Off-White: A Memoir

Born into an affluent southern Jewish family, Gunst has written a memoir that, despite its best intentions, never amounts to more than a series of lightly drawn family portraits and shallow observations on race. Part of the problem stems from Gunst, who undermines her own observations by supporting her narrative with myth and imagery. Rhoda, Gunst's childhood nanny and de facto mother, is undeniably loved, but, like all things black in this memoir, she is only a romantic figure. In describing Rhoda's first encounter with her future employer, Gunst's grandmother, Gunst writes, ""She remained standing, which had the advantage of giving her the edge, allowing her to be as tall and upright in her stance as in her spirit."" In trying to capture the spirit and strength of the black women who helped rear her, Gunst pays little more than the requisite homage-""yet only I could see who she really was: a person who happened to be a Negro, rather than a Negro who was therefore not a person""-to the fact that black women had few options outside a life of servitude. Despite its title, Gunst's memoir isn't really about race, or family, it's about Gunst showing how she's always been different from-if not better than-the archetypal, bigoted southerners alongside whom she was raised.