Can anyone give me a summary of the book THE COLOR OF WATER?

Question

I need a summary of the book The Color of Water.

Answer 1

CHAPTER 1 – Dead (Ruth’s early history)

James McBride’s mother, Ruth, describes her early life. Born on April 1, 1921, to Polish Orthodox Jewish parents, Fishel Shilsky (Tateh) and Hudis Shilsky (Mameh), she was named Ruchel Dwarja Alyska. Her parents changed her name to Rachel when they immigrated to America. When Rachel was nineteen, as a way to mark her past as history, she changed her name to Ruth. Her father, a hard, unyielding man, worked as an itinerant rabbi and moved the family several times. Her mother, gentle and meek, suffered from polio. Ruth became dead to her family as a result of her marriage to James’s African American father, Andrew Dennis McBride. Ruth’s family recited kaddish and sat shiva. It is explained that in the Jewish faith, this ritual acknowledges the death of a family member or friend.

CHAPTER 2 – The Bicycle

James’s stepfather, Hunter Jordan, dies. The death of the only father James has known, has a severe effect on him. James drops out of school and becomes involved in drugs and theft. His mother is distraught and spends hours riding a bicycle around the neighborhood. To James, who has just realized that his mother is white, her bicycle mania is embarrassing and an example of her differentness.

CHAPTER 3 – Kosher (Ruth’s early history)

Ruth describes her parents’ arranged marriage and how they got to America. At the time the family arrived, Ruth was two; her brother, Sam, was four. The family stayed with her grandparents, Bubeh and Zaydeh. She details the strict rules of Orthodox Judiasm and how they affected her. Her grandfather died while she was still very young. His death, and the way it was handled, provoked a life-long fear of death in her.

CHAPTER 4 – Black Power

James becomes more aware of the divide between blacks and whites. Although his mother is white, she lives in a black world and refuses to acknowledge her whiteness. The Black Power movement is ascendant, and the Black Panthers are attracting more and more followers. Black pride is manifesting itself. In this environment, James is terrified for his mother’s safety, yet she concentrates on raising her children to succeed. Reference is made to the fact that she and her husband, Andrew McBride, started the New Brown Memorial Baptist Church.

CHAPTER 5 – Old Testament (Ruth’s early history) Ruth describes life with a traveling rabbi father. They lived in many places, for he was not considered good enough to be asked to stay on in a permanent position. Being poor and Jewish and having a handicapped mother embarrassed Ruth. The family moved south, to Suffolk, Virginia, where her father opened a grocery store in “the colored side of town.” She tells of her loathing of her father, who was harsh and unloving and sexually abused her.

CHAPTER 6 – The New Testament James describes his mother’s love of God and paints a colorful description of family Sundays in church. Later, in the New Brown Church, the family plays and recites Bible stories on Easter. Here, as elsewhere, the emphasis on schooling and religion is paramount. The title, The Color of Water, comes from this chapter.

CHAPTER 7 – Sam (Ruth’s early history)

Ruth describes the South of the 30s, with the specter of the Depression and the ominous presence of the Ku Klux Klan. She illustrates how the black population navigated that era. Her brother, Sam, could tolerate neither the life he was leading nor the tyranny of his father, and he ran off. He joined the Army and was eventually killed in World War II.

CHAPTER 8 – Brothers and Sisters

James lives in a home of “orchestrated chaos.” The family’s life is described including James’s position as one of the five “young-uns” in a family of twelve children, his mother’s inability to cook, the importance of food, the sharing of clothes and musical instruments and the hatching of childhood plots. He sees his house as a combination three-ring circus and zoo. He describes some of his siblings – his sister Helen, the rebel; Rosetta, the resident queen of the house; his brother Dennis, the civil rights activist and artist with aspirations of becoming a doctor.

CHAPTER 9 – Shul (Ruth’s early history)

Ruth’s father performed circumcisions as handily as he slaughtered beef. Her mother sent the children to school, but her father objected to the influence of a gentile education and paid for the girls to receive private lessons in sewing and record keeping. The whites at Ruth’s school hated Jews. Jews were seen as different from everyone, and few liked them. Since her father dealt with black customers, she and her family were considered lower class. Her one salvation at this time was her friendship with Frances.

CHAPTER 10 – School

James is surprised to hear his mother speak Yiddish when she takes the children to Jewish stores for school clothes. Ruth’s Jewish values begin to emerge. His sister Rosetta’s education is paid for by a Jewish foundation. Ruth sends the children miles away to predominately Jewish schools,  

Answer 2

its blue