The Color of Water

I read this some time ago and did not realize I had not written a blog post about it. This was also a book group selection; it is a memoir and commemoration of James McBride's Polish, Jewish mother, Ruth. McBride's father was black and he had 11 brothers and sisters. After leaving the south, where she was raised by an abusive Rabbi father and a sickly and non-English speaking mother, Ruth made her way to Harlem. She married and was widowed from two black men. Nevertheless, she managed to send all of her children to college. It is a truly remarkable story of a woman who was disowned by her Jewish family when she married and never looked back. She adopted the black community and seemed fearless in being a part of it, even when her children feared for her. When one of her children asked her what color God was, she replied "the color of water."
McBride has worked as a professional journalist (Boston Globe, Washington Post) and musician (jazz and blues saxophone), and then he decided to write this book. He began interviewing his mother, who he admired and loved but felt he did not really know much about, and the entire process took 14 years. This book was on the New York Times best seller list for two years and there are numerous laudatory reviews: The New York Times, Kirkus, Publishers' Weekly
Highly recommended.