Synopses & Reviews
The Civil Rights movement brought author Alice Walker and lawyer Mel Leventhal together, and in 1969 their daughter, Rebecca, was born. Some saw this unusual copper-colored girl as an outrage or an oddity; others viewed her as a symbol of harmony, a triumph of love over hate. But after her parents divorced, leaving her a lonely only child ferrying between two worlds that only seemed to grow further apart, Rebecca was no longer sure what she represented. In this book, Rebecca Leventhal Walker attempts to define herself as a soul instead of a symbol and offers a new look at the challenge of personal identity, in a story at once strikingly unique and truly universal.
Review
"[A]n intelligent, passionate memoir about growing up biracial and bicultural." Andrea Renee Goode, SF Weekly (San Franciso)
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"Powerful — deeply affecting." Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia
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"A beautifully written meditation on the creation of a woman's sense of self." Jane Lazarre, author of Beyond the Whiteness of Whiteness
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"Walker [writes with] elegant, discreet candor...will attract a wealth of well-deserved praise." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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"[Walker] offers painful childhood memories of straddling two vastly different cultures black bohemia and Jewish suburbia to fashion a cautionary tale about the power of race in shaping identity...[a] highly readable debut." Entertainment Weekly
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"Walker masterfully illuminates differences between black and white America....A heartbreaking tale of self-creation." People
Synopsis
Hailed as "compelling" by The Washington Post and "stunningly honest" by The San Francisco Chronicle, this memoir has hit bestseller lists and earned critical praise from coast to coast. Rebecca Walker was born in 1969 to author Alice Walker and lawyer Mel Leventhal, who met and married in the heyday of the Civil Rights movement. But after their divorce, Rebecca was a lonely only child ferrying between two worlds — and trying to figure out where she fit in.
About the Author
Rebecca Walker has written for or been featured in stories in The New York Times, The Chicago Times, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Esquire, and U.S. News & World Report, and has appeared on CNN, MTV, and Charlie Rose, among others. She is the founder of Third Wave Direct Action Foundation, a national nonprofit organization devoted to cultivating young women's leadership and activism.