I'm Down

by Mishna Wolff

Book Overview

Mishna Wolff grew up in a poor black neighborhood with her single father, a white man who truly believed he was black. "He strutted around with a short perm, a Cosby-esqe sweater, gold chains and a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312378556
• ISBN13: 9780312378554
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Hilarious

This book is hilarious!! This is my second time reading it and I enjoyed it as much as the first time. We often see this narrative played out with the black kid growing up in white communities and having to navigate there way through. We rarely get a chance to see things from a different perspective. I highly recommend.

I couldn't put down "I'm Down".

A surprisingly delightful, funny and honest look at a childhood that was sometimes very hard, sometimes very funny and completely interesting!

Best Memoir I've Read Since "Liar's Club"

What a great book! Fun, moving, and with a really unexpected ending. Though the promo material highlights her childhood as a white girl in a black neighborhood, this memoir is a more sophisticated story--and more universal story -- of a child who can't find her place in her family. And the most moving aspect of this book is her success in finding a place in the world, and what it ultimately costs her. Yes, it's heartbreaking in places, but it's hysterical in others and most importantly -- the story is compelling. I literally couldn't put this book down and I have the circles under my eyes to prove it.

A very funny and entertaining look back at growing up in the 'urbs

I'm Down: A Memoir by Mishna Wolff is a very funny and heartwarming memoirs about growing up in the 'urbs during the early eighties. What I enjoyed about this book is that I can relate to some of the things in it. It's heart warming, funny and at times heavy. I highly recommend this book if you want to read a realistic look on living in the a lower class diverse community.

A very intriguing memoir

I'M DOWN is the intriguing story about a young white girl growing up in a predominantly African American neighborhood. Her father, who was not African American, nonetheless grew up in the same neighorhood and embraced the African American culture as his own. He was troubled that his daughter did not embrace the culture as her own, and proceeded to try to steer his daughter in that direction. It's really an astonishing story. It resonated personally for me because it is set in the African American neighorhoods of Seattle, and I came of age only three hours away in the African American neighorhoods of Portland. I could relate to a great deal of what the author wrote about, and it was interesting to read about another African American community in the Pacific Northwest. I believe there is a national perspective which holds that the African American communities are largely confined to California, Detroit, New York, and the South. There's just a great deal in this book I can relate to. This book actually helped me come to terms with aspects of my life. In my life situation, "white" people have always been the minority. So, it was interesting to read an account by another white person who has had the same experience. It's an unusual place to be, a sort of no-man's-land. When one grows up in a situation like this, one is white, but not really; one is of-color, but not really. And this book probably has one of the best covers I've ever seen on a book. I literally remember kids coming to school with afros that look like that! In high school I myself actually had corn rows and for a time I worked at an African clothing boutique.