I thought this was a nice memoir about a girl who overcomes the oppression that poverty and race presented to her. She definitely deserves kudos for staying strong and working toward her dream of college and a better life. But I felt so sorry for her delusions about her mother. She credited her mother time and again for doing so much for her, but honestly, her mother was a terrible parent and was another obstacle in Veronica's path to success.

She was so desperate to be loved by her mother that it reminded me of children who are abused, or grow up in alcoholic or drug-addicted homes. These children excuse their parents' behavior and somehow turn it around to think that their parents helped "make them who they are". In reality, these children just can't face the fact that their parents were horrible parents who didn't show them much love. That would be a hard thing to face and accept. I would probably put on blinders, too. But while I was reading this book and kept hearing Veronica credit her mother for making her strong, I just wanted to shake her and tell her to wake up! It was bad enough that she subjected her daughter to all kinds of physical and mental abuse, but then to watch her succeed and hurt her by calling her an Oreo and Buppie.... Nice.

Trying to release for mrsjones.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Left by mrsjones in the Race exhibit. She left it by the
blood pressure machine.