My Life in Black and White by Kori Miller

If you could be just one race, which one would you choose? How would you decide? Through a series of early life experiences, one woman made this choice, and she made it by the time she was twelve years old. Get ready for a few tears, a bit of anger, and a lot of laughter, as she offers glimpses into her experiences from grade school into adulthood.–Description from Goodreads

Paperback, 68 pages

Published September 15th 2011

by Createspace

ISBN

1463787413 (ISBN13: 9781463787417)

edition language

English

You can go visit Kori and talk to her about her work over at

http://korimiller.wordpress.com

You can pick up a copy for yourself by going to Amazon

Here are my thoughts on this book:

My Life in Black and White is a short book (creative non-fiction,) but it packs a real punch. Kori Miller tells a simple truth in this book. No matter what type of skin we have, what our hair looks like or what background we come from, we are all made of the same stuff.

I enjoyed reading this. There are parts of this book that will piss you off, there are parts that will make you laugh and there are some sections that might even bring a tear to your eye. I appreciated the honesty in the author’s recollections of growing up as a mixed race person. She shares her thoughts in a way that is both easy to read and makes it simple to understand her position.

There is a little ranting here and there, a lot of intelligent writing and some humor to make you smile. This was a book that I feel smarter for having read. The voice Kori Miller uses to tell her story is strong, but not formal and boring. The book doesn’t feel political or like the author is trying to sway the reader to feel a certain way. Instead, she tells you of her own thoughts, memories and opinion and lets you decide what you feel by the end.

While many of the experiences the author speaks of could have made a different type of individual bitter or reclusive, Kori has managed to look inside herself and evaluate the things she has lived through to make her a stronger, more accepting person.

Another thing that caught my attention about this memoir, was the chapter headings she used. Each one is quirky and brilliant and has a special meaning related to the text that follows it. If you are looking for something to read that will make you stop and think and appreciate the differences between us all, may I recommend this book.