Off-White: A Memoir

Laurie Gunst's book takes you inside the world of the country-club South and gives a unique portrait of the "upstairs/downstairs" relationships. Her topic is supposed to be race. She provides a compelling account of her relationships with the blacks in her life, and how she has won her struggle to create human relationships that overcome the distortions prescribed by society. But I also found the work very powerful in talking about the hidden intensity of surrogate mothering -- in her case, the black caregiver who was emotionally available to her in ways that her biological mother could not be. There are passages of great beauty in the writing, as well as painfully honest self-examination. This is not a perfect book, but it is brave, admirable, and unfortunately still necessary in a society that continues to take comfort in certain forms of self-deception.

Somewhere between the harsh lines of black and white lie the inevitable shades of gray, as Laurie Gunst so adequately describes in her memoir, OFF-WHITE. Growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Gunst formed a strong bond with not only her nanny and caretaker Rhoda, but with all of the faces of color that shared her life. Already marked different because of being Jewish, Gunst felt her insides were different as well. In many ways, she saw herself as a white face with a black psyche due to her family's racially liberal ideals and her environment. She was the surrogate child of many African-Americans who were not only workers in her family's wealthy home, but also genuine adopted family members. She takes her readers on an identity pilgrimage throughout her childhood and adult years, adventures at Harvard and in Jamaica, and climaxing with the search for ancestors of both blood and spirit. While I thought OFF-WHITE started out a little slow, once I got to know the cast of characters in Laurie Gunst's life, I was smitten, intrigued, and enthralled with every last one of them. Gunst's writing is pensive and reminiscent without being too philosophical or academic. While the prose is certainly intelligently written, it was done so in a way that I felt she was telling me a story rather than relating mundane facts. Valuable lessons and awakenings abound in Laurie Gunst's memoir, and I am glad I got to know her and the people who touched her life. Reviewed by CandaceK of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers