Pagina principaleGruppiConversazioniAltroStatistiche
Cerca nel Sito
Questo sito utilizza i cookies per fornire i nostri servizi, per migliorare le prestazioni, per analisi, e (per gli utenti che accedono senza fare login) per la pubblicità. Usando LibraryThing confermi di aver letto e capito le nostre condizioni di servizio e la politica sulla privacy. Il tuo uso del sito e dei servizi è soggetto a tali politiche e condizioni.

Risultati da Google Ricerca Libri

Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.

Sto caricando le informazioni...

My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir

di Mark Whitaker

UtentiRecensioniPopolaritàMedia votiCitazioni
672391,669 (3.93)6
In a dramatic, moving work of historical reporting and personal discovery, an award-winning journalist sets out to trace the story of what happened to his parents, a fascinating but star-crossed interracial couple, and arrives at a new understanding of the family dramas that shaped their lives--and his own.… (altro)
Nessuno
Sto caricando le informazioni...

Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro.

Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.

» Vedi le 6 citazioni

Mostra 2 di 2
Mark Whitaker is former editor of Newsweek. His parents were both college professors. His father, a much-lauded expert on African studies, esp. Nigerian politics, was African American. His mother, a professor of French literature, emigrated to the U.S. from France as a child during WW II. With a family background like that, the story couldn't help but be interesting. The first 2/3 of the book, in which Mark recounts his family's various stories, from his Whitaker grandparents' rise to prominence as black funeral directors to his Theis grandfather's heroic role in protecting Jews during WW II is absolutely gripping. Mark's parents have some very happy years but eventually divorce, in large part due to his father's alcoholism. The last third of the book is largely about Mark's struggle to develop an identity and a career largely on his own. While the book ends with the memoir's traditional platitude that "I finally understand my parents. My dad wasn't all bad and I really do owe my mom a lot" I was not very satisfied. Given Mark's incredibly privileged education, it seems to me he could have probed a little deeper into what led to the obvious "bully/victim" roles his parents fell into. I also wonder that he doesn't consider what role the patriarchal worlds of academics and also Nigerian politics in which his father was deeply invested played in his father's refusal to acknowledge his own faults. Overall, I guess I was just disappointed that there wasn't deeper cultural analysis here. ( )
  kaitanya64 | Jan 3, 2017 |
First of all, I have to admit that I didn't know who journalist and news executive Mark Whitaker is, I just wanted to read this book because I like memoirs and I thought the story of a child born to a white mother and a black father during a time of blatant racism would be interesting. And it was.

Whitaker's parents were both caring, intelligent people who were both a bit dysfunctional in very different ways. This isn't a The Glass Castle or A Child Called It kind of dysfunctional, thank heavens. It is more about a very loving mother who perhaps was overwhelmed by her situation and her relationship with her husband. But mostly, it is about a father who needs to feel important but doesn't deal well with responsibility and too often takes the easy way out. And of course, about the children of that relationship. We see all this through the eyes of the author as it seemed to him as a child and then through his adult perspective.

I was surprised that there were not more reports of racism in the book. While it had to be very hard to be a biracial family in those times, extended family seemed loving and accepting. I loved the stories of international travel, and especially the stories of bravery during WWII. Early in the book, I had a problem with some pronouns, was not sure what person the author meant, but that lessened as I got used to the author's style. His style didn't always appeal to me, could have been both a little more interesting and have had fewer details in some areas, but that is probably more about me than it is about the author's style. All in all, this is a highly readable look at a successful person and how he came to be on that path.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me an advance reader's copy of the book. ( )
1 vota TooBusyReading | Aug 5, 2011 |
Mostra 2 di 2
nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Devi effettuare l'accesso per contribuire alle Informazioni generali.
Per maggiori spiegazioni, vedi la pagina di aiuto delle informazioni generali.
Titolo canonico
Titolo originale
Titoli alternativi
Data della prima edizione
Personaggi
Luoghi significativi
Eventi significativi
Film correlati
Epigrafe
Dedica
Incipit
Citazioni
Ultime parole
Nota di disambiguazione
Redattore editoriale
Elogi
Lingua originale
DDC/MDS Canonico
LCC canonico

Risorse esterne che parlano di questo libro

Wikipedia in inglese

Nessuno

In a dramatic, moving work of historical reporting and personal discovery, an award-winning journalist sets out to trace the story of what happened to his parents, a fascinating but star-crossed interracial couple, and arrives at a new understanding of the family dramas that shaped their lives--and his own.

Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche

Descrizione del libro
Riassunto haiku

Discussioni correnti

Nessuno

Copertine popolari

Link rapidi

Voto

Media: (3.93)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5
3 1
3.5 1
4 1
4.5
5 3

Sei tu?

Diventa un autore di LibraryThing.

Tantor Media

Una edizione di quest'opera è stata pubblicata da Tantor Media.

» Pagina di informazioni sull'editore

 

A proposito di | Contatto | LibraryThing.com | Privacy/Condizioni d'uso | Guida/FAQ | Blog | Negozio | APIs | TinyCat | Biblioteche di personaggi celebri | Recensori in anteprima | Informazioni generali | 203,207,020 libri! | Barra superiore: Sempre visibile