Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Author - Barack Obama ... [Goo?] [Posters]

This Paperback Book item from Three Rivers Press was reviewed on 6-Oct-2008.

Search ISBN:1400082773 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance Reference Book. Classifications : Blue Politics Political Parties Specialty Stores Books African-American & Black Ethnic & National Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books General Ethnic & National Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Me . Click the following link to view the cover of Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

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1) Paperback Book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Three Rivers Press. I bought this book because I wanted to learn more about Obama before the election. It was well-written and interesting. Also, because it was written before he became a politician, I expected it to be more honest than his other book, "Audacity of Hope," which I have no intention of reading.

What is scary about it, though, is that he is very honest about how he came to reject his White heritage and embrace a kind of Black nationalism and racial separatism. (He certainly doesn´t sound like that when he is on the campaign trail.)

Despite the fact that he doesn´t experience much in the way of discrimination growing up, the turning point for him is when he goes to a "Black" party with some White friends, and the White friends soon leave, apparently because they were uncomfortable around a large group of Blacks. Obama is greatly offended by this and that seems to be when he "breaks" from his part-White identity.

What really shocked me was when he explained his opposition to inter-racial marriage. I´m Asian and my husband is White. I found it hard to believe that, being a product of a mixed marriage himself, Obama could have such views. He dated a White woman who loves him but he is against marrying her just because she is White. He explains that he doesn´t want his children to be raised into "White American culture." You would think that Obama´s own experience shows that children of mixed marriages do not necessarily assimilate into the culture of the White side. I find my marriage more interesting because of my and my husband´s different ethnic backgrounds. Our children are being raised with an awareness of both their American and Chinese heritage, and there should have been no reason why Obama couldn´t have raised his children in a similar fashion with a White wife.

I really got a picture of a man who was raised by Whites but who rejects them in favor of his African heritage, despite the fact that his African father essentially abandons him.¤

2) Paperback Book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Three Rivers Press. Obama does an amazing job at detailing his life story and connecting it to his continued struggle to find his true identity. Along the way he found his true purpose by helping others achieve change for the better. He is very open with the reader about his experiences and defeats. The writing is so well done that I often have to sit back and remind myself that this man is a lawyer and politician and not an author. He astonishes me with his intellect and ability to communicate with commoners and high-brows alike. Throughout his recollections I am continually reminded that his sole focus in life is to help out the less fortunate and to create a bigger middle class.¤

3) Paperback Book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Three Rivers Press. I remember reading somewhere that conservative columnist George Will believed that this book could quite possibly be the best memoir penned by a politician. Though his assertion is debatable, Mr. Will´s alleged statement highlights the quality of this memoir. The writing and depth of introspection in Mr. Obama´s book is admirable. It is a journey about racial identity, spiritual awakening, social responsibilty and a search for the meaning of family. My wife and I are both Caucasian and our two, young sons are African-American. Over the decades, I´ve read a plethora of books/memoirs pertaining to race and, easily, this is one of the books I will recommend for my boys to read. A truly inspirational and gutsy book.¤

4) Paperback Book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Three Rivers Press. I have liked Barack Obama ever since he stopped to speak in the small Iowa town that I was living for the past few years. He has a true sincerity that can instantly be felt and he comes across as a very likable person. My Husband and I decided to read this book as well as THE AUDACITY OF HOPE before giving the man our vote and let me tell you I am glade we did. From reading the story of his life you understand how Obama has been shaped as a man and a politician. Every issue that the US is facing today is seen in the life of Barack and his family. The story was very elegant, thought provoking and all inclusive in it´s view of the world. Any American can read this book and see there self in Obama´s experiences. Based on this book I believe Obama will be a wonderful president of the likes never before seen in these modern days.¤

5) Paperback Book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Three Rivers Press. I am a college educated, bi-racial female in my early twenties and the hypersensitive racial observations found in Barack Obama´s book Dreams from my Father left me a bit miffed. It seems his preoccupation with race and heritage are more a symptom of the trauma he felt at his father´s absence than an inspirational story as the subtitle suggests. Being bi-racial, I too had an "awakening" of sorts when I realized I did not look like all the kids at school--but my restlessness pertaining to this aspect of my identity vanished before the end of high school and I now see identity more as something a mature person makes of herself rather than something tied to one´s racial heritage. In this aspect BO´s narrative worldview came off as ridiculous. Each chapter drolls on endlessly with black, white, brown...a category for everyone with blame slathered on the "white folks". Excuse the pun, but I´m not inclined to look to someone with thinner skin than I as a leader.

I am uncertain of where BO gets his sense of whites ruling over blacks given his upbringing. After all, it was his grandmother who sacrificed her golden years to take a job and care for him while his mother was off seeing the world. His grandfather too was supportive. Yet, one cannot ignore BO´s loathing "white" achievement and gloating over "white" misfortune. For example he mentions his glee at seeing European shrunken heads at a museum, laughing at this "cosmic joke" and describing the experience as [akin to eating Tiger meat, a form of taking control] pg. 145. Given his own White heritage and upbringing his words sound like those of a spoiled, self-centered brat. Consequently, his worldview demonstrates that he blames the alienation we all feel on the first day of school completely on his skin color and christened it as the scapegoat for all his emotional insecurities for years to come.

I would wish not to continue with examples of BO´s racially divisive worldview but some of the scenes left me so disturbed I am compelled to make note of them. For example on page 124 BO states that "The emotions between the races [can] never be pure; even love [is] tarnished by the desire to find in the other some element that [is] missing in ourselves...the other race [will always] remain just that: menacing, alien, and apart." Then on page 127 BO writes, "What I heard from my mother that day, speaking about my father, was something that I suspect most Americans will never hear from the lips of those of another race, and so cannot be expected to believe might exist between black and white: the love of someone who knows your life in the round, a love that will survive disappointment. She saw my father as everyone hopes at least one person might see him...

These two passages demonstrate BO´s cynical underestimation of all humanity. It reeks of paranoia--a type of racial hatred I have never experienced as a biracial person living in America.

In critique of BO´s writing style I will say he has a keen sense of metaphor and simile. His prose paints a clear picture of each scene and person. Yet his use of dialogue is cumbersome. Dialogue between him and sometimes trivial characters lasts for pages at times with no clear point. I learned that good writing shows you a story and bad writing tells you everything. In this BO´s use of dialogue would exemplify bad writing as he tells the reader every single detail instead of artfully weaving useful dialogue into key scenes.

I read the book through to the last page and was waiting for an "Aha" moment when he would say that he had found "beauty, worthiness, equality and strength in all of humanity and therefore concluded his quest for perfect racial identity" but in this I was disappointed.

Considering all the points made above it is generous for me to give BO´s book two stars--especially considering that I consider his book even worse than Chuck Norris´ biography which I read earlier this year. I hope this review was helpful and I would like to hear other´s interpretations and opinions concerning the above passages.
¤

6) Paperback Book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Three Rivers Press. In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 3-Nov-2008, 14000827739781400082773, 740-520-910-180-731-681-5SB-2WB-8

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