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My Song: A Memoir (2011)

by Harry Belafonte(Favorite Author)

4.04 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0307272265 (ISBN13: 9780307272263)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Knopf

review 1: I will say right away that this is one of my favorite books of all time. I knew of Harry Belafonte as a singer and actor when I was younger, but it wasn't until much later that I learned of his activism and dedication to social causes. This is why I wanted to read "My Song" and I was not disappointed.There is so much to his life story that it easily could be the story of multiple people. I never realized how close he was to Martin Luther King, Jr. and how active he was in the civil rights movement. I like Mr. Belafonte's story telling and the fact that he is quite hard on himself at times. He points out his flaws and failures as much as he does his successes. This honesty and acknowledgement allows me to see a human being in his entirety. My only criticism of the bo... moreok is that the last 20-25 years of his life is covered pretty quickly.He ends the book with "I believe that my time was a remarkable one. I am aware that we now live in a world overrun by cruelty and destruction, and as our earth disintegrates and our spirits numb, we lose moral purpose and creative vision. But still I must believe, as I always have, that our best times lie ahead, and that in the final analysis, along the way we shall be comforted by one another. That is my song." This is from a man that still has hope and faith in humanity even after all he has seen in almost 90 years. That way of thinking is why Mr. Belafonte is one of my heroes.
review 2: Provides a fascinating front-row seat to the Civil Rights Movement, making this book well worth reading. But Harry himself is a conflicted, driven and sometimes annoying person - for instance, excusing himself from the failure of his marriages (as if his blatant infidelity had nothing to do with it), questioning if his support of Civil Rights causes (not his gambling habit) led to his later financial issues, and unforgivably characterizing Sammy Davis Jr. as a shuffling Uncle Tom. less

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