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Avg. Customer Rating:(based on 35 reviews) Sales Rank: 15030 Category: Book
Author:Bliss Broyard Publisher:Back Bay Books Studio:Back Bay Books Manufacturer:Back Bay Books Label:Back Bay Books Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published) Media: Paperback Edition: Reprint Number Of Items: 1 Pages: 544 Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8 Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.5
Product Description Ever since renowned literary critic Anatole Broyard's own parents, New Orleans Creoles, had moved to Brooklyn and began to "pass" in order to get work, he had learned to conceal his racial identity. As he grew older and entered the ranks of the New York literary elite, he maintained the facade. Now his daughter Bliss tries to make sense of his choices and the impact of this revelation on her own life. She searches out the family she never knew in New York and New Orleans, and considers the profound consequences of racial identity. With unsparing candor and nuanced insight, Broyard chronicles her evolution from sheltered WASP to a woman of mixed race ancestry.
A Full Bucket Story October 21, 2008 As a member of a vast cousinage with four living generations, I can't imagine not knowing even one of my people. So, I understand fully Bliss Broyard's climb down her own family tree to discover her father's roots and,thereby,her own. On this journey, she went back further than her great-great-grandfather - who "passed" for black - to unearth and reveal a complex, conflicted history of her family in America. By accomplishing serious detective work, she straightens the twisted narrative of a distinct cultural mix. The in-depth study and analysis of Creoles - a joyful fusion of African, European and Native American - is a profound rendering of the symbolic melting pot. Outside of Louisiana and the emigrants who carried the culture to other environs, Creole (with a capital "C") is generally unknown or little understood. Thanks to this book, we learn that it is so much more than spicy cuisine and an elegant patois. Even the view and impact of placage relationships, so romanticized in novels, is explored. Like anyone who denies his birthright for any reason (there are reasons other than ethnicity)and reinvents himself, Broyard sacrificed much. The saddest part of the story is not Broyard's repudiation of his complete lineage. It is his failure to recognize the great gift of his inheritance and share it with his children. While this book is not an example of great prose, the strength of the author's narrative is her forthright assessment of her own beliefs about race, her unintended prejudices and her reactions to new-found kin and friends. She acknowledges her father's racism, exacerbated by his reliance on stereotypes. Anatole doesn't cross the color line solely for financial and social advantage. In part, he denied the One Drop because of his acceptance of the wrong idea of inherent white superiority. This is not surprising given Creoles' centuries-long separation from their black brethen. Already separated from the larger black community by language and culture, the Broyards' move to NYC solidified the rift: the uneducated Broyards could not be embraced by the black professional class (whose very existance belied the notion of inferiority). Notwithstanding their appearance, class as defined by academic achievement and relative wealth trumped the Broyards' ability to pass the brown bag test. Todd Broyard, who gets limited coverage, seems to have grasped this effect on his father's choices, which Bliss explains, "(F)or Todd, the relevant problem was the 'class line, not the color line.'" Perhaps, and maybe rightly so, Anatole Broyard did not believe he could be accepted into the right class if he carried the baggage of the wrong color.
One Drop August 12, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this book. Not so much b/c I was interested in Anatole Broyard, but rather I found his family history and his daughter's struggles to come to terms with her father's and her own identity much more compelling. Bliss Broyard did a wonderful job of detailing her paternal history all the way back to 18c Louisiana. I felt her need to connect with her new found family and her pain when her family (while polite) did not fully embrace her. Highly recommended.
All time favorite non-fiction book June 22, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bliss Broyard is amazing, and I am so glad that she wrote this book. I discovered her existence seeing an excerpt from African American Lives and became curious about her journey. I had just had my own DNA testing done to confirm or dispel a family story about us being American Indian and Scottish, instead of Irish as we'd been told. When my results came in, showing a strong subsaharan African and Egyptian Berber influence (in addition to the Scottish and American Indian parts) I was startled and surprised. I didn't know what to make of it, or how to incorporate this new knowledge into my self-identity. So, reading Ms. Broyard's book was amazing for me, because I'd gone through many of the challenges she spoke of. I was somewhat jealous of her ability to connect to relatives and gain so much genealogy information, as I've been doing these searches for 10 years and not gotten so much. Her book is a testament to rethinking the memory of her father and making meaning for herself. Her writing is exceptional, and she's honest, sincere. I wish there were more authors (or people in general!) like Ms. Broyard. Good for her for publishing this! I've passed on my copy to other friends who struggle with their multiple cultures and identities, and gifted a copy to a friend who's interested in his own genealogy. Go Ms. Broyard, and bless you for the courage it took to write this book!
One Drop June 13, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bliss' voyage was very special to me. I felt her pain and confusion and unfortunately could relate too closely to her tale. Her account is so honest and self-reflective that it was embarassing at times to be privvy to her thoughts. As a mother,I wanted to hug her and explain to her all the racial garbage that American society dumps on us. As a Creole of Color whose mother, grandmother and God knows how many other relatives passed while I couldn't, I can relate to her family stories and pain. Yet, this young lady taught me so much with her amazing historical research. If I ever drag myself back to Louisiana to my maternal home, I will have lots of tips to learn more about my family. For example, who is my Italian grandfather and does a great grandfather's portrait as a judge still hang in a county courthouse? I'd love to have her help me retrace my roots. I am amused at her stories of people discovering their black ancestry and I laugh at the thought that if people in the 30s only knew that my red-headed grandmother, a magazine cover girl, was actually black/Negroe/Colored/Creole or that my mom, the lady in the 60s Wonder Bread commercial, wasn't white. But the scars still remain with all of us. The lies, the denial of self still haunt the family. I am sending this book to my mom who prbably to this day experiences some guilt about not raising her eldest daughter because she couldn't pass in her white expatriate world.
I only just heard about the anatole broyard story, and had to read this book! February 23, 2008 5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I just finished reading a novel called Passin', by Karen E. Quinones Miller, and Broyard's father was mentioned in that book. What little I learned from Miller's book intrigued me, so I hurried up and purchased One Drop. It was a decent book, but not as interesting as I might have hoped.
She had me mesmerized when writing about her father's life, but then when she goes on her own journey to learn more about her African-American roots my interest began to wan. I tried to figure out why, and then realized it was because she was writing about it almost as a disinterested character herself! She never drew me in, because she wasn't that drawn in. So why did she bother with this odyssey to find her roots, I wonder? Maybe to write this book?
Also, and I saw this mentioned in a few other reviews, she seems to have some (residual?) racist views herself about blacks . . . and you out and out feel that she thinks it ironic that she's now part of a group she and her friends have always considered inferior.
If anyone ever writes a full biography on her father, I'd love to read it. But this memoir left me feeling a little on the exploited side, myself.
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