Watermark Books and Cafe

In an America that elected a biracial president in 2008, one might question the necessity of a story about the struggle that mixed-race children endure, but consider this: before his election, President Obama was frequently referred to as biracial, but now he’s usually regarded as the first black president with no mention of his mixed heritage. Is this because it’s no longer an issue? Or is it because we feel forced to make a choice about his race so we choose to classify him by the color of his skin alone? Questions of whether Obama is “black enough” also suggest that preconceived racial stereotypes still exist to define—and divide—Americans today. These questions of identity, along with themes of alcoholism, domestic violence, and recovery, are at the heart of this coming-of-age novel "The Girl Who Fell from the Sky" by Heidi Durrow. 

Born to a Danish mother and African American father, eleven-year-old Rachel is forced by those around her to identify herself in a new way—as a black girl.  Having grown up on American military bases in Europe, she isn’t aware of this identity until she moves to Portland, Oregon, to live with her grandmother.  Here she learns to classify her new world as black or white:  “"Playing tennis is one of the things that goes in the white category, along with classical music and golf... A piano is more white than a harmonica” (28).   But her grandmother’s division of the world into black and white doesn’t take into account her own situation as a little brown girl with blue eyes who can’t sing gospel but can speak Danish. 

Rachel is trying to find where she fits in and accepts her role as “the new girl” in order to forge a new identity and leave her tragic past behind.   Two other characters are just as haunted by Rachel’s past as she is-- her mother’s former boss Laronne and the boy Jamie (who changes his name to Brick). These characters, along with a few others, take turns narrating the story which begins with the mystery surrounding Rachel’s mother and siblings’ deaths. These subjective, almost stream-of-conscious, narratives are clearly delineated and effectively move the story along. One of the author’s strengths lies in her realistic dialogue and ability to interweave multiple characters’ perspectives.   

This novel initially presents a girl whose life is defined by tragedy. However, Rachel learns to chart her own course in life amidst the confusion of her biracial identity, managing to view herself as a whole and to triumph in the end: “...I’m not the new girl. I’m not the color of my skin. I’m a story. One with a past and a future unwritten” (264). Ultimately, The Girl Who Fell from the Sky ends with the hope that the Rachel’s of the world will no longer have to choose one heritage over another but can embrace—and be embraced by--both cultures equally. 

Review by Shirley Wells