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merthelibrarian's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
newdayvow's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting material-I liked the section on the author's childhood, but the format of the book overall felt jarringly disjointed which made it hard to follow sometimes.
amlibera's review against another edition
4.0
Fascinating cultural history/memoir of race and class in the late 20th century - I particularly enjoyed her stories of growing up and going to the U of C lab school. Some of the latter parts of the book get a bit oblique and I missed the straightforward storytelling of the earlier sections.
gioia1's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.0
was really looking forward to this book, but felt like the author didn’t know she was writing a memoir and instead wanted to write a history book without having to do all the research. i read a memoir to feel closer to the author but i have no idea who margo is. hate giving a memoir a bad rating because experience is subjective, but rlly don’t even think this should be considered a memoir. v muddled and hard to follow to boot
kirsh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.75
heidihaverkamp's review against another edition
5.0
Jefferson taught me things about growing up "black aristocracy" in Hyde Park (also Park Manor and Bronzeville) that, as a white Hyde Park native, I needed and wanted to know. She went to the Lab School as one of very few black students in the 50s and 60s. Her careful, poignant storytelling about the strain of feeling she must be twice as good as white students, she must be perfect in all things, she must know everything about black history and Shakespeare and caring for her hair made me exhausted just reading about it. Her accounts of young black suicides in her teenage years broke my heart.
laila4343's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know what to think about this book. It is a decidedly nontraditional memoir. Jefferson uses different techniques (histories, lists, third person) to keep herself (and us) at a remove from the emotion of her experience as an upper middle class black girl growing up in the 1950s and 60s in Chicago. She shares observations and incidents that are certainly compelling and emotionally devastating. I have a feeling that this is going to be a book that I appreciate more the longer I think about it. But at times, unfortunately, reading it felt like a chore.
More thoughts to come at http://bigreadinglife.wordpress.com.
More thoughts to come at http://bigreadinglife.wordpress.com.
elisahvdb's review against another edition
Could not follow this at all on audio. Might try again in print.