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Everybody Come Alive: A Memoir in Essays
A dazzling memoir that explores what it means to become fully alive and holy when we embrace the silenced stories we've inherited--from the creator of Black Coffee with White Friends.
In her debut book, Everybody Come Alive, Marcie Alvis Walker invites readers into a deeply intimate and illuminating memoir comprising lyrical essays and remembrances of being a curious child of the seventies and eighties, raised under the critical and watchful eye of Jim Crow matriarchs who struggled to integrate their lives and remain whole.
While swimming in rivers of racial trauma and racial reckoning, Alvis Walker explores her earliest memories of abandonment and erasure, of her mother's mental illness and incarceration, and of her ongoing struggles with perfectionism and body dysmorphia in hopes of leaving a healed and whole legacy for her own child. Nostalgic but unflinching, candid yet tender, Everybody Come Alive is an invitation to be vulnerable along with her as she unravels all the beauty and terror of God, race, and gender's imprint on her life.
This is a coming-of-age journey touching on the bittersweet pain and joy of what it takes to become a person who embraces being Black, a woman, and holy in America. Alvis Walker's unforgettable writing challenges readers to not only see and hold her story as being fully human, but also to see and hold their own stories too.
In her debut book, Everybody Come Alive, Marcie Alvis Walker invites readers into a deeply intimate and illuminating memoir comprising lyrical essays and remembrances of being a curious child of the seventies and eighties, raised under the critical and watchful eye of Jim Crow matriarchs who struggled to integrate their lives and remain whole.
While swimming in rivers of racial trauma and racial reckoning, Alvis Walker explores her earliest memories of abandonment and erasure, of her mother's mental illness and incarceration, and of her ongoing struggles with perfectionism and body dysmorphia in hopes of leaving a healed and whole legacy for her own child. Nostalgic but unflinching, candid yet tender, Everybody Come Alive is an invitation to be vulnerable along with her as she unravels all the beauty and terror of God, race, and gender's imprint on her life.
This is a coming-of-age journey touching on the bittersweet pain and joy of what it takes to become a person who embraces being Black, a woman, and holy in America. Alvis Walker's unforgettable writing challenges readers to not only see and hold her story as being fully human, but also to see and hold their own stories too.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published May 30, 2023
36 people are currently reading
4758 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
November 6, 2023
I appreciated Marcie Alvis Walker’s honesty in this essay collection, especially about her experiences growing up as a dark-skinned Black girl. I found her writing about beauty interesting, especially the clash between how her mother praised Blackness yet she herself still internalized a lot of white and Eurocentric appearance ideals growing up. I primarily give this essay collection a three-star rating because there were a few instances where Walker would raise an event (e.g., a conflict at her child’s school) though not fully round out or provide details about what had transpired. I was also curious to read more about her difficulty to fully disinvest from beauty/appearance ideals overall (e.g., thinking of what Tressie McMillan Cottom writes about in
Thick
). Perhaps this read will resonate with those who are searching for narratives about racial trauma, as well as the journey to healing from racial trauma throughout one’s life.
January 24, 2023
In Everybody Come Alive Marcie Alvis Walker writes about being a lover of Black literature but never being able to find a particular type of story. And so she tells us a particular type of Black family story- her story. Growing up with affluent grandparents after her mother dropped her off and left, she never understood if she was being abandoned or if her mother would eventually come back for her. In her mother's eyes, she was better left in the care of her grandparents with the ability to attend predominately white schools with better funding.
The opening of the memoir starts with a childhood memory of a white man walking into Marcie's church congregation and disrupting the harmony of worship. A reflection on the way unknown intentions can leave us wondering if we are still safe in our own bodies and in our own communities. There is a thread throughout the essays herein contained that explore the pain of never feeling seen or relishing in the comfort and ease that comes with belonging.
The way Marcie writes about her mother is both painful and beautiful, reflective of all the ways daughters admire our mothers for both their strengths and their imperfect humanity. Her mother was God enough to survive a freak train accident but not to escape the voices in her head and there stands Marcie baring witness to it all.
The advertisements in between essays are portals back in time displaying the way media portrays blackness adjacent to the way blackness felt in Marcie's experience. Biblical references throughout the storytelling and holy moments told through metaphorical narrative remind us that what trauma teaches us can be sacred, too.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!
The opening of the memoir starts with a childhood memory of a white man walking into Marcie's church congregation and disrupting the harmony of worship. A reflection on the way unknown intentions can leave us wondering if we are still safe in our own bodies and in our own communities. There is a thread throughout the essays herein contained that explore the pain of never feeling seen or relishing in the comfort and ease that comes with belonging.
The way Marcie writes about her mother is both painful and beautiful, reflective of all the ways daughters admire our mothers for both their strengths and their imperfect humanity. Her mother was God enough to survive a freak train accident but not to escape the voices in her head and there stands Marcie baring witness to it all.
The advertisements in between essays are portals back in time displaying the way media portrays blackness adjacent to the way blackness felt in Marcie's experience. Biblical references throughout the storytelling and holy moments told through metaphorical narrative remind us that what trauma teaches us can be sacred, too.
Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!
January 14, 2023
What a collection of writing. Marcie Alvis Walker gives us Incredibly gorgeous, vivid prose that draws you right into the middle of each scene and then unfolds in multiple dimensions around you. I feel like I KNOW the people she describes. And the even-keeled way she addresses both mundane details and heartbreaking shifts and changes is some of the best I’ve read.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book.
March 9, 2024
It isn’t often that I get to read a book this important for free, a book this filled with truth, hard truths, about life in America as a Black woman. Most of the books I get are novels I choose from a wide selection, and I love them, but I rarely get to choose something like this, so I jumped at the chance. I feel I’ve done the author a disservice by waiting so long to review it, but I really wanted to do it well.
I still don’t know if this is going to be good enough, for the book, for the author, for me, but I’m going for it, regardless.
First, I’d like to thank NetGalley, Convergent Books, and Marcie Alvis Walker for giving me the chance to read and review this ARC. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and I’ll try to do it justice.
Walker split her memoir into three parts, titled Black, Woman, and Holy, and I think those do a good job of summarizing the overall theme and message of the book. Her essays, while all personal, shine a light on issues that are often swept aside, like racism, division, inequality, colorism, classism, and their persistent and changing faces throughout time, often made more palatable to society at large so that their outcome is the same, but their appearance is easier to accept and applaud.
Marcie Alvis Walker’s memoir dives deep into the racial fault lines of our nation, as it must. Growing up and living as a dark-skinned Black girl and woman in America, she had no choice but to feel every bit of that racism reflected upon her in the way the world around her treated her. She also writes of it affecting the life of her Black nonbinary child.
Walker describes experiences she had with vivid descriptions, details highlighted, and she then links them to a greater point, a message of – not racism, no, but justice, peace, equality, and equity. She experienced (and still experiences!) racism, and that is why she expects more and better of her fellow Americans, of the US itself.
She instills a sense of holiness throughout the entire book, not just condensing it into the section titled ‘Holy’. She ties Biblical references to her life, makes them personal, and the way she portrays the Bible, religion, even God, with her words is mystifying to me, a pseudo-atheist, but it’s also appealing and beautiful. She sounds as though she really believes that everyone is holy and that this should be a source of connection between people.
I’d like to include a section of the book for context.
There’s an event she describes that happened when she was eleven: during a normal Sunday church service, a white man entered their church and walked straight up to the pulpit, eyes locked on her reverend. The [Black] men of the church stood up, ready to take action if need be, but the man genuflected, “lowering his head to the ground with his hand placed over his heart,” after which he was escorted to the church office. Afterward, he told them he’d been distraught and as he walked past the church and heard the reverend preaching and the choir singing, he decided to come in and pay his respects. The interesting part is what Marcie Alvis Walker says after that part.
… one moment we were all going about our regular Sunday church services… then suddenly, our spirits were besieged because a white man entered our sacred routine, and we didn’t know if he was saint or demon. That day more than thirty years ago, our country’s pedigree of white supremacy, slavery, segregation, and genocide had swaggered into our house of worship, and we had no idea how to handle it—because we had no power to name it”.
Walker then describes all the naming, claiming, and labeling that we endure throughout our lives, to the point that we begin to sort ourselves, even into fictional houses like those of Hogwarts.
We spend our lives proving that we are worthy to be in the rooms that we enter. But only one qualifier should be required for us to enter and exit rooms: human. But this is not the world in which we live. Our world tattoos on us names, labels and classifications that can change the direction of where we choose to journey and the atmosphere of the rooms we choose to enter when we get there.
She is getting to the point, and asks why she still remembers that day in church and how it filled everyone there with so much fear.
Why did it have to feel so bad and wrong and highly suspect? Why couldn’t it have been just a human experience?
And then she describes what happened in 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, when Dylann Roof joined a Black congregation – he worshipped with them for forty-five minutes – and then committed an atrocity, a murder of the innocent.
The presence of one white man in a Black congregation has been and always will be questioned. It has always sounded the alarm for danger. It will always wake the sleeping history of terror in our hearts. And rightfully so.
I hadn’t heard the name Marcie Alvis Walker before I found this book, but I was excited when I read the synopsis. As a white woman who tries to be a good ally to Black people, especially Black women, I thought this would be an excellent book for me to read, especially since I haven’t yet started on my list of Antiracist Allyship Must-Reads (books like those found here: https://bookshop.org/lists/anti-racis...? and that’s barely scratching the surface of hugely important, powerful books written by people of color that can help white people challenge our internalized anti-blackness and do the work to fight racism and white supremacy where we encounter it, which is more frequent and in more places than we would think before opening our eyes by reading these and similar books).
All that’s here is a story about the complexity of one human experience, my experience of being Black, woman, and holy.
I applaud you, Marcie Alvis Walker, for this excellent memoir, and I wish you many blessings.
I still don’t know if this is going to be good enough, for the book, for the author, for me, but I’m going for it, regardless.
First, I’d like to thank NetGalley, Convergent Books, and Marcie Alvis Walker for giving me the chance to read and review this ARC. I’m very grateful for this opportunity and I’ll try to do it justice.
Walker split her memoir into three parts, titled Black, Woman, and Holy, and I think those do a good job of summarizing the overall theme and message of the book. Her essays, while all personal, shine a light on issues that are often swept aside, like racism, division, inequality, colorism, classism, and their persistent and changing faces throughout time, often made more palatable to society at large so that their outcome is the same, but their appearance is easier to accept and applaud.
Marcie Alvis Walker’s memoir dives deep into the racial fault lines of our nation, as it must. Growing up and living as a dark-skinned Black girl and woman in America, she had no choice but to feel every bit of that racism reflected upon her in the way the world around her treated her. She also writes of it affecting the life of her Black nonbinary child.
Walker describes experiences she had with vivid descriptions, details highlighted, and she then links them to a greater point, a message of – not racism, no, but justice, peace, equality, and equity. She experienced (and still experiences!) racism, and that is why she expects more and better of her fellow Americans, of the US itself.
She instills a sense of holiness throughout the entire book, not just condensing it into the section titled ‘Holy’. She ties Biblical references to her life, makes them personal, and the way she portrays the Bible, religion, even God, with her words is mystifying to me, a pseudo-atheist, but it’s also appealing and beautiful. She sounds as though she really believes that everyone is holy and that this should be a source of connection between people.
I’d like to include a section of the book for context.
There’s an event she describes that happened when she was eleven: during a normal Sunday church service, a white man entered their church and walked straight up to the pulpit, eyes locked on her reverend. The [Black] men of the church stood up, ready to take action if need be, but the man genuflected, “lowering his head to the ground with his hand placed over his heart,” after which he was escorted to the church office. Afterward, he told them he’d been distraught and as he walked past the church and heard the reverend preaching and the choir singing, he decided to come in and pay his respects. The interesting part is what Marcie Alvis Walker says after that part.
… one moment we were all going about our regular Sunday church services… then suddenly, our spirits were besieged because a white man entered our sacred routine, and we didn’t know if he was saint or demon. That day more than thirty years ago, our country’s pedigree of white supremacy, slavery, segregation, and genocide had swaggered into our house of worship, and we had no idea how to handle it—because we had no power to name it”.
Walker then describes all the naming, claiming, and labeling that we endure throughout our lives, to the point that we begin to sort ourselves, even into fictional houses like those of Hogwarts.
We spend our lives proving that we are worthy to be in the rooms that we enter. But only one qualifier should be required for us to enter and exit rooms: human. But this is not the world in which we live. Our world tattoos on us names, labels and classifications that can change the direction of where we choose to journey and the atmosphere of the rooms we choose to enter when we get there.
She is getting to the point, and asks why she still remembers that day in church and how it filled everyone there with so much fear.
Why did it have to feel so bad and wrong and highly suspect? Why couldn’t it have been just a human experience?
And then she describes what happened in 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, when Dylann Roof joined a Black congregation – he worshipped with them for forty-five minutes – and then committed an atrocity, a murder of the innocent.
The presence of one white man in a Black congregation has been and always will be questioned. It has always sounded the alarm for danger. It will always wake the sleeping history of terror in our hearts. And rightfully so.
I hadn’t heard the name Marcie Alvis Walker before I found this book, but I was excited when I read the synopsis. As a white woman who tries to be a good ally to Black people, especially Black women, I thought this would be an excellent book for me to read, especially since I haven’t yet started on my list of Antiracist Allyship Must-Reads (books like those found here: https://bookshop.org/lists/anti-racis...? and that’s barely scratching the surface of hugely important, powerful books written by people of color that can help white people challenge our internalized anti-blackness and do the work to fight racism and white supremacy where we encounter it, which is more frequent and in more places than we would think before opening our eyes by reading these and similar books).
All that’s here is a story about the complexity of one human experience, my experience of being Black, woman, and holy.
I applaud you, Marcie Alvis Walker, for this excellent memoir, and I wish you many blessings.
January 25, 2025
powerful—an exploration on being a black woman in america. she doesn’t pull any punches when discussing how the mainstream (white) church has handled race relations. while the book is written by a christian, it’s not so bogged down by religious text—anyone can read this and draw meaning. highly recommend
June 16, 2023
I loved the audiobook version of this memoir read brilliantly by the author. This collection of essays focuses on racism in the United States. I think it is an important to hear the accounts of people who are affected by this blight every day of their lives (from childhood to adulthood), even (and especially) if you think you already understand and definitely if you are not BIPOC. I've since followed her on Instagram (blackcoffewithwhitefriends) because can't get enough of Marcie Alvis Walker.
October 29, 2023
Can lament ever be joyful? Can an invitation to dance be delivered through tears?
If so, then that's the mission of Everybody Come Alive. Marcie Alvis Walker remembers a Black childhood stained by rejection, abandonment, and disdain for her dark skin. Growing up in the 1970's, her story is entangled with Alex Haley's Roots, Mary Tyler Moore, and a blonde, blue-eyed Jesus she discovered in her all-Black Sunday school class.
It's this dissonance that Alvis Walker carries into adulthood, and then writes with vulnerability about her divorce, single motherhood, her mother's mental illness, and learning to live as an image bearer of a "diverse and multicolored God."
Many thanks to Convergent Books and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.
If so, then that's the mission of Everybody Come Alive. Marcie Alvis Walker remembers a Black childhood stained by rejection, abandonment, and disdain for her dark skin. Growing up in the 1970's, her story is entangled with Alex Haley's Roots, Mary Tyler Moore, and a blonde, blue-eyed Jesus she discovered in her all-Black Sunday school class.
It's this dissonance that Alvis Walker carries into adulthood, and then writes with vulnerability about her divorce, single motherhood, her mother's mental illness, and learning to live as an image bearer of a "diverse and multicolored God."
Many thanks to Convergent Books and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.
February 16, 2023
Black, woman, holy. YES. Marcie bares get soul in this exquisite essay collection and it is like taking a drink from the sweetest, saltiest firehose.
July 11, 2023
Love this books so so much. It is for us, by us. Marcie's memior is poetic history and an ode to Blackness.
June 6, 2023
Marcie’s writing is luscious and lovely. Reading her words is like savoring a decadent dessert.
As a white woman, reading her stories and experiences as a Black single mother was heart-breaking. I was devastated to hear about a classical Christian school in Austin held a debate on whether slavery should have been abolished or not. It’s horrifying to hear something like that. As a mom of two who attend a Christian classical school, I can say in NO WAY would that fly at our school. I hope that Marcie spoke up and pressed in on that issue with that community and that they were receptive to her feedback.
Additionally, there were a few situations Marcie shared where a white woman said something deeply offensive and racism. I could not tell from her story if she left it un refuted or not. My hope is that Marcie would gently bring such comments to light. As she mentioned how deeply racism runs in our culture without us even recognizing it, it is so incredibly important to talk about it - and address with gentleness and love, as Christ would do, bc so often, aren’t we blind to our own sins?
Marcie’s depiction of the Triune God, 3 in 1, with both male and female qualities was absolutely beautiful. I have always viewed the Holy Spirit as a Mother so this resonated with me.
Finally, the hurt that Marcie has experienced from her upbringing, especially her mother, was raw and real and shared in an incredibly honest but also blame-free way. She did such a great job of honoring her family members while also sharing the hard truth and her processing of those feelings.
Oh - and I found the home life at her mother’s house with the other Black women fascinating! The hot hair combs and food and talk was so intriguing!
And Marcie’s way of weaving news headlines, blurbs, poetry, different voices and narrative was brilliant.
Thank you, Marcie, for writing such a vulnerable memoir with such spiritual depth and resonance. I read it in two days. 😂
As a white woman, reading her stories and experiences as a Black single mother was heart-breaking. I was devastated to hear about a classical Christian school in Austin held a debate on whether slavery should have been abolished or not. It’s horrifying to hear something like that. As a mom of two who attend a Christian classical school, I can say in NO WAY would that fly at our school. I hope that Marcie spoke up and pressed in on that issue with that community and that they were receptive to her feedback.
Additionally, there were a few situations Marcie shared where a white woman said something deeply offensive and racism. I could not tell from her story if she left it un refuted or not. My hope is that Marcie would gently bring such comments to light. As she mentioned how deeply racism runs in our culture without us even recognizing it, it is so incredibly important to talk about it - and address with gentleness and love, as Christ would do, bc so often, aren’t we blind to our own sins?
Marcie’s depiction of the Triune God, 3 in 1, with both male and female qualities was absolutely beautiful. I have always viewed the Holy Spirit as a Mother so this resonated with me.
Finally, the hurt that Marcie has experienced from her upbringing, especially her mother, was raw and real and shared in an incredibly honest but also blame-free way. She did such a great job of honoring her family members while also sharing the hard truth and her processing of those feelings.
Oh - and I found the home life at her mother’s house with the other Black women fascinating! The hot hair combs and food and talk was so intriguing!
And Marcie’s way of weaving news headlines, blurbs, poetry, different voices and narrative was brilliant.
Thank you, Marcie, for writing such a vulnerable memoir with such spiritual depth and resonance. I read it in two days. 😂
October 14, 2023
Entering someone's life like this is a privilege
I was afraid the memoir in essays format was going to be disjointed. But it adds to the richness of the telling.
A white gay man seeking understanding of black experience.
Thank you, Marcie.
I was afraid the memoir in essays format was going to be disjointed. But it adds to the richness of the telling.
A white gay man seeking understanding of black experience.
Thank you, Marcie.
August 19, 2023
Marcie's writing has always been excellent and beautiful, and it's on full display here.
February 20, 2024
Beautiful. Haunting. Lyrical. I hope Marcie continues to write. One of the best/most beautiful books I’ve read about race/racism.
June 5, 2023
What a beautiful, rare, true, wonderful, heart and spirit filled memoir! I've been waiting for it since I heard it was coming and if I'm honest even before. This is because everything Marcie has written that I've been fortunate enough to have read told me it would be amazing. Marcie has a phenomenal understanding of what is important and matters. There are not enough superlatives.
May 31, 2023
Marcie Alvis Walker has been one of my absolute favorite Instagram follows for many years now. Walker’s ability to quickly cut to the core of a deep and difficult truth, while writing about it the most poetic and gorgeous prose, continually blows me away, and this memoir captures that same feeling.
Everybody Come Alive is Walker’s story in particular, but it is also the story of discovering what it means to be Black, a woman, and a person who is holy, beloved, and fully alive in America today. This book is raw, honest, and vulnerable yet also joyful and hopeful. What a gift she has given the world by sharing her story so powerfully and generously. I’m so glad to have read it and hope you will, too.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me an advanced digital copy of this book for review.
Everybody Come Alive is Walker’s story in particular, but it is also the story of discovering what it means to be Black, a woman, and a person who is holy, beloved, and fully alive in America today. This book is raw, honest, and vulnerable yet also joyful and hopeful. What a gift she has given the world by sharing her story so powerfully and generously. I’m so glad to have read it and hope you will, too.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me an advanced digital copy of this book for review.
May 17, 2023
“I want to wear myself out being as Black as I choose to be and have whiteness be the problem. I love being Black. I love my skin, my culture, its language, and its vibe.”
“How are we as Christians supposed to undo this? Where do we begin? Perhaps we begin by decolonizing our understanding of who is holy and who is beautiful.”
I had the honor of reading an advance copy of this beautiful new book scheduled to release on May 30. Though I have followed Marcie for a while on Instagram and expected it to be a great one, I was blown away by how gorgeous the writing is. It is textured, unique, and absolutely spellbinding! Marcie is an incredibly gifted storyteller who writes “…a story about the complexity of one human experience, my experience of being Black, woman, and holy.”
The book is divided into 3 parts: Black, Woman, and Holy. She shares stories from her childhood as the daughter of a mother who was in love with her Blackness but struggled with mental illness. She moved back and forth between her mother’s world and that of her grandparents, who helped raise her in a world that was much more immersed in whiteness. She also shares about her experience as a Black single mother.
It's difficult to know how to write about this book, other than to say that you have to experience it. Through captivating stories, Marcie weaves throughout the book threads of what it has meant to her to be Black, woman, and holy. I loved this book so much and felt honored to bear witness to her journey of becoming. What a gift.
“How are we as Christians supposed to undo this? Where do we begin? Perhaps we begin by decolonizing our understanding of who is holy and who is beautiful.”
I had the honor of reading an advance copy of this beautiful new book scheduled to release on May 30. Though I have followed Marcie for a while on Instagram and expected it to be a great one, I was blown away by how gorgeous the writing is. It is textured, unique, and absolutely spellbinding! Marcie is an incredibly gifted storyteller who writes “…a story about the complexity of one human experience, my experience of being Black, woman, and holy.”
The book is divided into 3 parts: Black, Woman, and Holy. She shares stories from her childhood as the daughter of a mother who was in love with her Blackness but struggled with mental illness. She moved back and forth between her mother’s world and that of her grandparents, who helped raise her in a world that was much more immersed in whiteness. She also shares about her experience as a Black single mother.
It's difficult to know how to write about this book, other than to say that you have to experience it. Through captivating stories, Marcie weaves throughout the book threads of what it has meant to her to be Black, woman, and holy. I loved this book so much and felt honored to bear witness to her journey of becoming. What a gift.
May 23, 2023
I found this to be such a wonderful way to tell a story. It is woven in such a creative way. It makes you feel like the author is talking directly to you, opening up in a very vulnerable and raw way. Highly recommend reading this book to get a glimpse of a beautiful life.
Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for free copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
Thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for free copy, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
April 14, 2023
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for a copy to review. An excellent memoir telling the experience of a Black woman living in America. Essays from childhood through adulthood, Walker paints an emotional picture of her life and experiences in school, with family family, in and out of relationships, what it means to feel beautiful, and spirituality.
May 15, 2023
This is an unflinching story that throws you into the rapids of a turbulent coming of age story that gives us what we most need. A truth telling that shines a light on Blackness, holiness and women. It’s a love song to a mother and a daughter. Don’t miss this book!
July 2, 2023
BLUF: When I finished this memoir, I immediately added it to my reread list. Many of these essays I marked for rereading and closer reading.
Very quotable.
I did a combo read. The audiobook (read by the author) is lovely, but there were so many moments I wanted to highlight, I definitely needed the text version too.
Grounding and inspiring.
Black feminist interpretations of literary and Biblical stories are interwoven with the personal narrative, and it is so beautiful and so very illuminating.
The author’s Christian faith has a central presence in the writing without proselytizing. The way she wrote about faith was beautiful, gripping, personal, and enjoyable. (I am not Christian.)
I highlighted so many quotes about parenting and motherhood.
The structure of this memoir was intriguing and worked so well. There are 15 chapters. Every chapter opens with a short, introductory poetic interlude in response to a scene-setting epigraph: excerpts from newspapers, court documents, tv, and more. After the interlude, comes the personal essay about a period or theme from the author’s life. I liked the change up of pace and focus that the interludes provided.
Any essay or interlude from this memoir can stand alone. They are each titled, whole and complete artistic expressions. BUT, they also belong together unquestionably. Everything interweaves. This is a true collection with strong individual components that are painstakingly designed and meant to be read as a whole.
Favorite Essays:
Ch: 7 Black Mammy Beauty
(Personal story about racism and beauty standards, highlighted by an eyeopening close read of Song of Solomon)
Ch: 8 Black Single Mothers are Made of Stardust.
(Personal story was highlighted by interpretations of stories of single mothers from the Bible. “There are many mothers in the Bible. But because we’re only concerned with the role of God as father, we miss the reflected of God as mother in all these women.”)
Ch: 11 Princess Nada P. Jones
(Birth story paired with a pragmatic and restorative interpretation of the mark of Cain that I will never forget.)
Very quotable.
I did a combo read. The audiobook (read by the author) is lovely, but there were so many moments I wanted to highlight, I definitely needed the text version too.
Grounding and inspiring.
Black feminist interpretations of literary and Biblical stories are interwoven with the personal narrative, and it is so beautiful and so very illuminating.
The author’s Christian faith has a central presence in the writing without proselytizing. The way she wrote about faith was beautiful, gripping, personal, and enjoyable. (I am not Christian.)
I highlighted so many quotes about parenting and motherhood.
The structure of this memoir was intriguing and worked so well. There are 15 chapters. Every chapter opens with a short, introductory poetic interlude in response to a scene-setting epigraph: excerpts from newspapers, court documents, tv, and more. After the interlude, comes the personal essay about a period or theme from the author’s life. I liked the change up of pace and focus that the interludes provided.
Any essay or interlude from this memoir can stand alone. They are each titled, whole and complete artistic expressions. BUT, they also belong together unquestionably. Everything interweaves. This is a true collection with strong individual components that are painstakingly designed and meant to be read as a whole.
Favorite Essays:
Ch: 7 Black Mammy Beauty
(Personal story about racism and beauty standards, highlighted by an eyeopening close read of Song of Solomon)
Ch: 8 Black Single Mothers are Made of Stardust.
(Personal story was highlighted by interpretations of stories of single mothers from the Bible. “There are many mothers in the Bible. But because we’re only concerned with the role of God as father, we miss the reflected of God as mother in all these women.”)
Ch: 11 Princess Nada P. Jones
(Birth story paired with a pragmatic and restorative interpretation of the mark of Cain that I will never forget.)
September 4, 2023
3.5⭐️. The beautiful writing you would expect if you follow Walker’s blog or on IG. It is rich, luxurious, layered, and true. There is so much that is really, really good about this book. It is divided into 3 sections: black, woman, and holy. The 3rd section, holy, was by far my favorite. It is powerful and moving. It is also the section that seems to hold the closest to actually being a memoir. I love memoirs and memoirs in essays, but I felt like the format fell down in this book. The middle section seemed to lose focus and became repetitive. It also didn’t seem to advance the memoir. There were parts of her story that were touched upon (e.g. the love story with her 2nd husband, what happened with the private white Christian school) but no details were provided. In a memoir, a reader wants — expects—more than a mention. The interludes before each chapter also didn’t really work for me. I mostly didn’t understand their purpose. Still, overall a good, well-written book worth a read for exactly the reasons stated in her last essay.
March 21, 2023
An excellent memoir, in which author Walker describes her experiences as a Black girl and then woman, navigating majority white spaces, and the juxtaposition of her pro-Black mother and her assimilationist grandparents who she lived with. Throughout the book, Walker uses Christianity and the concept of "holiness" to frame her experiences; I'm not particularly religious myself but I did find this interesting, the exploration of Blackness and Christianity, especially in the context of white Christianity. I spread reading this book out over many months and it was nice to return to it to read it in chunks, but the essays do flow well together. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
February 24, 2023
Marcie Alvis Walker addresses the painful issues in our society. Her honesty leads to pulling back the stage curtains. Opened there is the sights and sounds of being different in American society. The word "racism" is whispered and shouted. The differing circumstances lead to real situations in actual places.The chapter about bullies is haunting.
Her honest to goodness life leads to written letters or thoughts for celebrities or writings for you and me. That she lived through these struggles gives hope. We can make it. Life will not destroy us. We will live above issues that fight to make our days always nights without stars.
Her honest to goodness life leads to written letters or thoughts for celebrities or writings for you and me. That she lived through these struggles gives hope. We can make it. Life will not destroy us. We will live above issues that fight to make our days always nights without stars.
February 19, 2023
A really fascinating insight into the life and challenges of the author. The prose was beautiful, incredibly descriptive and the emotions felt amazingly translated into feelings for the reader. I really enjoyed this book, and loved the essay format of the title particularly. Well worth a read!
March 3, 2023
A memoir that has a lot to say about certain life being in a different culture. A well delivered story that I would say both beautiful and touching.
4.0/5 stars.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
4.0/5 stars.
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.
March 5, 2023
A beautifully written memoir. Growing up in the same time period as the author, I was blown away by her insight and wisdom.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-ARC.
Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-ARC.
March 11, 2023
*Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
July 30, 2023
I've followed this author and her writing on Instagram, and reading her memoir was an even greater gift.
"Over and over again in the gospels, with every developmental milestone that Jesus surpasses, from his conception to his crucifixion, the writers tell us that Mary, mother of this most divine human, pondered his differentness, his ways, his choices in her heart. It's the most accurate description of motherhood. What mother hasn't had a moment when she looked at a child that came from her own body and wondered, "How and when did this actual human being get here?"
***
"Jesus never surveys or studies whether a person has value. He engages and listens. He's not worried about the outside of the cup... He's concerned with what's on the inside."
***
"In South Africa there's a philosophy of community called ubuntu. It doesn't translate neatly because the word in and of itself is a state of mind, but the heart of its meaning is *I am because we are.* This philosophy of community doesn't just speak to a joint connection of individuals. It's deeper, richer, broader. It's the connectedness of our humanity. It's *I see you as I see myself,* or as Jesus said, *I love you as I love myself.* This sense of ubuntu is what Jesus offers to Martha when she complains, 'Lord, don't you care that Mary's leaving me to do all the work?' and he answers, 'My dear Martha, Mary knows *I am because we are.* Abiding with me is all the community that matters. Please abandon this community you've built for one.'"
***
"I don't want to die like my mother... I don't want to die in the narrow places. I want the land of Canaan with its flowing milk and honey. I want to die with my cup running over in abundant possession of the Imago Dei within me. I want to die being counted fully human and holy--but that death is not in the cards for me or for any other person of any race. But aren't we supposed to be united, one and the same in this life where we pray for heaven to touch Earth? If I must be counted less in order for you to maintain your living, then you too are not truly living and your death is just as haunted."
***
"The truth is that the only reason there are too many books about race is that the ratio remains one widely read Black book per white reader whose taste the publishing industry leans toward. One widely read Black book easily oversaturates white thirst for the moment, leaving the rest of us dehydrated and in desperate need of stories to drink to slake our thirst. Don't let my story be your only Black story. Drink deeply. There are not enough books if you keep drinking from our well. There are too many if you refuse to drink at all. And may the living water of our stories, salty and sweet, keep you thirsty for the Imago Dei rippling across the diaspora of Blackness that overflows with holy sorrow and joy."
"Over and over again in the gospels, with every developmental milestone that Jesus surpasses, from his conception to his crucifixion, the writers tell us that Mary, mother of this most divine human, pondered his differentness, his ways, his choices in her heart. It's the most accurate description of motherhood. What mother hasn't had a moment when she looked at a child that came from her own body and wondered, "How and when did this actual human being get here?"
***
"Jesus never surveys or studies whether a person has value. He engages and listens. He's not worried about the outside of the cup... He's concerned with what's on the inside."
***
"In South Africa there's a philosophy of community called ubuntu. It doesn't translate neatly because the word in and of itself is a state of mind, but the heart of its meaning is *I am because we are.* This philosophy of community doesn't just speak to a joint connection of individuals. It's deeper, richer, broader. It's the connectedness of our humanity. It's *I see you as I see myself,* or as Jesus said, *I love you as I love myself.* This sense of ubuntu is what Jesus offers to Martha when she complains, 'Lord, don't you care that Mary's leaving me to do all the work?' and he answers, 'My dear Martha, Mary knows *I am because we are.* Abiding with me is all the community that matters. Please abandon this community you've built for one.'"
***
"I don't want to die like my mother... I don't want to die in the narrow places. I want the land of Canaan with its flowing milk and honey. I want to die with my cup running over in abundant possession of the Imago Dei within me. I want to die being counted fully human and holy--but that death is not in the cards for me or for any other person of any race. But aren't we supposed to be united, one and the same in this life where we pray for heaven to touch Earth? If I must be counted less in order for you to maintain your living, then you too are not truly living and your death is just as haunted."
***
"The truth is that the only reason there are too many books about race is that the ratio remains one widely read Black book per white reader whose taste the publishing industry leans toward. One widely read Black book easily oversaturates white thirst for the moment, leaving the rest of us dehydrated and in desperate need of stories to drink to slake our thirst. Don't let my story be your only Black story. Drink deeply. There are not enough books if you keep drinking from our well. There are too many if you refuse to drink at all. And may the living water of our stories, salty and sweet, keep you thirsty for the Imago Dei rippling across the diaspora of Blackness that overflows with holy sorrow and joy."
June 20, 2024
Everybody Come Alive is one of those rare books that attains MUST READ status. Every American home should have this book and every American should read it. It should be required reading in American schools, together with The Warmth of Other Suns. It goes so very far and does such an amazing job of laying bare the author's life experiences as a Black child, a Black woman. Her anguish and her pain are living and breathing entities, they are palpable and heartrending. Her relationship to her mother, in particular, is examined in detail.
This book is a debut, which is incomprehensible. Ms. Walker's writing is sublime. She is SUCH a gifted writer. It is like music lifting off the page and touching our emotions directly. Sometimes it is a joyous song, but so very often it is mournful and keening, but always, ALWAYS, in tune.
In reading of the author's often excruciatingly painful experiences during her school years attending an almost all white school and later in college and at work; we cannot help but look in the mirror and examine our level of participation in this pain. This country's fabric was woven with atrocities: genocide perpetrated against a native population we found here and continuing on with slavery the ramifications of which are still tearing it apart. Having never accepted or admitted our crimes, to me it seems like the future of our country could only be doomed. And Ms. Walker's life is a living testament to the pain and torn apart families and lives caused by racism and inequality. One incident in particular at school perpetrated by one of the "jock" white boys, extreme racist and bully (criminal, I'd call it), was seared into my mind permanently.
She draws us into this in a way that is nothing short of magic, so that we can IMAGINE it. Honestly, I have rarely come across a writer that can portray real life and real people so very vividly. Her mother is brought to life for us and what an amazing person she was. The South she was born and raised in destroyed something within her as a young Black girl growing into a young woman. But she overcame much and having gone North, she set up her home and she did HER, which was a great thing to behold. Her style and eloquence and flair. An amazing, albeit very damaged woman.
The author goes on to describe her child's own traumatizing experiences of racism and discrimination.
Intermingled throughout the book are spiritual essays and biblical stories related to us by the author. These sections are also amazing. I am not religious, but I enjoyed these stories and the spiritual aspect of the book, too. Some of them hearkened back to Sunday School days from years ago. They too are extremely well written. Truly Marcie Alvis Walker is a gifted writer.
This book is a debut, which is incomprehensible. Ms. Walker's writing is sublime. She is SUCH a gifted writer. It is like music lifting off the page and touching our emotions directly. Sometimes it is a joyous song, but so very often it is mournful and keening, but always, ALWAYS, in tune.
In reading of the author's often excruciatingly painful experiences during her school years attending an almost all white school and later in college and at work; we cannot help but look in the mirror and examine our level of participation in this pain. This country's fabric was woven with atrocities: genocide perpetrated against a native population we found here and continuing on with slavery the ramifications of which are still tearing it apart. Having never accepted or admitted our crimes, to me it seems like the future of our country could only be doomed. And Ms. Walker's life is a living testament to the pain and torn apart families and lives caused by racism and inequality. One incident in particular at school perpetrated by one of the "jock" white boys, extreme racist and bully (criminal, I'd call it), was seared into my mind permanently.
She draws us into this in a way that is nothing short of magic, so that we can IMAGINE it. Honestly, I have rarely come across a writer that can portray real life and real people so very vividly. Her mother is brought to life for us and what an amazing person she was. The South she was born and raised in destroyed something within her as a young Black girl growing into a young woman. But she overcame much and having gone North, she set up her home and she did HER, which was a great thing to behold. Her style and eloquence and flair. An amazing, albeit very damaged woman.
The author goes on to describe her child's own traumatizing experiences of racism and discrimination.
Intermingled throughout the book are spiritual essays and biblical stories related to us by the author. These sections are also amazing. I am not religious, but I enjoyed these stories and the spiritual aspect of the book, too. Some of them hearkened back to Sunday School days from years ago. They too are extremely well written. Truly Marcie Alvis Walker is a gifted writer.
July 19, 2023
BLUF: When I finished this memoir, I immediately added it to my reread list. Many of these essays I marked for rereading and closer reading.
Very quotable.
I did a combo read. The audiobook (read by the author) is lovely, but there were so many moments I wanted to highlight, I definitely needed the text version too.
Grounding and inspiring.
Black feminist interpretations of literary and Biblical stories are interwoven with the personal narrative, and it is so beautiful and so very illuminating.
The author’s Christian faith has a central presence in the writing without proselytizing. The way she wrote about faith was beautiful, gripping, personal, and enjoyable. (I am not Christian.)
I highlighted so many quotes about parenting and motherhood.
The structure of this memoir was intriguing and worked so well. There are 15 chapters. Every chapter opens with a short, introductory poetic interlude in response to a scene-setting epigraph: excerpts from newspapers, court documents, tv, and more. After the interlude, comes the personal essay about a period or theme from the author’s life. I liked the change up of pace and focus that the interludes provided.
Any essay or interlude from this memoir can stand alone. They are each titled, whole and complete artistic expressions. BUT, they also belong together unquestionably. Everything interweaves. This is a true collection with strong individual components that are painstakingly designed and meant to be read as a whole.
Favorite Essays:
Ch: 7 Black Mammy Beauty
(Personal story about racism and beauty standards, highlighted by an eyeopening close read of Song of Solomon)
Ch: 8 Black Single Mothers are Made of Stardust.
(Personal story was highlighted by interpretations of stories of single mothers from the Bible. “There are many mothers in the Bible. But because we’re only concerned with the role of God as father, we miss the reflected of God as mother in all these women.”)
Ch: 11 Princess Nada P. Jones
(Birth story paired with a pragmatic and restorative interpretation of the mark of Cain that I will never forget.)
Very quotable.
I did a combo read. The audiobook (read by the author) is lovely, but there were so many moments I wanted to highlight, I definitely needed the text version too.
Grounding and inspiring.
Black feminist interpretations of literary and Biblical stories are interwoven with the personal narrative, and it is so beautiful and so very illuminating.
The author’s Christian faith has a central presence in the writing without proselytizing. The way she wrote about faith was beautiful, gripping, personal, and enjoyable. (I am not Christian.)
I highlighted so many quotes about parenting and motherhood.
The structure of this memoir was intriguing and worked so well. There are 15 chapters. Every chapter opens with a short, introductory poetic interlude in response to a scene-setting epigraph: excerpts from newspapers, court documents, tv, and more. After the interlude, comes the personal essay about a period or theme from the author’s life. I liked the change up of pace and focus that the interludes provided.
Any essay or interlude from this memoir can stand alone. They are each titled, whole and complete artistic expressions. BUT, they also belong together unquestionably. Everything interweaves. This is a true collection with strong individual components that are painstakingly designed and meant to be read as a whole.
Favorite Essays:
Ch: 7 Black Mammy Beauty
(Personal story about racism and beauty standards, highlighted by an eyeopening close read of Song of Solomon)
Ch: 8 Black Single Mothers are Made of Stardust.
(Personal story was highlighted by interpretations of stories of single mothers from the Bible. “There are many mothers in the Bible. But because we’re only concerned with the role of God as father, we miss the reflected of God as mother in all these women.”)
Ch: 11 Princess Nada P. Jones
(Birth story paired with a pragmatic and restorative interpretation of the mark of Cain that I will never forget.)
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