[1IQ]≡ PDF The Women Who Raised Me A Memoir Victoria Rowell 9780061246593 Books

The Women Who Raised Me A Memoir Victoria Rowell 9780061246593 Books

Download As PDF : The Women Who Raised Me A Memoir Victoria Rowell 9780061246593 Books

The Women Who Raised Me A Memoir Victoria Rowell 9780061246593 Books

Completely astounding! An amazing life. Seemingly one of a kind but not. The lives of those who made Ms Powell the person she is often reflected the life she led. These lives are beyond my ken. I know of no prima historical figure who equalled the lives of these women. Finally, I am saddened by the need for all the private agencies and foundations that are needed to supplement what should be provided by our economic and political systems. There are lessons for life in this book for everyone.


Tags : The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir [Victoria Rowell] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <blockquote> The story of a remarkable woman's rise out of the foster-care system to attain the American dream—and of the unlikely series of women who lifted her up in marvelous and distinctive ways </blockquote> Born as a ward of the state of Maine—the child of an unmarried Yankee blueblood mother and an unknown black father—Victoria Rowell beat the odds. Unlike so many other children who fall through the cracks of our overburdened foster-care system,Victoria Rowell,The Women Who Raised Me: A Memoir,William Morrow,006124659X,Entertainment & Performing Arts - General,Actors;United States;Biography.,Dancers;United States;Biography.,Foster children;United States;Biography.,Actors,African American,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Entertainment & Performing Arts,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Women,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Cultural Heritage,Dancers,Entertainment & Performing Arts - Actors & Actresses,Foster children,GENERAL,General Adult,INDIVIDUAL ACTORS AND ACTRESSES,Maine,Non-Fiction,United States,Women

The Women Who Raised Me A Memoir Victoria Rowell 9780061246593 Books Reviews

"Acting is what I do, not who I am," was a quote by Ms Rowell at a recent book-signing in Seattle. To know Victoria is to catch a fleeting glimpse of a 'work in progress'; mother, activist,humanitarian, ballerina, actress, historian, collector of antiques, mentor... As expressed in her memoir, The Women Who Raised Me, she credits, in beautiful, glowing prose her profound connections with the foster mothers(and others) who raised her and inculcated her with the values of hard work, pursuit of truth and beauty, faith and commitment that have been a mainstay throughout her extraordinary life. A stunningly intimate portrait and a soul-searching account of her private search for her own mother, Dorothy. It will touch your heart and cause you to re-evaluate your own connections and relationships and perhaps... make you a little more human and aware in the process. BRAVO! A great book. Highest Recommendation. *****
While some readers and/or reviewers may take great pains to dissect Rowell's descriptions of her biological mother--and various foster mothers and mentors--I will avoid the unnecessary recounting of every detail of these remarkable women. Needless to say, the venerable and undaunted Black farm owner Agatha Armstead, Rowell's long-term foster mother, receives considerable and much deserved attention in this book. (The "Agatha" Award is named for Armstead and given annually by Rowell's nonprofit organization The Rowell Foster Children Positive Plan.) Yet there may be some readers who may have difficulty understanding the author's obvious need to elevate and illuminate her biological schizophrenic White mother, Dorothy Rowell.

With no contradictions, the author's real and literary attempt at exposing, explaining, and claiming her biological mother is stunningly African-American; less than a handful of us Black folks can claim any kind of racial purity due to our slave past--a past shaped as much by sexual exploitation and the occasional breaking of social and legal codes that proscribed interracial relations, as by the exploitation of labor. Both old and new Black American literature, like Black American life, is filled to the brim with accounts of unknown and unnamed ancestors, many of whom did not arrive from Africa; most of whom were not anxious to claim their darker relatives. This memoir is a 20th and 21st century story as old as Black America itself.

For persons who are visibly and culturally Black, yet who have a White parent, shaping an identity can be visceral and defiantly individual. Yet our long dead Black ancestors did exactly what Rowell does in this book--they claimed what they knew, and embraced the people they needed to embrace to give themselves a sense of history, belonging, and community. Without a full family history, the author can only tell us what she knows about her biological family tree; and like the ancestors of old, it is a fragmented and painful account. Like many an orphaned slave child, the foster child in this book claimed family wherever she found it. Her search for family and a sense of belonging ripples through this book and is set to life through her crisp and conversational prose. The women who raised her are family by their actions and by her acclamation.

Readers looking for an autobiography of titillating personal details will not find it here. The author delves deep enough into her childhood, young adult, and relatively recent life experiences. Yet she essentially keeps her focus on the array of women who have mothered and mentored her. That is, of course, the power of this text. All of her mothers come across as ordinary women who rose to the extraordinary and often painful task of foster parenting a child that they knew they might have been unable to keep. Rowell leaves no mentor unmentioned, giving readers the rare opportunity to contemplate all of the unsung women in their own lives who have "raised" them. The beauty of this book is the realization that all of these women are women any one of us might meet anywhere.

Rowell has long been an advocate and voice for children in foster care. She has tirelessly encouraged ordinary folks to become foster parents and mentors; and has often opened her own home to foster parents and children. She adds to that stellar legacy with this book. Her literary accomplishment, however, is that she pulls this off without excessive melodrama or moralizing. All at once you weep, and all at once you celebrate. You empathize, but do so without pity. I highly recommend this work and look forward to the next.
Victoria Rowell's depiction of her first 18 years of life spent as a foster child is quite riveting. This book gives hope to foster and adopted children everywhere. Victoria teaches in this book that regardless of your background you can learn the art of love and commitment to self. She teaches the art of recognizing, accepting and loving the place you are in. She teaches the true art of acceptance and appreciation for those around you. She teaches that there is something to learn from every person and experience life offers.

Her experiences are many that foster children of all ages, race and backgrounds can relate to. She lays her struggles on the line to teach a most powerful lesson of learning and growing in the space you are in and from the people who are around you. The Women Who Raised Me will make you both cry and laugh. It will fill your heart with compassion and understanding beyond measure. Victoria poured her whole heart into this book. This book is sure to touch the foster or adoptive child or adult in your life. I suggest buying and sharing this book with those individuals as birthday gifts or stocking stuffers at Christmas. It would be the best gift they could receive.

Being raised by my paternal grandmother, my birth mother was absent for many seasons of my life. Often popping in and out from time to time. Victoria's book has helped me look at the positive side of my experiences. Her book encourages me to grow from those experiences, recognize their worth in my life and pull from the source of those that were in my life to reach for the success I want for myself and my family. I enjoyed this book immensely and learned so very much for having read it. It has changed the way I look at life. Buy this book! You will be glad you did. The Women Who Raised Me A Memoir
I cannot understand the negative reviews. Beautiful writing, beautiful memoir. A unique human story of triumph over hardship. All of the credit is given to the many amazing women who raised Victoria to womanhood, and yet we can see so much strength and passion in the response coming from Victoria herself. This book is wisdom and inspiration for any person who has grown up in the foster system, and any person who is raising foster children, even for awhile. It is only the love which we encounter that gives us the courage to move forward in life.
Completely astounding! An amazing life. Seemingly one of a kind but not. The lives of those who made Ms Powell the person she is often reflected the life she led. These lives are beyond my ken. I know of no prima historical figure who equalled the lives of these women. Finally, I am saddened by the need for all the private agencies and foundations that are needed to supplement what should be provided by our economic and political systems. There are lessons for life in this book for everyone.