Raceless Audiobook By Georgina Lawton cover art

Raceless

In Search of Family, Identity, and the Truth About Where I Belong

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Raceless

By: Georgina Lawton
Narrated by: Georgina Lawton
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From The Guardian’s Georgina Lawton, a moving examination of how racial identity is constructed - through the author’s own journey grappling with secrets and stereotypes, having been raised by White parents with no explanation as to why she looked Black.

Raised in sleepy English suburbia, Georgina Lawton was no stranger to homogeneity. Her parents were White; her friends were White; there was no reason for her to think she was any different. But over time her brown skin and dark, kinky hair frequently made her a target of prejudice. In Georgina’s insistently color-blind household, with no acknowledgement of her difference or access to Black culture, she lacked the coordinates to make sense of who she was.

It was only after her father’s death that Georgina began to unravel the truth about her parentage - and the racial identity that she had been denied. She fled from England and the turmoil of her home-life to live in Black communities around the globe - the US, the UK, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, and Morocco - and to explore her identity and what it meant to live in and navigate the world as a Black woman. She spoke with psychologists, sociologists, experts in genetic testing, and other individuals whose experiences of racial identity have been fraught or questioned in the hopes of understanding how, exactly, we identify ourselves.

Raceless is an exploration of a fundamental question: What constitutes our sense of self? Drawing on her personal experiences and the stories of others, Lawton grapples with difficult questions about love, shame, grief, and prejudice, and reveals the nuanced and emotional journey of forming one’s identity.

©2020 Georgina Lawton (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Medical Professionals & Academics Racism & Discrimination Social Sciences Women Discrimination Thought-Provoking Social justice
Fascinating Personal Journey • Brave Storytelling • Great Performance • Insightful Racial Exploration • Well-written Memoir
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TL;DR - If you are looking for a book devoted solely to the individual and family dynamics involved in finding out your parentage is not what you've been told all your life, this is NOT that book. It opens and closes with that exploration, but the majority of the middle is spent detailing a journey to discover what it means to be Black, including traveling abroad and a good dose of political opinion thrown in. Still a very worthwhile listen if one adjusts their expectations to account for this, and realizes this is the author's personal story as she has felt she needed to tell it. A strictly genealogy book it is not - more a memoir in progress, well-told.

*****

I really enjoyed the Audible series, and it happens to be in my wheelhouse of research as I work towards my doctoral dissertation on an area closely related to the identity issue described in the series. I therefore pre-ordered this, and began listening that very first day.

To be clear, this is a story that the author needed to tell in her way, and to that end, I believe she did an admirable job.

I was under the impression that it would revolve around more of the family issues surrounding the lack of acknowledgement of the author's parentage. While this did occupy much of the initial chapters and the final couple of chapters, the middle section reflected the author's experience as a travel writer (which I have also done *fist bump*) and focused almost exclusively on the author's search for what it means to be Black. She travels to countries which have an element of being English-speaking, but are predominantly Black in population, and much of the middle of the book is about this journey.

As a semi-pro genealogist, I fully embrace people's need to tell their unique stories. As a former columnist, I chuckled while listening to descriptions of assignments and word counts. As a mental health professional, I listened with interest to how the therapists handled the different situations presented, and felt deeply the pain and confusion, the anger and sadness the author expressed over her newfound knowledge.

Having said that, this is also clearly a book of the times. Though the author is British, she makes references to then-current events in the USA, and at times I felt I needed to step away due to the overt sense of "Black power" and politics being expressed. In many cases, new identification with a group can lead to an "all-in" phase where everything is bigger, shiner, more urgent, and NEW.

Over time, this tends to mellow sonewhat for most people. I got the sense that this "shiny new reality" phase is where the author is right now, and her words and political views reflect that more directly now than they might a few years down the road. I do not necessarily disagree, although I do not share the fervor with which she presents this portion of the book.

However, I respect her story. I see her. I see her life, I see her journey as she has chosen to tell it. I was expecting - and hoping, quite frankly - for a book that spoke more about her ancestry and family relationships, including her newfound cousin.

These elements are quite definitely present, opening and closing the book. I could have taken a pass on the Black travelogue, but it too was well-done and captured the author's need to learn about this part of her identity and feel accepted and seen by others who looked like her.

Though she explicitly stated she wanted to go to English-speaking counties, she went to other places that are not known for as much English use. I found it incredible that she did not go to the country from which her biological father seems to have come from, even if only briefly and perhaps as part of a group trip with a translator if needed. I was also disappointed that her new DNA-matched cousin was barely a presence beyond the meeting that was recorded for the Audible series. I think there was actually more about her in the Audible series than there was in this book.

I did appreciate how the book closed the circle by returning home and working through a variety of these issues with her family at long last. I admire the strength her mother had/has to work through this, and the maturity the author has gained which is now allowing her to see her mother as a woman who lives her very much, and is - like everyone else - able to make mistakes and poor choices along the way, mixed in with the love and care amply provided in the home.

A satisfying conclusion to a work clearly still in progress. I could have done without the political fervor and activism, or at least liked it to have been toned down somewhat, but I honor and respect the sense the author often expressed that these were also elements of her personal journey.

A good listen overall, if not as closely related to the Audible series as I had thought it would be when I pre-ordered it.

Not was I was expecting after the Audible series

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I am so grateful for this book. I’m a busy, full-time working toddler mom and I still managed to devour this book in just two days. I didn’t want it to end. As a Black, biracial woman who grew up in a Black household and a white town, and who struggled (and struggles) with identity, and with race being a taboo topic within the family, I don’t know that I’ve ever felt more seen while reading a book. This book should be required reading for everyone, but especially for mixed race people, parents of kids of a difference race, adopters and adopted people, and those who have had their lives thrown into chaos by DNA testing. What a brave and beautiful story with unflinching truth and lots of light as well.

I Feel Seen

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This is relatable for those at the intersection of racial non-disclosure and societal denial or "let's play pretend and only see you as WE want to see you." Many of us struggle with finding ourselves and who we are in our mixedness.

Excellent

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Raceless by Georgina Lawton

Such an interesting story of a biracial girl growing up with her white family, firmly believing that she was white too.
Her exploration into her ancestry was thought provoking and brave.
I enjoyed her descriptive narrative, the places she visited and her experiences there.
I think this book would prove to be helpful to other people who were brought up to believe one thing about their race and to discover a different story as an adult.
Narration was good.

Truth Behind Lies

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Overall, this book was wonderful and the voice of the author was a great performance. As far as the story goes…I thoroughly enjoyed this audible (and the print version). My children are biracial, my husband black, our oldest son black (my husband’s whom I raised) and we have 16 grandchildren of a variety of hues from dark, African black to pale, Norwegian white! But aside from color, my husband was an oddball, middle child, in his family, a head taller than siblings and parents, and much darker. At 51 he learned that the man who raised him was not biologically his father. He had lived thru teasing and tormenting by neighborhood children and siblings, hinting at who they thought was his father, but until his mother confirmed it, he believed the lie, even searching out relatives of his dad who were taller with dark skin, believing he was a throwback! Thank you for this book. It gave us comfort to learn others feel similarly to learning truth.

AN EXCELLENT INSIGHTFUL BOOK

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I enjoyed this book. Georgina shared her story of identity deception and the journey self discovery.

I was hoping that she elaborate further on the conversation with the family and more of her search for discovered relatives.

Hidden Identity in plain sight.

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Very informative and well paced. It’s a memoir written with journalistic rigor, but that feels like a novel, yet it is backed by science. Loved how the author takes the reader on a personal tour of her life and travels.

Passionate and well informed

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I found the story to be interesting and well written. I was expecting more from the story. I thought she would go more in depth about her experiences and more of her relationship with her family.

Overall it’s a good story and different perspective on race. Worth reading.

was expecting a different story

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the problem with this book is it is equal parts memoir and "instruction manual on being Black." so it's sort of not "useful" for anyone who actually knows about hair...you know?? I'm sure there are a lot of "white" people who need to read/listen to this book. I hope the author "circles back" when she is older and writes an actual memoir, minus all the instructional bits because her life and life/personal experiences are AMAZING and FASCINATING and INSPIRATIONAL and HILARIOUS. all the things

this is only sort of a memoir

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I was a little disappointed in the way the author dealt with her anger at her mother. I understand the shock of learning a family secret as my family has experienced something similar. Family secrets happen often and are sometimes held to protect the family as a whole - as in my case and the authors case. Like the author, our father had passed away before the secret was exposed and was unable to tell his side of the story. I’m not discounting that the authors feelings are real. It was just difficult to listen to when thinking of my own experience.

The author’s anger

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