Color Of Water

“The Color of the Water” which rested on the New York Times bestseller list for two years was written by James McBride who is an accomplished author, musician and screenwriter. “Miracle at St. Anna” (2004), “Song Yet Sung” (2009) and “The Good Lord Bird” (2013) are the other books he wrote. He has also worked a former staff writer for The Boston Globe, People Magazine and The Washington Post. His work has appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. McBride is a native New Yorker and a graduate of New York City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. He holds several honorary doctorates and is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.
Also, the novel is described as a tribute to James McBride’s mother. The story is told by two narrators: James McBride and as his mother Ruth McBride Jordan. The novel switches between them so that they each narrate their own chapters. He tells his childhood and current life from his own voice while his mother is telling her early life with her own words, mostly taking place before James was born. Thus, the story keeps the audience’s attention by skipping back and forth in time, from James’s life to that of his mother. Although many time changes occur in the novel, they are easy to keep up