The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner) Paperback – Illustrated, June 30, 2020

I actually found this book a little difficult to get into, because the author spends a lot of time and detail explaining her family's roots, and she was the last of twelve children. But, that history, along with some history of New Orleans, is important, so if you have the same reaction, hang in there! This book is an important addition to understanding a black American point of view. And like many white Americans lately, I am trying to understand more about this point of view.The yellow house in New Orleans East, where Sarah Broom grew up and the family lived, is an important character in the story. It is their anchor, even though its flaws are detailed throughout the book. There are many things about it that need repair, but the family is never quite able to get any of these resolved, which speaks to the devotion they had to living there. The ground is soft, as they are situated almost in a swamp surrounded by levies and Lake Pontchartrain. This element adds to the rocky and uncertain character of their survival, as just stepping outside has its issues.Ivory, the author's proud and talented mother, is remarkable. She not only raises her twelve children (mostly without a father, as he dies early on in the author's life), and works full time, but she insists on a clean and fashionable appearance, something that is accomplished due to her talent as a clothier. The same goes for the house - she makes sure it is a home to her family, while at the same time feeling embarrassed by its shortcomings. She makes it clear that outsiders should not have to enter, revealing a heartbreaking embarrassment of her situation. When Sarah, the author, is not performing up to her standards at the local public school, Ivory enrolls her in a private one, which is beyond their means, but the only way she feels she can save her daughter.That Sarah becomes the writer she is today is a tribute to her mother's skill and single-mindedness. She goes on to work in New York City at "O" magazine, and as a speechwriter for Mayor Nagin when he was running New Orleans.But then, Katrina comes, and the family is cast adrift, scattered to several parts of the country. The yellow house becomes a victim of the catastrophe, and eventually is torn down (I actually went to the address on Google Maps, and there is nothing there). But the family is still drawn there, and one of her brothers becomes a self-appointed guardian of the land where it once stood.There is a remarkable lack of bitterness in Ms. Broom's writing, considering the bungled, mismanaged response that came from the Bush administration at the time of the hurricane. Perhaps her family's history of making do with what they had and not relying on anyone or thing outside their family is the reason. Push through, hold your head up, look good and get the job done - quite a legacy, one worth admiring and emulating.

Extraordinary tale of courage, bravery, tenacity, loss, shame, and more spanning several genres: memoir, narrative nonfiction, history, sociology, geographyI read THE YELLOW HOUSE (Grove/Atlantic, August 2019) with an eye toward memoir and a personal connection to one's home, but this book is so much more than a memoir. It's an examination of race and class, about the pull of home and family, and destruction. Set in a neglected area of New Orleans, the Yellow House was never much of a house in the first place--even before Katrina. But that's not the point.In 1961, Sarah's mother, Ivory Mae was a determined 19-year old widow. She invested her savings and little inheritance she had from her first husband into a little shotgun house in a once-promising neighborhood. She meets another man--Simon Broom--who will become the father of the author--but not for many years--and then he, too dies just six months after she is born.Broom takes the tale of this home and interweaves it with narrative non-fiction, investigative journalism, archival research, and geography, telling the story not just of her mother's struggle, but also the history of the home, it's entropy, the family, those tiny pieces of life and love and struggle that make up a whole. It's about pride, clan, tradition, and more.I found THE YELLOW HOUSE to be an eye-opening examination of place, race, identity, inequality, and even shame. Yet, under the shambles of disarray and heartache, lie a tenacity, a hope for future generations, for transformation.Keep in mind, THE YELLOW HOUSE reads a little more than a 'memoir,' and might strike as as study in sociology, reportage, and history. For this reason, I would venture is the reason it has won so many awards. If you're looking for a more intimate portrayal of memoir with deep introspection and lyrical writing, this might not be the book for you. Yet, some of these sentences simply sing.I found myself struck by the stories of familial connections, the multigenerational aspect of homes and poverty, secrets, and parentage. Here's what THE YELLOW HOUSE did for me: a rabbit-hole of research. I wanted to know more about 'my people,' who they were, where they originated. I wanted to to unearth the foundations of their homes--no longer standing--in rural Kentucky, in Southern Missouri. I found trends and patterns in migration, in family-making, in blended families, life, and death. That's what this book has the potential to do.L.Lindsay | Always with a Book.

I heard the Author interviewed on the Radio and was interested enough in her story to order the bookwhich I am currently reading to my wife at night and we are both enjoying it.

Absolutely loved this book ! Living and breathing the authors life around New Orleans and her family home - do open and honest

Es una historia muy interesante a partir de la experiencia de la autora en un barrio al margen del circuito turístico de Nueva Orleans. Está basada en una familia que compra una casita modesta y recorre la historia de la casa. No me gusta la forma de escribir de la autora porque me parece confusa, algunas frases he tenido que leerlas varias veces.

Intense. Intimate. This storytelling reaches out from its pages and grips the reader with a powerful tale of family, place, and history.