See the hottest books publishing this Summer

Read advance reader review of Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin, page 3 of 3

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin

Motherhood So White

A Memoir of Race, Gender, and Parenting in America

by Nefertiti Austin

  • Critics' Consensus (0):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2019, 304 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews


Page 3 of 3
There are currently 17 member reviews
for Motherhood So White
Order Reviews by:
  • Evelyn G. (Union, NJ)
    Routine read
    I read this book by Nefertiti Austin hoping to gain deeper insights into the challenges and difficulties in raising an adopted child by a single black woman. The book did not do that. It was readable enough and the author wrote truthfully about her background, I felt, but it was not an interesting read that spurred me on to learn or know more by turning the pages. Adopting a "crack baby" and raising the child to the best of one's ability is not unusual in the black community or even the while community as a whole these days. People in all circumstances raise to occasions as they present themselves. Ms. Austin does portray her love for her adopted child in her writing and that may be the prime redeeming quality I found in reading this book.
  • Vicky S (RPV, CA)
    Mothers
    I looked forward to receiving this book and reading Nerertiti's perspective on motherhood and adoption. Parts of the book kept me engaged as when she wrote about her parents and grandparents. Her descriptions had depth and I felt like I'd met her grandparents. I loved the section with the comments her male friends made about her raising her son. Hilarious.

    Other parts I tried to read through quickly as I felt like I was being beaten over the head with a sentiment of otherness and her assumption that all white moms were the same. I've seen many moms with low income, or family turmoil or other challenges from a variety of backgrounds trying to do what was best with their children and having a hard time.

    I respect that she chose to create this memoir partially as a result of not being able find something similar when she was considering adoption as a single Black woman.
  • Nancy L. (Staunton, VA)
    Motherhood
    As the adoptive mother of four, all now grown to adulthood, I thought I knew as much as there was to know about adoption. But I was wrong. Motherhood So White explores the black culture surrounding adoption, as well as the single parent adoption experience. Austin explores her own childhood and the many, many "informal" adoptions - Auntie or Grandma raising a child in need - found in black communities. The only off-putting note for me was the title itself. It just doesn't seem to fit with the content of the book. Austin explains the title a bit, but it does not sum up the many interesting and important things she has to say about black adoption.
  • Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

More Information

Read-Alikes

BookBrowse Book Club

  • Book Jacket
    Lies and Weddings
    by Kevin Kwan
    A forbidden affair erupts at a lavish Hawaiian wedding in this wild comedy from the author of Crazy Rich Asians.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Erased
    by Anna Malaika Tubbs

    In Erased, Anna Malaika Tubbs recovers all that American patriarchy has tried to destroy.

  • Book Jacket

    Songs of Summer
    by Jane L. Rosen

    A young woman crashes a Fire Island wedding to find her birth mother—and gets more than she bargained for.

Who Said...

Never read a book through merely because you have begun it

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

B a L

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.