An essay collection that functions as autobiography. Beautifully written descriptions of life experiences in a range of settings. Highly recommended.

A poignant collection of stories that give the reader an outlook onto matters we don't all experience.

This collection of essays is not only the story of Patrice’s life, but also the experience of many Black Americans living in the United States in the last decades. Patrice, like many other American people, is the expression of a mixture of cultures, roots, and identities. Throughout the collection we have the sensation that she doesn’t feel at home anywhere, but between-borders is where she is really at ease. It is extraordinarily fascinating the way she describes herself, as a chemical reaction, a combination of many elements producing an unpredictable result. Moreover, Patrice has the feeling of being not an outsider or insider, but other. This sense of otherness demonstrates how the borders of blackness are permeable and the attempts to classify races with precise criteria are just vain attempts. I think that the main aim of this collection is to express the importance of retaining who we are and not letting dominant cultures to overshadow our inherited pasts. Even in a moment in which episodes of intolerance are multiplying, she feels proud of her identity and hopes that things will change one day.

I wasn't familiar with Gopo, but I kept seeing this book all over social media, so I wanted to read it for myself. My word. Her writing in essay form was at times breathtaking. Really soulful. A black woman of Jamaican descent who grew up in Alaska, but eventually made her way to the mainland. All of this raises the question, how do we define identity? Storytelling that'll make you think.

In All the Colors We Will See: Reflections on Barriers, Brokenness, and Finding Our Way, Patrice Gopo explores her experience of race throughout various points in her life. These experiences have been shaped by a number of factors and in a number of locales.

Gopo was born in Jamaica, grew up in Alaska, lived in Cape Town where she met her husband, then in Charlotte, North Carolina where she raises her family. She has two grandparents from India. She was among 5% of black students in attendance at Carnegie Mellon University during her time there. She has been told her hair looks more professional when relaxed and straightened (meaning not worn naturally).

I imagine many people of color can relate to these stories and many white people need to hear them.

Gopo’s writing is beautiful and matter-of-fact. It comes across with ease, which almost certainly means she has taken the time to hone her craft because writing is not easy.

Her chapter about hair — it’s different types and textures — is a mindful exploration of society’s expectations for how hair should look, what is beautiful, what is unkempt and what is professional. This made me wonder if hair has so much expectation tied to it, what does that mean for the rest of our existence?

Perhaps the most prevalent theme in the book is about belonging. Gopo looks at the ways she may be seen as an outsider or something “other.” She is the only black student in her class at school in Alaska, which leads her to be singled out for questions about race. She doesn’t feel she fits in with her family members in Jamaica because of her accent and inability to understand some of the local dialect. She recognizes that she is an anomaly in her university graduation class as a black woman in engineering. She questions, years after the fact, what it meant when a friend said, “I don’t see you as black.” She describes with rawness what she felt when she first encountered a confederate flag.

I highly recommend this book. I think people of color will be able to relate and see themselves in Gopo’s stories, and I think white people need to hear more stories from people of color. We have a responsibility to learn how word choices contribute to racism, how simple exchanges can have greater impact than we realize. And I think all of us, of all colors, need to move to a state of belonging and understanding. All the Colors We Will See is an easy entry point to this conversation.

Disclaimer: I received an advance-read copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson-W Publishing for the read of Patrice Gopo’s, All the Colours We Will See.

Although I wasn’t crazy about this book, I appreciated it. From the book description, I was expecting something else.

Patrice writes from the heart and shared some lovely introspection with the reader.

I’d recommend it if you are more interested in reading about someone’s personal reminiscences and not so much a novel.

This is a beautiful collection of essays and I loved it. Gopo handles the complexities of faith, racial identity, nationality, relationships and more with so much grace and poise. It was my first time reading any of her writing but from now on, I'll be seeking her out. I've recommended this book a few times already and I'm excited to read her future work.

I absolutely loved this book. In a world where racial tensions are high, Patrice Gopo gives a unique glimpse into the life of one black woman.
I appreciated the interconnectedness of the various essays in this book, even if they weren't necessarily chronological. It added to the beauty of the book. Patrice writes with beautiful words, and evokes all kinds of emotion.
I loved the way she addressed issues surrounding race simply by telling her own personal stories. Story is often more powerful than lecture or facts.

I loved and will recommend this book.

I didn't enjoy the authors writing style, however, I appreciated the book. She shared honestly about her faith and what it is like to live as a black person in America. She wasn't judgmental or angry, just honest.
I received this book free from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

Cannot recommend this.... The subtitle is misleading in that one might expect a focus on borders and immigration issues. These ruminations are not meditative and thought-provoking, but more like personal memories. The author frequently uses biblical allusions in an effort to ground or lend weight to the memories. Chapters tend to focus on specific topics/themes: Huck Finn and O.J. Simpson (one of the better chapters), degrees of blackness, hair, marriage.... in and of themselves, these are interesting subjects; however, the writing frequently lacks the specificity and accumulation of sensory details that can bring experiences back to life and allow the reader to participate in those experiences. Flash forwards and flashbacks also tend to be a problem for the writer (see the chapter on marriage).

All the Colors We Will See is a collection of essays that trace Patrice Gopo's memories as she wrangles with being a global citizen. She takes readers on a  journey to various places that she has lived and how they have shaped her identity including  Jamaica,  Alaska, South Africa and Zimbabwe to when was she currently resides in the US.

Through the use of metaphors, Patrice recognises that the emergence of identity labels as a result of immigration and globalisation and the misconceptions that arise. She says:

"We come from people who shed things and acquire things and then shed some more. Accents, languages, food, nationalities. The things we overlook and think that we understand."

This quote also takes me back to an instance where she offered to wash dishes at a White friend's house when she was a missionary in Africa during her gap year. This lead to an uncomfortable conversation which she internally observes:

"Maybe his consistent cringeworthy sentiments stem from his experience working from people from himself. Perhaps he thinks his life demonstrates cultural savvy or, even worse, racial hipness. Having lived for a good chunk of time in this African country, he possibly could imagine he's earned some kind of immunity from the pesky problems of racism"

Patrice is honest and refreshing in the way that she and her family handled situations including the fact she and her husband struggled to fit into a predominately Caucasian church in North Carolina. Nonetheless, she remains respectful.

Readers will enjoy her wit and lyrical writing. Though, it is marketed as a Christian book (and she does mention scripture here and there). It is can be enjoyed by people of all faiths who want additional insights into raising a multicultural family in the US or on being a global citizen.

I recently finished an advanced reader copy of All the Colors We Will See: Reflection on Barriers, Brokenness and Finding Out Way by Patrice Gopo. Gopo’s memoir is best understood as a series of short stories or vignettes versus the typical biography that we can follow easily on a timeline. With that understanding in mind, I think the author does an excellent job of spinning her thoughts as they were “in the moment.” Often times memoirs tend to tell the story with a polished coating on them, speaking to mistakes that were made and lessons learned while here the author is really just letting us feel what she feels. She sometimes jumps back and forth from childhood to adulthood, which to some may see confusing, but as a person who constantly reflects- I appreciate this realism. She discusses her angst, confusion, turmoil and acceptance of issues on race as a minority woman especially as the world grapples with terrorism. As a woman of color, I related to a lot of her experiences and the emotional rollercoaster she was on. There were some stories I felt ended abruptly that could have been fleshed out a little more, but overall, I think it’s a timely piece that speaks to the experience of minority experience, especially in the melting pot of America.

Which ethnicity best describes you? White? Asian? Black or African American? Native American? Other? When completing an application or survey, we pick a category we align with and tick a box. For many Americans, it is an exercise that requires little thought. But what happens when everyone around you views you as a black American, but your multicultural heritage doesn’t match the narrow understanding of that category?



I would give this book 3.5 to 4 stars.
First-time author Patrice Gopo writes a book exploring her heritage as a child in Alaska and as an adult in South Africa. She probes into her past through her marriage, moving to a different country and more. This collection of essays is somewhat haphazard and difficult to follow at times; however, she does write an interesting and a thought-provoking book. If you enjoy introspective books, this one is most definitely for you. The author writes a collection of essays about her life, her family and the different countries where she has lived. It will appeal to the deep thinker, the seeker and the nomad within all of us.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

This was a very introspective book on race and perceptions. I found it interesting, up to a point, but somewhat self indulgent. Also a little repetitive.

This was a bit difficult to get into as I found the thoughts scattered and a bit removed, like the author was waking up from a strange dream and not sure how exactly to put everything into words. There is a feeling of helpless acceptance throughout that perfectly summarizes a life of looking but never really finding.