Reviews for Mama Loves Colleen

The average rating for Mama Loves Colleen based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-27 00:00:00 Lynnette Gunn While the content of the book is very heart wrenching, and the statistics and the accounts Kozol provides are all very real, I hated this book. What troubles me is not the book, but its author Jonathan Kozol. Kozol motives are sincere and genuine but it always takes a sympathetic white man to expose the world. Which is almost unnerving as it is sad. On a whole, most of the white community in New York City doesn't ever see what is happening around them; a train ride away. It's as if the horrors of the world are blurred into the background. That is until; one of their own spends a night in a homeless shelter, and writes of the rapes and murders that occur. Only until then, does the help, reform, sympathy and money come in. However, if a white man is what it takes, than a white man it shall be. If allowing an outsider to record and rewrite your life is the necessary meanings to improving your situation, then by all means whore yourself out to the white man. I fully understand that Kozol is only trying to help those less fortunate, but when will it be the blacks turn to help their own?

Review # 2 was written on 2014-12-30 00:00:00 Robert Kidde I was moved by the stories told by the old & young in this community. I truly admire Anthony's (a 13 year old) wisdom and ambition as an aspiring writer. The centrality of the church in providing hope and relief for people in this community reminded me of my own childhood. Despite one's religious beliefs we must never devalue the relationships that people have to spiritual places and the sense of belonging and community that is achieved through these relationships. I respect Kozol for being able to give voice to each person he befriends and serving more as a messenger. The book ends with an analysis of a sermon with questions to think about: "Will the people Reverend Groover called "the principalities and powers" look into their hearts one day in church or synagogue and feel the grace of God and, as he put it, "be transformed"? Will they become ashamed of what they've done, or what they have accepted? Will they decide they do not need to quarantine the outcasts of their ingenuity and will they then use all their wisdom and their skills to build a new society and new economy in which no human being will be superfluous? I wish I could believe that, but I don't think it is likely. I think it is more likely that they'll write more stories about "Hope Within the Ashes" and then pile on more ashes and then change the subject to the opening of the ballet or a review of a new restaurant. And the children of disappointment will keep dying." I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a sobering reminder of what many kids go through in low-income communities. It was written in the 90s but its message is still relevant today.