The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

A book that touched me, on a deeply personal level, was “The Girl Who Fell From the Sky” by Heidi Durrow.I have not found many books that accurately portray the torn feelings of a biracial character. Durrow’s main character is beautifully crafted. I loved how the story shows how lonely that can feel, as if your identity is hidden away and as if you are different than everyone around you.

From my own personal experience, everyone wants to put you in a box. Being outside the "box" tends to freak some people out. I had a boyfriend when I was younger whose Mother told her friends that it was okay if he dated me because I “looked white.” But she could never approve of him marrying me because surely I have “dark genes.” I had a group of boys who teased me mercilessly about being a chocolate milkshake and would leave crushed Oreo cookies on my porch. And on the flip side, I had a Grandmother who said that she didn’t want to have contact with me because I acted “too white.” I could go on with examples for days...

What a lonely, terrible feeling for a child growing up in a world of labels. Growing up in a society that is so segmented, it is hard to fit in if you cannot claim one race as your own. Not many people can relate to how this feels. Every person has to struggle to find themselves in life and being “different” adds to that struggle. As a biracial person, it is important to carve your own way in life, to make a place for yourself and embrace your uniqueness.

I hope that one day America will do away with boxes all together and everyone can just be an American. I appreciated following that journey in this book.

As a side note, I could rant for hours on the fact you have to “select your race” everywhere you go. Recently I even got a card at the eye doctor asking me if I was Caucasian, African American or Hispanic. Why in the world does the eye doctor care about that?? And with so many people of mixed race, why are the choices still so limited?? Frustrating. I wrote "frankly, this is none of your business" on my card.