Customer Reviews

Brother Blue: A Narrative Portrait of Brother Blue A.K.A. Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill (Portrait Series)

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I know Brother Blue well, and must say, this book captures him. The layout of the language (wandering over the page, exuberant, lyrical) echoes his words, rhythms, and movement far more eloquently than I ever thought a written genre could. I am very impressed with this work, and recommend it to anyone interested in modern poetry, storytelling, and sheer passion for an artform. Be prepared to be challenged. Parents should review some of the content before sharing it with younger kids.

Anyone and everyone will come away from this story-telling masterpiece with a bit of wisdom to keep and share... "The second chance," for instance, is a mordant narrative of a downtrodden black family and its caring but hopeless father-figure who is willing to do the ultimate sacrifice to see his family pull through the Great Depression. More importantly it is the crucial point in a young boy's life: Brother Blue's life as an eight year old boy forced to become his "father's father" in a life-and-death situation... Equally beautiful is the artistry that Warren Lehrer has put to work in crafting a book that is itself an aesthetic and typographical work of art...In conjunction with a powerful and moving 80+minutes cassette reading of the book by Brother Blue himself, this book is a gem. Wonderful , packed with hope and wisdom!

I read this book for an oral history class and loved it. I read the entire portrait series but this book and Claude were my favorites. i never got through the other two. I liked this book above Claude because of Brother Blue. His personality is all over this book and I would love someday to meet him. After reading this, I feel like I know him. This is one of those books that really draws you in with it's straightforward honesty and realness. I love the reality of this man who just feels like a real person to me. Definately a great book.

He was a completely original performance artist and a Highly advanced soul. He healed and elevated people with his stories. A streetwise professional story teller who had a PhD from Harvard. He told his stories in the streets, parks, in prisons, before royalty, Everywhere! I first saw/met him while he was mezmerizing a crowd of people of all ages in the streets of Cambridge, MA (Harvard Square), which he did often. Unlike the many other street performers who worked there daily, Blue never asked for donations/money. I met him in 1977 and had the honor of recording with him during that year, improvising piano music while he told 4 stories. These were broadcast from time to time on WBUR FM in Boston. I am fortunate to have these master tapes in my possession. I also was blessed and honored to sit with him and his lovely wife Ruth at the New England premiere of George A. Romero's "Knightriders", in which Blue co-starred. This book is perfect, as it combines part of Blue's own words, his autobiography, with beautiful diverse, expressive printing, and excellent photos of Blue. His story is fascinating, he grew up amongst poverty and prejudice, yet managed on his own to graduate from Harvard. One of the greatest books that I have ever read ! It will inspire you .....