Reviews

When I Was White: A Memoir by Sarah Valentine

3smallsalsmum's review against another edition

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.5

leeahsmestad's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

2.75

Hmm. I’m just not sure what was off about this but it just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. 
Our lives shared a few parallels but, yeah, I dunno. 

ralovesbooks's review against another edition

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.

slapshottechnology's review against another edition

2.0

So what did I like the best? All the Pittsburgh references, of course! Franco at the airport, North Park, Wexford, Kings and Eat-n-Park. Yup! It was an interesting story. Definitely good to see life through two perspectives. I feel she did get whiny at the end with her newly found identity. She never really accepted being multi-racial in my opinion, just went right the only trying to close herself off from the other side of things.

kellfaulk's review against another edition

3.0

Didn't love, took a very long time to finish for me.

raoionna's review against another edition

4.0

This was a wonderful read that helps bring issues of race to a human level. It’s so compelling and thoughtful.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free arc in exchange for an honest review.

yetanothersusan's review against another edition

3.0

I am giving this book 3 stars. If it weren't a memoir, it would get 2, but I always like to take into consideration why the book was written and the fact that it just plain takes a whole lot of guts to lay your life out there. For that, you get a star. And wow! Ms. Valentine sure has a life to lay out there. Raised as a 100% white woman, at age 27 (yes, 27) she finds out that she is in fact biracial and that her biological father is black, actual origins unknown, and supposedly a rapist. Which leads to my first question: why does she obsess so much about wanting to meet and get to know him? Maybe his family or about his background, but him as a person? No thank you. I spent a good portion of the book trying to figure out why Ms. Valentine didn't confront her parents earlier than age 27, especially when she spent way too much time during the course of the book pointing out events that indicated that there was something amiss. In fact, a lot of time in this book is spent on events that could have easily been edited out and made for a better book. However, again this is where the idea of it being a memoir comes in to play. If this book is for Ms. Valentine's benefit, then it should include whatever she wants. It could include a list of the jelly used on her daily sandwich for lunch. But, when offered to the public to read, the focus changes a bit. (Maybe this is why I expect never to write a memoir?) Through most of the book I sympathized with Ms. Valentine. Yet, in my very subjective opinion, I thought her outrage should have been focused on having been lied to and not about her actual parentage. Instead, she starts to get upset about the institutionalized racism around her. I was a bit upset that she hadn't been concerned about it before. But I guess now it is her problem? Second, I felt like her viewing of the world through her new lens was a bit over the top. No, I did not text a black friend last night and ask her if, when she walks in a room she notices and counts every single other black person. This seems unnatural. Is Ms. Valentine doing this because she is becoming more aware? This connection is not made. Instead it seemed another part of being outraged at her parentage. Misplaced anger. This anger caused other issues to arise that made me scratch my head. Ms. Valentine assumed that someone wondered why she studied Soviet literature if she wasn't born there because she was black. I don't understand this. Maybe they wondered why she studied Soviet literature period. I studied Russian in college and was frequently asked why. I am not Russian. I am not black. I was someone interested in learning a foreign language and tired of French. To assume the question was racially motivated was going a bit too far. In the context of this been recognized as Ms. Valentine becoming overwhelmed with her racial revelation, it would have made sense. But that connection is never made. Several connections are never made. So I will chalk this memoir up as a way for Ms. Valentine to write down her feelings and impressions but not as a document for outsiders to read for a greater understanding of the issues.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

amywheresshereading's review against another edition

2.0

When I Was White by Sarah Valentine is a memoir about her childhood growing up in rural Pennsylvania, in an Irish/Italian family as a white girl. This novel explores Sarah’s childhood and how she felt as though she never really fit in. Then in her adult life she learned that her biological father, was not the Irish dad she grew up with, but in fact an African American man she had never known, or heard her mom speak of.

At the age of 27, when she finds out this information Sarah begins to question everything that has happened in her childhood. She re-evaluates her life through a new lens; the lens of a mixed woman.

This book was interesting and I found myself immediately googling the author to see her picture. I did find the photo she talks about in the book; Sarah with her two brothers. The book brought up some important discussions about how race and ethnicity develops you as a child and teenager. After reading, I wish the book explored Sarah’s mother more, I think their relationship was an interesting part of the book. Overall I felt as though the memoir could have been condensed a lot. I feel as though it would have been better as an article rather than a book.

desdemonarose's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0

I wasn't sure what to expect when I saw the 3.5 rating that this book had at the time of my reading.  It was really good though.  I am surprised that it didn't rate higher.  Is it a challenging book at times to read, sure.  It's a book about racism and how people who were raised in white American society can cause pain.  The book is honest.  The author is honest with how she was effected, she is honest in where she has also had racism taught to her.  She was raised as if she was white, though much of the rest of the world didn't treat her as white. She learns her truth and has to struggle with it and learn where she is in the world.  She doesn't let the white people in her life define her, as much as they seem to want to, she defines herself.  It's not an easy road for her, but she travels it just the same.  

I really like memoires, so maybe that is part of the reason why I like this book more than the average reviewer.   I have read some where people don't really trust that the author is honest.  I definitely feel like the author is very honest here and I appreciate that a lot.  She is also a talented writer.

hannahedi's review against another edition

2.0

This family story is really incredible, but somehow just not compelling. I really couldn’t believe such an amazing history came off so flat.