Color Blind |  | Author: Precious Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: eBooks
This item is no longer available
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 8164
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.92
ASIN: B003T0FMF6
Publication Date: June 22, 2010
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Product Description
Born in Africa to a Nigerian princess, Precious Williams was less than one year old when her mother put an ad in Nursery World: "Pretty Nigerian baby girl needs new home." Precious's mother had flown to London in search of a new life--a life in which there was no space for a daughter. The first response came rom a 60-year-old white woman, Nan, who prided herself for being "color blind." Correspondence were exchanged, no questions asked, and Precious left her mother for Nan's home in rural England. Nan may have been color blind, but others in their small town were not. Precious grew up in an entirely white household, attending all-white schools, where she remained for her entire childhood. She was taunted by her peers and misunderstood by Nan. Precious's mother occasionally made fleeting, magical visits until she was nine, but would often critisize her for being "too white." Finding it impossible to related to any family members--biological or surragoate--she became disillusioned and self-destructive. She retreated to her imagination, forging an identity from characters she'd seen on TV, in movies, and read about in books. Color Blind is a powerful coming-of-age memoir exploring themes of motherhood and race.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
 Beautiful, harrowing book! August 3, 2010
Papaya (United Kingdom)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book was harrowing but ultimately very rewarding. The subject matter is often dark but the book is written in a buoyant way and I found it gripping and charming. This true story begins with the baby daughter of a glamorous, mysterious Nigerian princess being given away in a basket to an elderly white lady in all-white housing project in England. The baby girl grows up into a spirited little girl who is completely alienated from her African culture and doesn't even seem to understand that she is black. The white lady fostering her keeps saying to her "You're not black, darling." The book is set in the English countryside, in London and in Nigeria and it shows the trajectory of this girl's life into womanhood. It's not a light read as it includes emotional abuse, rape and neglect but there is a lot of humour in the book and it is beautifully written and atmospheric. It reminds me of a mix between 'Angela's Ashes' and 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.' I heartily recommend it.
Color Blind August 29, 2010
Nancy
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
What a wonderful book. Color Blind: A Memoir by Precious Williams made a dent in my heart. I feel like I want to say, "I understand." I understand the different stages that the author explained as she unraveled the story of her unique life.
This book made me cry several times, I think because Ms. Williams is able to write in such a way that I was able to feel what she felt and see what she saw. I don't want to give away the details of her book, but it is not a predictable memoir about racial problems, although they are obviously addressed. Ms. Williams' experiences were ones that I've never heard before. Her courage is amazing. She is brutally honest, and sometimes I felt that she was too hard on herself. But I think she was hard on herself so that she could teach something about what she has learned from her life thus far.
It is a heart wrenching journey of a sweet angel girl with so many unanswered questions. I think that someday this will be a novel taught in schools for racial issues as well as her excellent writing style.
I highly recommend Color Blind: A Memoir.
Magnificent! Colour Purple, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Bluest Eye and now this! August 11, 2010
Margot E. Henriksen
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book felt like a cross between 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings' and 'The Bluest Eye'. It's the same kind of precocious talent that changes the way we look at our world. Reading the book, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. I laughed and I sobbed. I was so sorry this young girl had to suffer so terribly at the hands of those people who clearly meant well but did not do well by her. The only thing I didn't like was the fact that I don't know what happened to her afterwards. Where is she now? How is she? Was she affected by what happened? How? I loved this book but I need her to write the next phase. Excellent.
Very well written! September 1, 2010
manders68324
The book did not disappoint; it read so well, that I had to remind myself that it is a memoir, not a work of fiction. Precious Williams is a really good writer.
Her story is not a happy one. Mere months upon her birth, her mother leaves with with a foster-mother to raise Precious "Anita" Williams. Anita is raised by an elderly white woman and knows nothing of her own culture. Being ignorant of her own past, she is an outsider among other Africans, and because of the color of her skin, she is outcast from her community. Besides feeling out of place and unloved by the mother who left her for someone else to raise and only appeared from time to time to abuse her, Anita's life was traumatic.
It's a sad tale, but well written and definitely a good read.
Haunting and Unflinching August 11, 2010
knuscru
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
An inconceivable true story of an child placed into foster-care in England by her Nigerian Princess mother to an elderly white couple through an advertisement in the back of a magazine.
Color Blind covers specific themes of trans-racial adoption/foster-care, sexual abuse and universal themes such as cultural differences, racism, mother/daughter issues, search for identity, the quest to break dysfunctional family cycles.
I appreciated Ms. William's honest unvarnished treatment of all the the characters and most surprising herself. Her emergence into a place of healing and understanding does not come without a huge cost. In fact it seems unbelievable that with so much loss, rejection and identity confusion, she could emerge whole and self-possessed.
I thought it was haunting, unflinching and well written. In a word: Heroic
Showing reviews 1-5 of 12
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