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A review by ralovesbooks
When I Was White: A Memoir by Sarah Valentine
4.0
Thank you to St. Martin's Press for my free review copy! This book releases today, August 6, 2019.
This memoir is poignant and powerful. The author's revelation that her background is not what she believed is understandably traumatic, and going alongside for the journey is, at times, difficult to read. The most interesting aspects for me were when she interrogated her perspective toward whiteness and blackness, from both sides of the line. The concepts of code switching and passing loom large here, as well as the assumptions that people in her profession made about her. I would recommend this book for a thought-provoking, empathy-building read that raises a lot of interesting questions that are valuable to consider and discuss.
This memoir is poignant and powerful. The author's revelation that her background is not what she believed is understandably traumatic, and going alongside for the journey is, at times, difficult to read. The most interesting aspects for me were when she interrogated her perspective toward whiteness and blackness, from both sides of the line. The concepts of code switching and passing loom large here, as well as the assumptions that people in her profession made about her. I would recommend this book for a thought-provoking, empathy-building read that raises a lot of interesting questions that are valuable to consider and discuss.