Surviving the White Gaze: A Memoir
Written by Rebecca Carroll
Narrated by Rebecca Carroll
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
A “gorgeous and powerful” (The New York Times Book Review) memoir from cultural critic Rebecca Carroll recounting her painful struggle to overcome a completely white childhood to forge her identity as a Black woman in America.
Rebecca Carroll grew up the only Black person in her rural New Hampshire town. Adopted at birth by artistic parents who believed in peace, love, and zero population growth, her early childhood was loving and idyllic—and yet she couldn’t articulate the deep sense of isolation she increasingly felt as she grew older.
Everything changed when she met her birth mother, a young white woman, who consistently undermined Carroll’s sense of her Blackness and self-esteem. Carroll’s childhood became harrowing, and her memoir explores the tension between the aching desire for her birth mother’s acceptance, the loyalty she feels toward her adoptive parents, and the search for her racial identity. As an adult, Carroll forged a path from city to city, struggling along the way with difficult boyfriends, depression, eating disorders, and excessive drinking. Ultimately, through the support of her chosen Black family, she was able to heal.
“Generous, intimate, searching, and formidable” (The Boston Globe), Surviving the White Gaze is a timely examination of racism and racial identity in America today.
Rebecca Carroll
Rebecca Carroll is a writer, cultural critic, and host of the podcasts Come Through with Rebecca Carroll (WNYC Studios), and Billie Was a Black Woman. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Essence, New York magazine, and The Guardian, where she was a regular columnist for two years. A former cultural critic for WNYC, and critic-at-large for the Los Angeles Times, she is an editor-at-large for The Meteor media collective, as well as the author of several interview-based books about race in America, including the award-winning Sugar in the Raw: Voices of Young Black Girls in America. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.
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Reviews for Surviving the White Gaze
54 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Some of the most beautiful writing I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Absolute perfection - start to finish.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5as a Black TRA this book resonated with many of my experiences. A must read
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything was so familiar, guess I'm not crazy after all.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was an incredibly powerful book. I'm so glad that Rebecca Carroll told her story. I think it's an important book for anyone to read, whether you can personally relate to her story as a survivor of the white gaze, or if you are a part of that white gaze. I happen to be the latter... and I found her story riveting and moving. We need to see people as they are and listen to their stories and their voices, if we ever want to improve our society.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Though I love this book thus far, this version (as of May 2021) is incomplete. Definitely worth completing, but you may have to do so on Audible.com.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was very enlightening. It helped me to understand truly, how much I don’t know about this subject. We as whites live so privileged, and without even realizing i believe, think we are deserving.
Thank you Rebecca.