The Color of Water

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of racism, religious discrimination, sexual violence, and death.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. The Color of Water alternates between James’s memoir and Ruth’s transcribed interviews. How did this narrative structure affect your understanding of their relationship? Which voice did you find more compelling, and why?

2. What parallels did you find between The Color of Water and McBride’s novel Deacon King Kong, which also examines community dynamics and racial tensions in 1960s New York? How did The Color of Water compare to other works you’ve read that explore racial identity, such as Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line, Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place, Don Lemon’s This Is the Fire, Jeanne Theoharis’s A More Terrible and Beautiful History, or Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo”?

3. When James asks Ruth whether God is Black or white, she responds, “God is the color of water. Water doesn’t have a color” (51). How does this metaphor capture Ruth’s philosophy on race, religion, and identity throughout the book?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. James describes staring at himself in the mirror for hours, creating a separate persona he calls “The Boy in the Mirror” (91). Have you ever felt disconnected from your reflection or identity in ways that echo James’s experience?

2. Ruth refused to acknowledge her Jewish heritage, telling her children she was “light-skinned” rather than white. How have you observed families navigating discussions of race and heritage?

3. Despite facing discrimination from both Black and white communities, Ruth focused relentlessly on education and religion as the two paths for advancement. Which of Ruth’s values or approaches to raising her 12 children do you find most admirable or relevant today?

4. James describes how the death of Chicken Man in Louisville became a turning point that pushed him back to studying and embracing God. What pivotal moments or relationships have redirected your life path?

5. After James visited Suffolk and met people who knew his mother’s family, he wrote, “My life won’t be lived that way, and neither, I hope, will my children’s” (229). How has learning about your family’s past influenced your life choices and values?

6. Ruth found solace in Christianity after her Jewish family disowned her, yet elements of her Jewish upbringing continued to shape how she raised her children. Have you ever found yourself integrating different cultural or religious traditions in ways that surprised you?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. The Color of Water spans several decades of US history, from the Jim Crow South of the 1930s, to the Black Power movement of the 1960s, to the War on Drugs of the 1980s. How does McBride’s family story shed light on the impact of these larger historical forces on individual lives?

2. James observes that his mother “never spoke about Jewish people as white” and that she viewed both Black and white communities with a complex mixture of trust and suspicion (87). How does the book complicate standard narratives about racial and religious identity in the US?

3. James notes that his stepfather Hunter “was an old-timer who called school ‘schoolin’” who had “run off from Jim Crow in the South” (77), while his sister Helen rejected her “white man’s education” (73). How does the book portray intergenerational differences in how Black Americans responded to racism and discrimination?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. Throughout the book, James depicts his reflection as “The Boy in the Mirror” (91). How does this symbol evolve throughout the narrative, and what does it reveal about James’s journey toward self-acceptance?

2. Mameh tells Ruth, “A bird who flies is special. You would never trap a bird who flies” (218). How does this bird imagery illuminate both Ruth’s escape from her family and her responsibility toward Mameh and Dee-Dee?

3. Ruth’s bicycle represents her “oddness” and “complete nonawareness of what the world thought of her” (7). How does this symbol, along with her later impulsive decision to learn to drive, reflect Ruth’s character and her lifelong need for motion?

4. James notes, “I found it odd and amazing when white people treated me that way, as if there were no barriers between us” (224). How does the memoir say the psychological impact of racial divisions, and what does it suggest about the possibility of authentic connection across these divides?

5. Ruth’s chapters reveal the trauma of Tateh’s sexual abuse, antisemitism in Virginia, and her family’s disowning her, yet these recollections are balanced with moments of strength and even humor. How does McBride’s structuring of his mother’s narrative affect her story’s emotional impact?

6. McBride’s writing often blends humor with insight, a style he continued in works like The Good Lord Bird. How does his use of humor in The Color of Water serve as both a coping mechanism and a tool for addressing difficult subjects like racism and family trauma?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Ruth created a family centered around education and religion, believing these were essential for her children, despite their facing racism that limited opportunities for them. What would you add to a school curriculum to educate children about racism?

2. James spent over a decade interviewing Ruth about her past, even though she initially claimed to remember almost nothing from her childhood. What questions would you want to ask your own family members about their untold stories?

3. In the Epilogue, Ruth attends a Jewish wedding but leaves early, stopping outside the synagogue lost in thought and staring at the temple in the rain. What emotions might Ruth have experienced in that moment, and how do you envision her relationship with her Jewish heritage evolving after the events of the memoir?

Need more inspiration for your next meeting? Browse all of our Book Club Resources.