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Off-White: a memoir
"[Gunst] writes with a clarity and honesty that belie the racial paradigm that was Richmond and the South.... This is a triumph of the spirit."— Louisville Courier-Post
"Poignant and emotionally wrenching at times, Gunst successfully navigates the positives and negatives of her familial history."— Upscale
“Laurie Gunst writes with authority about the complicated relationship between southern Jews and African Americans. Off-White perfectly captures the South in the latter half of the twentieth century and brings to mind the work of Truman Capote.”—Alfred Uhry, author of Driving Miss Daisy
Laurie Gunst is the youngest child in a well-to-do southern family of German-Jewish descent. Her primary source of care and love is Rhoda, a great-hearted African American woman who as caregiver presided over three generations of the Gunst family amidst the vicious racism of the Jim Crow South.
The intimate relationship between caregiver and child is strong. So is Laurie’s shame at aspects of her family’s racially-intolerant an ancestor fought for the South in the Civil War and another cooperated with the Klan in fomenting a race riot. As a vulnerable child she witnesses firsthand the unfairness of segregation that consigns the woman who cares for her to a lesser status. Laurie’s outrage at racial discrimination sets her apart from other white southerners, even her father. Love for Rhoda marks Laurie indelibly, just as it did her mother before her. Ultimately, she acknowledges Rhoda as a spiritual mother who shaped her life as much as her biological mother.
"Poignant and emotionally wrenching at times, Gunst successfully navigates the positives and negatives of her familial history."— Upscale
“Laurie Gunst writes with authority about the complicated relationship between southern Jews and African Americans. Off-White perfectly captures the South in the latter half of the twentieth century and brings to mind the work of Truman Capote.”—Alfred Uhry, author of Driving Miss Daisy
Laurie Gunst is the youngest child in a well-to-do southern family of German-Jewish descent. Her primary source of care and love is Rhoda, a great-hearted African American woman who as caregiver presided over three generations of the Gunst family amidst the vicious racism of the Jim Crow South.
The intimate relationship between caregiver and child is strong. So is Laurie’s shame at aspects of her family’s racially-intolerant an ancestor fought for the South in the Civil War and another cooperated with the Klan in fomenting a race riot. As a vulnerable child she witnesses firsthand the unfairness of segregation that consigns the woman who cares for her to a lesser status. Laurie’s outrage at racial discrimination sets her apart from other white southerners, even her father. Love for Rhoda marks Laurie indelibly, just as it did her mother before her. Ultimately, she acknowledges Rhoda as a spiritual mother who shaped her life as much as her biological mother.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
33 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 6, 2018
Read this book if from RVA!
May 15, 2017
Memoir authored by a Jewish white woman who had a "cold" mother and an alcoholic father. She learned to go to the colored Nannies for love and cuddling. The setting is the 1940's and 50's when it was not acceptable to mix the two races.
Author worked many years in Jamaica where she traced the Nannies families and roots.
Author worked many years in Jamaica where she traced the Nannies families and roots.
June 1, 2018
Parts of this book were somewhat boring and didn't seem to go with the rest, like the author's fascination with Jamaica. I'm not really sure why I kept reading. But I did.
August 6, 2018
Very good, interesting topic. Wish the author would have stayed on course, she almost lost me in Jamaica..
March 5, 2017
Thank you letting into their lives. I pass these streets just about everyday and now I know people who have lived there.
August 4, 2011
a Wonderful memoir. her time and geography have set Laurie at the sills of critical windows in contemporary American History. She made me long for Rhoda and she made me want to be treated by the "doctor" in Jamaica. I would love to take a history class with her.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews