Customer Reviews

I'm Down: A Memoir

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

What a great book! Fun, moving, and with a really unexpected ending. Though the promo material highlights her childhood as a white girl in a black neighborhood, this memoir is a more sophisticated story--and more universal story -- of a child who can't find her place in her family. And the most moving aspect of this book is her success in finding a place in the world, and what it ultimately costs her. Yes, it's heartbreaking in places, but it's hysterical in others and most importantly -- the story is compelling. I literally couldn't put this book down and I have the circles under my eyes to prove it.

Wow, apart from a bird identification book, this is the very first amazon vine product that I might have purchased in 'real life' and I'm happy to say that this is definitely a worthwhile acquisition.
Before we begin let's establish what this book is not: It is not hilarious or tragic as a cover blurb indicates. It is also not, strictly speaking, truly autobiographical as the author declaims up front something to the effect that many of the things in the book might never have happened and that she uses composites of characters to represent distinct personalities in her story.
What this book is is a very charming, often poignant, quite incisive, well-told story based on the remembrances of a caucasian woman whose childhood was spent living in a deteriorating Seattle neighborhood with a father who chose to 'go black.'
Interestingly, it is also a real testimonial to the quality and effectiveness of the the Seattle public school system and civic organizations in their efforts to provide opportunities to its most promising albeit less privileged (read wealthy) chidren.
The story revolves around a white girl who, along with her younger sister remain in the custody of her ne'er do well father who has fashioned himself a black man in a white man's body. They live in an urban Seattle neighborhood which has become predominantly black; a change that the girls' father revels in.
The author does a wonderful job of describing the struggles and triumphs she experiences as she struggles with the multiple challenges of adolescence; parental divorce; racial comity, difference and divide; and familial and peer group strife.
A really great thing about the book is that the author is able to give insightful analysis of the dynamics of the unfolding tale as if she was fully cognizant of them as a little girl. Of course the picture only became clear to her later, in adulthood, which is undoubtedly why she makes her disclaimer about the events depicted in the book.
Ms. Wolff knows how to spin a story and once you begin this book I doubt that you will want to put it down until you have finished it.
I began reading it on a flight from the West Coast to the East coast and found the book to be the perfect length for this journey as I got through the first third on the first leg and finished up the rest just as we were making the approach to land on the second leg: Brilliant!
You will definitely become emotionally invested in this book and I recommend it as a very satisfying entertainment that is better than mere candy or a popcorn movie.

Mishna Wolff has written the consummate misfit memoir. She makes it clear from the beginning that she is white--of white ancestry from both parents, but her father, growing up in a black neighborhood "becomes black." I don't mean her father asserts an affection to "to be down with the brothers." I mean her father, from the core of his being, is black and he expresses his blackness in his talk, philosophy, and sartorial choices. Growing up in a black neighborhood, her father, feebly, tries to teach his daughter how to be black. Mishan tries to learn how to cap, to insult others as competitive sport and learns her linguistic gifts. When she gets older and scores so high on her aptitude tests that she's transferred to a more "gifted" school, mostly populated with rich white kids, she tries to fit in there but to no avail, especially when she learns that the white kids don't appreciate the brain flexing exercise of capping.

Mishna Wolff's misadventures could not be scripted. Her wit and keen intelligence afford her the opportunities to chronicle the social, economical, and racial differences of this country and the dialogue between her and her "black" father is priceless. Highly recommended.

Wow. I think that my own childhood made it especially easy to connect to Mishna while reading this book. An outcast during my younger years, I wasn't so much the product of a father with a racial identity crisis, but rather am the result of a multiracial marriage. Still, there are so many aspects here in "I'm Down" that really hit close to home. Like Wolff, I wasn't cool enough or black enough. I was quite often accused of being too smart or acting too grown. I couldn't dance, I couldn't play sports. I was the white girl, and because of that, I wasn't quite as charming to others as my younger siblings were. It took years and years to get out of that shadow and grow into my own true identity.

Enough about me! "I'm Down" actually delivered a lot more than I was expecting. I was surprised to see a young author with such insight and depth. Wolff was able to nail some really painful parts of her childhood quite adeptly. She doesn't exactly focus in as much as she should, but she's got a long ways ahead of her, and will be able to hone her skills along the way.

Definitely recommended for fellow outcasts out there.

I'M DOWN is the intriguing story about a young white girl growing up in a predominantly African American neighborhood. Her father, who was not African American, nonetheless grew up in the same neighorhood and embraced the African American culture as his own. He was troubled that his daughter did not embrace the culture as her own, and proceeded to try to steer his daughter in that direction.

It's really an astonishing story. It resonated personally for me because it is set in the African American neighorhoods of Seattle, and I came of age only three hours away in the African American neighorhoods of Portland. I could relate to a great deal of what the author wrote about, and it was interesting to read about another African American community in the Pacific Northwest. I believe there is a national perspective which holds that the African American communities are largely confined to California, Detroit, New York, and the South.

There's just a great deal in this book I can relate to. This book actually helped me come to terms with aspects of my life. In my life situation, "white" people have always been the minority. So, it was interesting to read an account by another white person who has had the same experience. It's an unusual place to be, a sort of no-man's-land. When one grows up in a situation like this, one is white, but not really; one is of-color, but not really.

And this book probably has one of the best covers I've ever seen on a book. I literally remember kids coming to school with afros that look like that! In high school I myself actually had corn rows and for a time I worked at an African clothing boutique.

Things I learned reading this book:
1. Copyediting is a lost art. So is the use of Spellcheck. The errors start on page one and continue throughout the book.
2. Mishna Wolff is very funny.
3. The author's father was a complete [...]. Selfish, immature and insensitive, this guy's lucky that his daughter turned out half as well as she did.

I almost gave this book three stars, but I realized I was judging it by the author's life, not the actual book. I would caution readers not to believe the product description. I expected this to be a pretty funny memoir. The product page review blurbs called it "hilarious" and "so funny" several times, and that cover sure makes you think it's a funny book. I don't think I laughed out loud once.
Bittersweet is probably a good word to describe Mishna Wolff's memoir. Reading it, you can feel the love she has for her dad and sister, but I found it all so DEPRESSING! There were so many times where if Mr. Wolff were standing close by while I was reading, I probably would have smacked him.
Poor Mishna was put in a school for gifted kids, but her dad and step-mother just resented her for it and accused her of acting like she was better than them. If her story is honest, and I believe it is, she IS better than them! Her dad pushed her to do sports, which ultimately were very good for her, but he did it for his own ego, to relive his youth. He was really a negligent father who didn't work very often and didn't provide properly for his children. I know it would hurt Mishna to hear people speak this way about her father. She would totally agree, but she wouldn't want other people to say it.
I felt so bad reading this story because almost everything Mishna did was a desperate bid for her father's approval, and the things he did and said to her were sometimes so hurtful. When he took his new wife's side against Mishna's, it was pretty heartbreaking. I know Mishna's father loved her, though. He just did a poor job of showing it. In the author's acknowledgments she thanks her parents for her wonderful childhood, so that just shows the power of love.
I had a lot of issues with the writing in this book. But since I read an advance reading copy, I won't hold that against her. Hopefully many of the grammar problems will be fixed in final editing.

I'm Down: A Memoir by Mishna Wolff is a very funny and heartwarming memoirs about growing up in the 'urbs during the early eighties. What I enjoyed about this book is that I can relate to some of the things in it. It's heart warming, funny and at times heavy. I highly recommend this book if
you want to read a realistic look on living in the a lower class diverse community.

Spotted the cover (how could it be missed!?!) and right to the shopping cart this one went! Got home, opened the book, and `straight up' took to the humor. What other way does one parlay "she was shy, uncool, and painfully white" up against "too black to fit in with her white classmates"? The best way to invest in this very painful observation is to stroke it with humor, which Mishna does well.

A little piece along however, I did sour on the uneven (at times) tone in the little ones' voices. Sounded too much like adult POV's being stressed. Ultimately I choose not to harp on it because once I moved closer to the end, Mishna's story really blossomed into a memoir to treasure. No words other than Mishna's can upright a distressing childhood that humored me, annoyed me, saddened me, made me angry to the point of restructuring this comment... and then warmed my heart to the bittersweet end. Mishna touched on a key point; short-sightedness! ...in which depending on the visionary, it means something different to every one of us.

I'm Down is a hard run up against a brave, beautifully won race. I loved, loved this memoir!

Mishna grew up in a poor black neighborhood in Seattle. Her parents divorced when she was young and she and her sister Anora were raised by her dad. Her mom left - she had to go find herself. But the weirdest thing about 2 girls being raised by a single, dad in the 'hood? Being white. "White, white, white, white, white, white, white, white. I think it's important to make this clear..." (1) And so begins one of the funniest, most heartbreaking, memoirs I've read in a long time.

I'm always skeptical of memoirs...but Mishna Wolff's story had me at hello.. .or was it when she said her dad "believed he a was a black man...It wasn't an identity crisis.." (1) Wolff tells the story of trying to fit in, and make friends and be cool. Learning how to "cap" on people (sassy putdowns) and deciding on her future: "Solid Gold Dancer, Capper, Anesthesiologist, Governor, Assasin". (32) She takes us throough her father's romances, usually with beautiful women and him trying to remodel the house, himself. Mostly leaving things undone. Meeting Zwena, who at 10 years old, was the "Julia Child of the food stamp set." (42) Zwena could cook up a mean fried, bologna sandwich. Ah...I remember those days...so much of what Mishna Wolff was describing reminded me of my childhood. I grew up in a poor, black neighborhood and she captured all the humor that helps you not only survive but thrive!

Once Mishna goes to IPP, she feels as if she doesn't fit in anywhere anymore. Always the outcast, the different one. Wolff tells us how she coped, what she did for attention, the tough decisions that seemed to be made for her... She worries herself into tension headaches trying to figure out what is going to happen to her the rest of her life...she was twelve at the time. Trying to find the security that she wasn't getting at home. Through it all, she just wanted her dad's acceptance, wanted him to think she was "down", too.

I loved this book. I put aside everything, I didn't even stop for dinner. I was mesmerized, completely and totally engrossed. Wolff's voice brought her story to life and I was right there, living my own version of trying to be down. It was painful towards the end but well worth the time. It left me with a Wow! It was truly awesome! I could read it again right now!