I'm Down

I've just finished my most recent book and I wanted to share.

Yep, I'm Down. I came across this book as I was doing one of my favorite ways to pass the time...doing a Google image search to find a funny picture to use to reply to an email. I wanted to let whoever it was at the moment know I was on board for whatever shenanigans they were planning, so I did an image search for 'I'm down.' This popped up first, and I promptly used this a reply to the email. I then had to know more about this book.

So, I read the synopsis and immediately reserved it at the library. Well, I got it and held off for a few days before digging in. Once I started, it was a quick finish. Here is the synopsis from the book cover:


Mishna Wolff grew up in a poor black neighborhood with her single father, a white man who truly believed he was black. "He strutted around with a short perm, a Cosby-esqe sweater, gold chains and a Kangol--telling jokes like Redd Fox, and giving advice like Jesse Jackson. You couldn't tell my father he was white. Believe me, I tried," writes Wolff. And so from early childhood on, her father began his crusade to make his white daughter "down."

Unfortunately, Mishna didn't quite fit in with the neighborhood kids: she couldn't dance, she couldn't sing, she couldn't double Dutch and she was the worst player on her all-black basketball team. She was shy, uncool, and painfully white. And yet when she was suddenly sent to a rich white school, she found she was too "black" to fit in with her white classmates.

"I'm Down" is a hip, hysterical and at the same time beautiful memoir that will have you howling with laughter, recommending it to friends and questioning what it means to be black and white in America.

I really enjoyed this read. Mishna is able to portray her young life with humor, but able to make you feel like your right there with her in the neighborhood or at school. There were parts where I felt sympathy for her in life, and places where I laughed out loud. (Just wait til you read about her little step brother falling out the back of her dad's van when they hit a pot hole, you'll be laughing hysterically as well.)

Pick it up and try it out, it's a fun, quick read that will make you ponder a bit as well!