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Raceless: In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong
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56
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
62/100Critics
50/100Scholars
Author:
Georgina Lawton
Publisher:
Harper Perennial
Date:
February 23, 2021
From The Guardianâs Georgina Lawton, a moving examination of how racial identity is constructedâthrough the authorâs own journey grappling with secrets and stereotypes, having been raised by white parents with no explanation as to why she looked black.
What The Reviewers Say
... eloquent.
... a jaw-dropping story, told deftly, interspersing personal experience with wider research and insight into the ways racial identity has an impact on our lives. Occasionally I found the tone over-casual (the words 'hella' and 'obvs' are particularly jarring), but it doesn’t make this any less of a gripping, thought-provoking book..
Lawton’s discussion of racial passing, transracial adoption, mixed-race identity and the health implications of being misidentified are freshly fascinating. She is a particularly astute observer of the psychological dislocation caused by growing up mixed race in a white family who never acknowledged her racial identity, and she writes beautifully about questions of identity and belonging, so central to each of us in finding our particular place in the world. When it comes to reconciling her newly embraced Black consciousness with the racial attitudes of her white family and friends, however, Lawton sidesteps the possibility of hurting them by saying only 'we’ve come a long way.'.
With writing that at times reads casually, like a personal blog, Lawton’s examination of identity and family is a compelling account that will resonate with many readers..
