Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (Wsp Readers Club) (Paperback)

~ Lori Tharps (Author)
Key Phrases: plaza mayor, international day, cum laude, Kinky Gazpacho, Professor Moreno, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. With flawless agility, Tharps (coauthor of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America) juggles a coming-of-age story, a portrait of the writer as a young woman, a travel book and a detective story along with a memoir about learning to love oneself and one's world. A child of privilege, Tharps experienced the world as a middle-class suburbanite. That she was black presented complications but not trauma. (The third grade International Day offered the happy prospect of a smorgasbord of international flavors and the awkward prospect of dressing like a slave. She enjoyed the former and passed on the latter.) In a narrative sense, little happens of a dramatic nature. She attends college, goes on an American Field Service stint to Morocco, studies abroad in Spain, falls in love, gets married, has children and becomes a freelance writer. What matters is that Tharps infuses this narrative with the pleasure of shared discovery, taking the reader along to the kids' party where they're playing Nigger pile-on! (They're not talking about you. It's just a game) and into the chaste arms of the boys she has crushes on. Tharps has written a thought-provoking, answer-seeking consideration of race in the Western world that one can lie back and enjoy. The thoughts and answers will continue to haunt. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Kinky Gazpacho is not just a journey but a 'trip,' as they say. We encounter Frederick Douglass's hot descendant, Michael Jackson fans in Morocco, racist candies, and the love of a lifetime in a memoir that's sometimes heartbreaking, often hilarious, and always quirky." -- Asali Solomon, author of Get Down --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press; Reprint edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743296486
• ISBN-13: 978-0743296489
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #539,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #84 in	Books > Travel > United States > States > Wisconsin
  #87 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Business & Culture > Biographies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kinky Gazpacho, June 16, 2008

By	Chinonyerem N. Singleton "Living Simply" (Bronx, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (Hardcover)

This memoir by Lori Tharps, who also the co-authored of Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America, was a nice, easy, lightweight coming-of-age story. The book got a little whiny at times as the author tried to reconcile the differences between the Spain of her imaginations and the real Spain especially as it related to the treatment, ideas and attitudes of Black people. But I was completely on-board as she struggled to figure out her identity as a Black person. She grew up in an area that was predominantly White and was never really confident in her Blackness especially when dealing with other Black people. As a first generation Nigerian born and raised in the states, that has been something I too have struggled with. If you speak English properly, enjoy reading and the Opera, well, then, you are not really Black. We know that's not true but I think it's something that many young, upwardly mobile, intelligent Black people face. What does it mean to be truly Black? Ms. Tharps story is inspirational in that she finds her own way to be authentically Black. I felt like she glossed over some things (like her children's birth and her practice of the Ba'hai faith) but these, I suppose, were not the focus of her book. She is, however, refreshingly honest about herself and her feelings/emotions in her page-turning memoir. I think it's that candor that makes you want to continue reading because there is nothing overly exciting going on in the book. It's her story. And it's just life. The ups. The downs. And the in-betweens.

Great summer reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Awakening--thus far, June 19, 2008

By	Lilly's Girl "truth seeker" (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (Hardcover)

I must admit that I vacillated between sorrow and anger for Lori. She seemed to have such a hard time identifying with her Blackness and I didn't realize young Black people struggled with this identity crisis while coming of age in the '80's. Having lived through the turmoil of the '50's and '60's, I assumed that people of African descent living in America were Black and Proud.

I'm happy that Lori is finally appreciating the blessing of being born Black, one manifestation of the Source of all of us.

Now she will be able to impart to her children and others that on a spiritual plane, all of us share the same Source even though the multitude fails to realize that the breath of life, the air that sustains us all is the same. Many will go through life not realizing this simple fact and will continue to erect barriers/walls to separate us.

Her memoir is a gratifying read and many will enjoy her awakening.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kinky Gazpacho, June 14, 2008

By	Ms. 90 (Maryland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (Hardcover)

Tharps' story about her love-hate relationship with Spain was high on my list of must reads for this summer - and it turned out to be time well-spent. Tharps chronicles her youth in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was the only Black girl in her predominately white classes, to her undergrad days at Smith college, where she is one of the few Black women on campus. Tharps struggles to find herself and determine where she fits in. As a youth, she develops a strong love for Spain and vows to see this country that she has fallen so deeply for. Tharps takes her readers to Salamanca and we watch as her adoration for this country slowly turns to something else when she encounters its citizens and learns its hidden truths. This is simply a love story - and in the end, I think Tharps eventually learns to love the thing that is most important - herself.