Customer Reviews

Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Although The Los Angeles Times reviewer gave Mr. Poitier a generous accolade as "a national treasure," those lofty words are nevertheless incomplete. This fine actor, and the roles he has played as a leading man, taught a generation of men and women the most important lessons possible about racial equality and social justice. He led our collective thoughts at a time when we were most impressionable.

Through his authoritative lead characters for timeless movies -- such as "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" and "In the Heat of the Night" -- Poitier gave the Baby Boomer generation palpable and enduring context for their cultural revolution around equal rights. Martin Luther King delivered the moral imperatives for change: Sydney Poitier enacted the stories that made King's lessons tangible, comprehensible and personal.

This generation is now rapidly passing the hallmark birthdays of 50 and 60 and can learn again from Sydney Poitier, the author. Today's generational zeitgeist includes the pressing need to assess our collective legacies; to leave future generations a more inclusive, humane and just world; and to bequeath our successors a better society than the divisive nation of our youth.

Again, he speaks to a generation that has also admired him since our teen years, a generation that has listened to him as a wise mentor. He taught us right from wrong without a single lecture or admonishment. He just demonstrated what a nation built on equality needed to become.

This book challenges each of us to consider our heritage, not just for the next generation, but for generations yet to be born. Mr. Poitier's bravery, tenacity and humanity are worth further consideration, study and reflection, as inspired by this new book.

Read this masterwork if you're a Boomer. It will remind you of why we sacrificed much and worked hard to help transform Poitier's revolutionary acting roles into mainstream cultural norms today.

Life Beyond Measure is a series of letters to Poitier's great-granddaughter, to be read as she matures from infancy to young womanhood. As such, it is not a straight biographical narrative, rather a compendium of grandfatherly advice intermixed with real life examples from Poitier's marvelous and challenging life.

It seems some of the events are skimmed over - he mentions finding the love of his life in his second wife, but fails to detail the divorce from his first wife and the suffering involved in that. He treats everyone very resepctfully, obviously retaining a good relationship with the first wife, but I think a few lessons detailing that type of event would have been beneficial to his intended audience.

The writing style is fluent and easy to read - it moves best when Poitier is relating tales from his youth on Cat Island or Nassau, or his individual struggles against unemployment or racism. It bogs down some near the end when he begins to wax philospohically on the great mysteries of the universe, and I am not certain all the background information he throws in on society and science was that useful, but still he manages to convey his basic point that mankind needs to be a good steward of this planet and of each other.

All in all, an enjoyable read with a lot of valuable advice couched in warm and accessible prose.

It really takes a man of great internal fortitude to look back on his life with such a critical eye toward informing the future, but screen legend Sidney Poitier has proven to be such a man. He first made an impression in his pioneering role as a top-flight film star in the 1950's and 60's and then through his profound role in the civil rights movement and more recently, on more global political commitments. He has conveyed his evolving passions in a series of increasingly reflective books - first his candid, straight-ahead autobiography, 1980's This Life and then his sometimes fiery, always revelatory memories of being caught in the crossfire of expectations among his racially divided audience in 2000's The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. His latest book finds the actor, now 81 years old, in a more philosophical mood as he writes a series of letters to his great-granddaughter Ayele.

Ayele was just born in 2005, so it's clear that Poitier wrote this book as a legacy to her and quite a legacy it is. Far less interested this time in opening old wounds, he brings a genuinely inspirational tone to his ruminations on the broad topics he covers here - love, faith, life, death. Yet, he manages to use his expansive personal history when it proves relevant to a topic. Poitier realizes that he is well beyond the age where he needs to document his life purely in chronological, milestone-achieving order. At the same time, he knows he played an essential role in breaking down barriers heretofore closed to blacks despite the limitations put upon him on the big screen. The actor had to be hopelessly idealized, articulate and sexless. Even when he was allowed to be romantically involved in films like For Love of Ivy, it was handled in the most antiseptic manner. And when he spoke out against injustices in films like In the Heat of the Night or Pressure Point, Poitier kept his passions in check with calculated responses that turned into classic set pieces like the argument with his belligerent father in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

Barack Obama owes a debt of gratitude to Poitier whose charisma and dignity paved the way for the first serious Presidential run by someone who is not white. However, the actor seems more resigned than enthralled by his pivotal place in history. That must explain why he deals more directly with questions about the existence of a higher power since he worries that the world his great-granddaughter inherits will be continually threatened by religious conflicts. Poitier wants to prepare her for the threats ahead, and in doing so, he shares his hard-earned wisdom in deceptively simple terms. There is a pervasive sense of mortality in the book, and one gets the sense that he is preparing himself for the world beyond. You would think the net effect would be sad, but he manages to give a strong sense of affirmation to the life lessons he shares. I still prefer the comparatively angrier "Measure of a Man" for pure revelation about his legend, but this lucidly written book provides a most fitting coda.

This book was loaned to me by my mom and it is a very inspirational reading. Poitier writes a series of letters to his first great-grandchild. He writes of his childhood, wrote sparingly of his thoughts on fatherhood and marriage (he really didn't go into details about being a father or a grandfather or being a husband), and offered many thoughtful comments on the current state of affairs. He also imagined what the future might held for his granddaughter.

The letters are very thoughtful and inspirational. I do not know much about Poitier, but have heard about him. This book seems to be a window into his soul, perhaps a guarded look, but indeed a thought-provoking look. He writes of racism, discrimination, education, family life, jobs, luck, religion, and throughout his letters, he would share special antedotes about his childhood or adulthood. It is a contemplative look into life and from an age where he has accomplished so much and hopes to accomplish more with his life ... even if it is just for Adele.

This is good reading. If you're expecting more revealing thoughts from this man, this is not the book for it. It is more of letters for his great-grandchildren, a reflection of a life well-lived and an opportunity for him to share the lessons he has learned throughout his long life. He is blessed and his great-grandchildren will be too.

3/26/09

Readers expecting Sidney Poitier's Life Beyond Measure: Letters to my Great-Granddaughter to be a literary masterpiece can be disappointed by this book. He repeatedly says that this work, a series of open letters to Ayele, one of his great-granddaughters, is his way of letting young Ayele and others know him more intimately than is possible to learn of him "second hand," including by experiencing his performances in movies. Poitier indeed stops short of claiming his book is more than it is. Life Beyond Measure is a compilation of unsolicited letters from a great-grandfather nearing his death to his great-granddaughter beginning hers. This book is a vehicle for letting his audience know what made Sidney Poitier who he became, what makes him who he is.

This is not polished work by a professional writer. Poitier admits he was a poor reader as a child on technology-free Cat Island seventy years ago and later as a friendless, independent teenager in New York City. At that point in his life about sixty years ago, desperate to improve his reading skills so he could secure acting roles, he agreed to be tutored in reading by a fellow employee at a restaurant where they worked for a few weeks.

Poitier unabashedly adds that he had no models of good writing when he was a student in the Bahamas; after all, he could barely read. Even in the 1940's, he was a wannabe actor miles short of being able to appreciate the writing of contemporary playwrights, let alone the more challenging 17th century writings of William Shakespeare.

In this book, Poitier says knowledge of Shakespeare enriches a person, but if, how, and in what setting Poitier read Shakespeare's timeless yet centuries-old words is absent in Life Beyond Measure.

Furthermore, he never reveals where he developed even greater literacy, namely the skill necessary to produce writing worthy of publication.

In comments outside the 23 letters, Poitier does candidly credit a couple of writers who edited his manuscripts, probably for such things as readability. However, he needed no help with his subject matter. He has a remarkable memory of details of his life. When Poitier shares his memories, beliefs, and ideas, they're worth reading about.

As a member of [...], an online book club, I first 'read' the book on my player. Having read Poitier's autobiography earlier, I knew that I wanted to read this new book (the letters). It's incredible... so much so that I had to have it in hard copy so that I could go back and re-read, and use it for references regarding the things I wish I had done, said, and known when my children were small. Since then I have ordered copies (from Amazon!) for friends and relatives. It's a definite 'must read'!

This book was purchased for my 83 year old Mother as a gift for Mother's Day. She usually sticks to cookbooks, or psychology self-help type books, but I knew she always admired Sidney Poitier as an actor, and as a human being, so I thought she might enjoy this book. Turns out I was right! Even though she can only read a few pages each night due to vision problems, she has already told me how much she is enjoying reading this book. It is extremely well written, with a true human interest style that is holding her interest. Bravo, Mr. Poitier! (I'm going to borrow it from her when she's finished!)

I just finished this audio book and loved it! I have always admired Mr. Portier because of his role of tearing down racial stereotypes in Hollywood, and after hearing his life story, I admire him even more! He has a very smooth voice that's easy to listen to and there are a lot of sections where he is making general observations about life and it feels like a college philosophy class. I had it in the car and didn't turn on the radio once because I was so intent on the book :)

My only complaint is that his philisophical observations got a little long sometimes. I didn't agree with a lot of his beliefs on religion and politics, as he is an agnostic Democat. But he it is all very appropriate for the purpose of the book, which was to teach his great granddaugter about his life and the world she was born into.

I am still listening to this story read by the man himself. It is great being able to hear it on the way to work or back home after a long day. The stories he is telling let's me know he has lived a long happy life with family and friends.

very enlightening. Very well written, easy to follow and uplifting. I recommend that book for anyone who love Sydney Poitier and can feel how special he is