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Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir Of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family And Me (2010)

by Condoleezza Rice(Favorite Author)

3.91 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

038573879X (ISBN13: 9780385738798)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

review 1: Condoleezza Rice, a Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me, is a memoir written by Condoleezza Rice herself that takes you on a journey through her childhood in Birmingham, Alabama during the civil rights movement, all the way until she was asked to become President W. Bush’s national security officer. Appropriately, the memoir commences when her father John Rice, one of the most influential people in her life dies. Throughout the entirety of her memoir, Condoleezza places heavy emphasis on education and the importance of it, along with racial equality. She does this by having more than half of her memoir be about her life in Birmingham where her entire family experienced firsthand the racism and opportunities that the African-American population were denied.... more Although Rice had to attend a segregated all black school, she treasured her education and skipped many grades due to her strong intelligence and work ethic. She proves that one should make the best of the “hand in which they are dealt” and work diligently to rise above mediocrity which deals this hand. Condoleezza was also preached to at an early age that victimhood would not be tolerated. She expresses that she “grew up in a family that believed you might not control your circumstance, but you control your reaction to them.”. Because of this, she would strive to be twice as good as the white people so as to give them no excuse to segregate her and treat her differently. Rice believes that others in society do not turn adversity into success like she did, and places a lot of the blame on educators who “dump down their standards for those poor women and minorities”. Bush describes it as the “soft bigotry of low expectations”.By holding different standards for people of different race or gender in an education system, true excellence cannot be achieved and failure is eminent down the road. Condoleezza Rice’s overall message is very powerful and inspiring: Work hard to achieve success. This statement alone does not seem all too invigorating, but the example of her life experiences and accomplishments through this memoir gives meaning to the statement. When Condoleezza is still in grade school, she wanted to study music at Birmingham- Southern music program for the piano but feared that she would have to be “twice as good” to be admitted. Her parents reassured her that “she was twice as good” and she ended up being accepted. Through all of her hard work, Rice was able to overcome a racial boundary in the south and succeed in what she set out to do. After all, genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration (Thomas Edison). Condoleezza Rice also draws what I believe to be a parallel when she instructs that one should “always treat their interns with respect because you never know what might become of them”. She alludes to her own personal life and how she was a victim of racism and being heavily disrespected, yet blossomed into one of the most powerful and respected people of America. One particularly prevalent aspect of Rice’s memoir is that she ends her chapters with very meaningful and emotionally deep lines. One of the most powerful I believe to be “Despite the gross inequities my ancestors faced, there has been progress, and today race no longer determines how far one can go. That said, America is not color-blind and likely never will be.”. Rice expresses that progress has been made in America but states the cold hard truth that racism will never actually go away. This statement is depressing, but holds true and is emotionally moving.
review 2: Condoleezza Rice: A Memoir of My Extraordinary, ordinary family and Me is beautiful and charming book for the youth. The story is a reflection of Rice's childhood. As an African American living in the south she was always surrounded by pain and inequality. It was a place where black people lived in a parallel universe to their white neighbors. From the youth perspective, I never experienced such pain, racism, neglect and anything else that comes with living in Birmingham, Alabama in the early 1950's but by reading this book I see the world differently, in a different light.It painted a clear vivid picture of how life was and how she overcame the struggles of being the only black girl in a room of power and success. I personally enjoyed this book for several reasons one being the pain, passion,and emotion that I felt as I read the book, I was Condoleezza Rice starting from page 1 all the way to page 336. The book also includes a collection of both old and new pictures of Condoleezza Rice, her family, and her friends, giving you an inside look to help the reader better see what Condoleezza beautifully created when writing her memoir. All in all, Condoleezza's memoir vividly shows the path to her success, a path full of obstacles both emotional and physical which anyone can relate to. I recommend this book to anyone and everyone. To all the youth who feel lost and unnoticed, to all the teens hungry to learn about their past in a different perspective, to every parent in search of hope when they feel that they should just give up, and to anybody else in the mood to read a great emotional and lively auto-biography. less

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