James Mcbride wrote an interesting and nice to read story based on his memories and memories of his mother. The first four chapters of „The colour of water” I read made me curious to discover more as there are several questions I want to find answers to: how did that happen that a Jewish girl married a black man and how did her orthodox family react to this fact? How did Ruth managed in her life, assuming she had no family support? How did her Jewish roots and upbringing influence the way she looked after her own offsprings? What happens to James later on? What kind of person he becomes? What happened to the rest of his family, his parents and 11 of his siblings? „The colour of water” goes on my „to read” list of books when summer holiday starts.
There were two themes of the book that impressed me most: James’ perspective as a child and the figure of his mum, a heroine in my eyes.
First of all, reading Mcbride’s memories of his early childhood made me recollect some personal flashbacks which resemble the author’s experience. Although there were not so many children in my family, there was always a kind of competition between me and my 2 younger siblings in gaining mother’s attention. Definitely, for a few-year-old a figure of mother is the most important person in one’s life so the thought of possibly hurting her feelings was enough punishment. And the frequent fear that something wrong may happen to mum sounds familiar too. I’m feeling grateful to James Mcbridge as he made me recollect some important aspects of my childhood.
Secondly, when reading the beginning of „The colour of water”, one can surely be impressed with the character of Ruth, author’s mother. A mother of 12 seems to manage extremely well with the whole bunch. Apart from obvious amount of work she had to make sure they are all fed and clean without any help from outside, it required vast amount of patience and wisdom to make sure the children are not emotionally neglected.
What I admire in her most is that despite terrible conditions, she was always putting education first. This woman was always focused on her family, its wellbeing was her ultimate priority. And surprisingly, there was no sign of her complaining on her harsh life. Very specific was her position in the community around as one of not many Jewish white women bringing up black children. Many people treated her badly, she was often offended or humiliated but still she could preserve her dignity and do what she could do the best, just concentrate on her family matters.
Last but not least, Mcbride uses fairly simple language to tell his family story. There are no lenghty descriptions or unnecesssary elements. The fact that author uses two different perspectives, his own and his mother’s, makes the plot even more gripping, the reader’s curiosity develops chapter by chapter.
To sum up, „The colour of water” is not the book that can be easily put aside and even a few first chapters make reader crave for more. In my opinion, James Mcbride’s work really deserves readers’ attention and awards it was given.
