No one leaves the words of this book without a change to the senses. The eyes behold a group of people held together by blood and circumstances. The ears hear the triumphant cry of battle against the social taboos of the day. One can taste the salty tears as they run down the face of a triumphant woman, mother, daughter, and matriarch. Hunger pangs from the gut change into longing for crumbs of communication with her family. It is hard to imagine that one will ever view a simple, elegant, spiritual glass of water in the same way again.

The Color of Water is a great book for discussion. I'd have to say I liked the book rather than loved it but it was very thought provoking.

The author grew up in New York. His father was black. His mother was Jewish and passed herself off as light skinned. It’s the story of growing up with this secretive mother and only getting her to talk about her life after he has grown up.
When, as a child, he asks her the color of Jesus’ skin, she says, “it’s the color of water”.
He describes his mother and her matter-of-fact ways absolutely perfectly: The nuts and bolts of raising us was left to Mommy, who acted as chief surgeon for bruises ("Put iodine on it"), was secretary ("If somebody hits you, take your fist and crack 'em), religious consultant ("Put God first"), chief psychologist ("Don't think about it"), and financial adviser ("What's money if your mind is empty?). Matters involving race and identity she ignored.

Wow, what a book. I was intrigued by the title, but even more intrigued as I read the book. I had never read this book when it first came out and am so glad that I found it recently and recommended it to our little group of readers. Very powerful stuff. James McBride is quite a man. Lots of hard roads to have walked to get where he is today. And, I was fortunate enough to be able to hear him speak about his new novel, Song Yet Sung just last Friday night when he was at a Barnes & Noble store in Dallas. He is even more impressive in person than in print. Overall, there are many lessons to learn from this book that covers racism and many other isms. The main theme of the book is that family and God and love are the overpowering things that can get us all through the bad and good times. Would definitely recommend this book and hope that his other novels are half as good.

Interesting depiction of an atypical childhood filled with and dedicated to the love of the mother. We adored this one. The writing is wonderful, and we had a lovely discussion about what it takes to survive and the power of love.

Our club seemed to really like this book and had much to talk about it. We would recommend it without reservation.

Our book club overall really didn't like it. We really wanted to more of how she raised her children. Not much information in the book.

Prompted a great discussion. Good for book clubs to discuss. Some commented that it is on their list of top ten favorite books. Some of us have even read it two times.

McBride and his eleven siblings knew their mother was a free-thinking, intensely private, strong-willed woman, who demanded excellence from her brood. She was disorganized and overwhelmed, but they knew she loved them. She believed firmly in Jesus Christ and insisted they all attend church each Sunday. She also insisted that they attend the best possible public schools … which meant the Jewish public schools where they were frequently the only Blacks in attendance. They lived for most of their youth in Brooklyn’s Red Hook projects. Certainly they knew their mother wasn’t like the other kids’s mothers; but when they asked, she would simply say, “I’m light-skinned.” When James asked if he was black or white his mother’s curt response was, “You’re a human being. Educate yourself or you’ll be a nobody!” When he asked what color God was, his mother answered, “He’s the color of water.”

But eventually, and after repeated pleas, James convinced his mother to tell the story that he and his siblings never knew – or even suspected. She was not only white, but Jewish – the daughter of an Orthodox rabbi.

The book is told in alternating chapters – Ruth’s story, and James’s story. McBride doesn’t hold back in this memoir of “A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother.” He clearly outlines the missteps and tragedies, as well as the joy and success of his extended family.

It is emotional and heartfelt, tender and raw, full of the personal issues of race, religion and identity, as well as the societal issues of race and religion.

Our reading group all agreed, this was a very good book and we all enjoyed it a lot. We had a great discussion on the family dynamics and worked to make the children in the family all successful adults, despite the hardships they endured. The mother was fascinating and usual be instilled her children with great survival skills.

I loved the optimism in this book. Despite the 12 children that \\\"Ruth\\\" raised, she was able to remain strong in her values-with or without the help of family and society.

This book if used properly would be an excellent tool for teaching the next generation about the struggles of race & religion/faith and the battle for true freedom in both - AND - the reality that neither are freely given or earned without trial and tribulation. The horrible relationship between the father and his wife and him & his daughter was the epitome of contradictory love and misplaced values. This book shows how the daughter/Ruth/Rachel had to find her on truth about race and religion because she did not have a fair or loving presentation of it from the strongest influence in her young life –her father. Good job.

Our club members enjoyed the book. It was refreshing reading a memoir. We had great discussions about the religious morality, children\\\'s upbringing, and educational emphasis of the book.

The discussion of this book in our bookclub generated a great time of sharing of personal experiences in relation to diversity in not only racial and religious culture, but also within families, between families, financial levels and social levels. These all affect lives and living in the world today.

Incredible character - strong, intelligent, made something of her & her children's lives that without her perseverance could have turned out badly. I continue to wonder how she did it!