The Yellow House

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting premise of a memoir: the history of the house you grew up in. So many things I enjoyed from this perspective: Broom's rumination on how the physical place you grew up in affects who you are; her frank observations of how where she was from affected how people treated her and her family; the stories of her family and how they survived Katrina; the effect not actually having a home has on some of her family after it is demolished after the hurricane. Other things were harder to navigate: there are a lot of children, and unfortunately only a few become memorable (like Carl) so when she mentions other names I am completely lost on who they were; great pictures of her parents but almost none of her as she grows up (which again may have helped with keeping track of who everyone was); a little more editing would have kept the story a little tighter and made the points more easily accessible.

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In Burundi, I was l'etranger , without language; I was without the sound of my voice.

Calling places by what they originally were, especially when the landscape is marred, is one way to fight erasure.