who died of cancer shortly before his birth.  Sometime after the death of her first husband, Ruth remarried Hunter Jordan, another Black man, who became a loving stepfather to James and 7 older siblings.  Ruth and Hunter would have another 4 children.  Jordan did like the chaos of so many children, so lived apart from the family except for weekends.

Ruth was a formidable woman and saw to it that all of her children went to college, and many went on to earn graduate degrees.  All the while, James, as a bi-racial child coming of age in the 1970s faced questions of his identity and race.  The author’s initial impression of the Jewish community seems harsh, but he was initially learning of Judaism through the eyes of his mother, who left an abusive and unloving childhood home.  Through his mother and his stepfather, whom he called Daddy, he learns a life of love and the important things in life.

I loved this book and look forward to reading other books by James McBride.

Read:  June 17, 2020

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Israel

The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah, by Joel Chasnoff (2010)

Joel Chasnoff, the author of this memoir is a stand-up comedian, who, at the age of 24 decided that he wanted to join the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).  Chasnoff grew up in a Conservative home in the United States, but felt a strong connection to Israel.  He had made a couple of visits to Israel, and as he explored his Jewishness, he decided he wanted to fulfill his long desire to serve in the IDF.  He describes his entry into the IDF, where he was assigned to the Armored Corps.

This book describes the rigors of the basic training and the bonds formed with his fellow soldiers.  At age 24, he was years older than his fellow recruits, who were all still in their teens.  His superior officers were barely in their 20s.  He is trained as a tank gunner, and after initial training, finds himself in the Golan on the Israel-Lebanon border.

On his rare days off, he visits his Israeli girlfriend and her family in Tel Aviv.  His training schedule is exhausting and on his time off, he only wants to veg.  His girlfriend, however, wants to party.  Maintaining a relationship is not easy.

When Chasnoff and his girlfriend decide to get married, he also learns just what it means to be a Jew in Israel.  Parts of this book were laugh-out-loud funny.  Other parts certainly provide food for thought.

This book was an easy and enjoyable read.

Read:  June 11, 2020

4 Stars

Books Set in North America and Europe

The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescot (2019)

The Secrets We Kept is a fascinating historical fiction about how the novel Dr. Zhivago made its way out of the Soviet Union and earned Boris Pasternak the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature.  The CIA played a role in that endeavor.  The novel is told through many voices, including that of Olga Ivinslaya, Pasternak’s long-term lover, and the women in the CIA’s typing pool.

Pasternak’s manuscript had been banned from publication in the Soviet Union on grounds that it shed a bad light on the political situation in that country.  The manuscript was spirited out of the Soviet Union and the Italian publisher, Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, had the novel translated into Italian where is was first published.  

The 1950s were marked by the Cold War.  The CIA believed that freedom produced great art, thus initiated its “cultural diplomacy”, designed to expose the non-free world with music and literature of the West.  Russia was known for its great authors and literature.  When rumors abounded that Russian author, Boris Pasternak, had written a sweeping historical epic, interest in the West was piqued.

Once the CIA learned that the manuscript had reached beyond the Iron Curtain, it took steps to publish the novel in Russian and secretly slip it back into its home of origin.  In the 1950s, women had very few employment opportunities.  This novel focuses on several women who were employed by the CIA, ostensibly in the typing pool, but who were also recruited as carriers or swallows for spying on the Soviet Union.  While the women depicted in the novel are fictional, many of the other characters in the novel are real.

This was a fun novel and it has inspired me to find a copy of Dr. Zhivago to re-read.

Read: June 6, 2020

4 Stars