My Beloved World

Zusatztext 43058391 Informationen zum Autor Sonia Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton in 1976 and from Yale Law School in 1979. She worked as an assistant district attorney in New York and then at the law firm of Pavia & Harcourt. From 1992 to 1998, she served as a judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, and from 1998 to 2009 on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated her as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; she assumed this role on August 8, 2009. Klappentext A "searching and emotionally intimate memoir" (The New York Times) told with a candor never before undertaken by a sitting Justice. This "powerful defense of empathy" (The Washington Post) is destined to become a classic of self-invention and self-discovery. The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. In this story of human triumph that "hums with hope and exhilaration" (NPR), she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.Here is the story of a precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine) and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge a little girl took from the turmoil at home with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes that the precocious Sonia recognized she must ultimately depend on herself. She would learn to give herself the insulin shots she needed to survive and soon imagined a path to a different life. With only television characters for her professional role models, and little understanding of what was involved, she determined to become a lawyer, a dream that would sustain her on an unlikely course, from valedictorian of her high school class to the highest honors at Princeton, Yale Law School, the New York County District Attorney's office, private practice, and appointment to the Federal District Court before the age of forty. Along the way we see how she was shaped by her invaluable mentors, a failed marriage, and the modern version of extended family she has created from cherished friends and their children. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book. From Chapter 11 I was working my way through the summer reading list when Lord of the Flies brought me to a halt. I wasn’t ready to start another book when I finished that one. I’d never read anything so layered with meaning: it haunted me, and I needed to think about it some more. But I didn’t want to spend the whole break doing nothing but reading and watching TV. Junior was happy shooting baskets all the daylight hours, but there wasn’t much else going on around the projects if you were too old for the playground and not into drugs. Orchard Beach still beckoned, roasting traffic and all, but getting there was a trek you couldn’t make every day. Besides, without Abuelita’s laugh and the anticipation of her overgenerous picnic in the trunk, without Gallego gunning the engine of a car packed with squirming kids, somehow it just wasn’t the same.   So I decided to get a job. Mami and Titi Carmen were sitting in Abuelita’s kitchen over coffee when I announced my plan. There were no shops or businesses in the projects, but maybe I could find someone to hire me in Abuelita’s old neighborhood. Titi Carmen still lived on Southern Boulevard and worked nearby at United Bargains. The momandpop stores under the El wouldn’t hire kids—leaning on family labor rather than paying a stranger—but the bigger retailers along Southern Boulevard might. I proposed to walk down the street and inquire in each one. “Don’t do that...

Report

A compelling and powerfully written memoir about identity and coming of age. . . . If the outlines of Justice Sotomayor s life are well known by now, her searching and emotionally intimate memoir, My Beloved World, nonetheless has the power to surprise and move the reader. . . . This account of her life is revealing, keenly observed and deeply felt. . . . This insightful memoir underscores just how well Justice Sotomayor mastered the art of narrative. It s an eloquent and affecting testament to the triumph of brains and hard work over circumstance, of a childhood dream realized through extraordinary will and dedication.
            Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

The book delivers on its promise of intimacy in its depictions of Sotomayor s family, the corner of Puerto Rican immigrant New York where she was raised and the link she feels to the island where she spent childhood summers. . . . This is a woman who knows where she comes from and has the force to bring you there. Sotomayor does this by being cleareyed about the flaws of the adults who raised her she lets them be complicated. . . . I ve spent my whole life learning how to do things that were hard for me, Sotomayor tells an acquaintance when he asks whether becoming a judge will be difficult for her. Yes, she has. And by the time you close My Beloved World, you understand how she has mastered judging, too.
            Emily Bazelon, The New York Times Book Review
 
With buoyant humor and thoughtful candor, she recounts her rise from a crime-infested neighborhood in the South Bronx to the nation s highest court. I will be judged as a human being by what readers find here, Sotomayor writes. We, the jury in this case, find her irresistible.
            John Wilwol, Washingtonian
 
Sotomayor turns out to be a writer of depth and literary flair. . . . My Beloved World is steeped in vivid memories of New York City, and it is an exceptionally frank account of the challenges that she faced during her ascent from a public housing project to the court s marble palace on First Street.
            Adam Liptak, The New York Times
 
You ll see in Sotomayor a surprising wealth of candor, wit, and affection. No topic is off limits, not her diabetes, her father s death, her divorce, or her cousin s death from AIDS. Put the kettle on, reader, it s time for some real talk with Titi Sonia. . . . The author shines in her passages on childhood, family, and self-discovery. Her magical portraits of loved ones bring to mind Sandra Cisneros s The House on Mango Street; both authors bring a sense of childlike wonder and empathy to a world rarely seen in books, a Latin-American and womancentric world.
            Grace Bello, Christian Science Monitor
 
This is a page-turner, beautifully written and novelistic in its tale of family, love and triumph. It hums with hope and exhilaration. This is a story of human triumph.
             Nina Totenberg, NPR

Big-hearted. . . . A powerful defense of empathy. . . . She has spent her life imagining her way into the hearts of everyone around her. . . . Anyone wondering how a child raised in public housing, without speaking English, by an alcoholic father and a largely absent mother could become the first Latina on the Supreme Court will find the answer in these pages. It didn t take just a village: It took a country.
            Dahlia Lithwick, The Washington Post
 
My Beloved World is filled with inspiring, and surprisingly candid, stories about how the Supreme Court s first Hispanic justice overcame a troubled childhood to attend Princeton and Yale Law School, eventually earning a seat on the nation s highest court.
           Carla Main, Wall Street Journal   

Remarkable. . . . A portrait of a genuinely interesting person.
            Michael Tomasky, Daily Beast
 
In a refreshing conversational style, Sotomayor tells her fascinating life story with the hope of providing comfort, perhaps even inspiration to others, particularly children, who face hard times. People who live in difficult circumstances, Sotomayor writes in her preface, need to know that happy endings are possible.
            Jay Wexler, Boston Globe
 
Classic Sotomayor: intelligent, gregarious and at times disarmingly personal. . . . A portrait of an underprivileged but brilliant young woman who makes her way into the American elite and does her best to reform it from the inside. . . . I certainly hope My Beloved World inspires readers to chase their dreams.
            Jason Farago, NPR

Vital, loving, and incisive. . . . In this revealing memoir, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor candidly and gracefully recounts her formative years. Her memoir shows both her continued self-reliance and her passion for community.
            Library Journal (Starred review)
 
Justice Sotomayor recounts numerous obstacles and remarkable achievements in this personal and inspiring autobiography. . . . Readers across the board will be moved by this intimate look at the life of a justice.
            Publishers Weekly
 
Amazingly candid . . . an intimate and honest look at her extraordinary life and the support and blessings that propelled her forward.
            Booklist (Starred review)
 
Graceful, authoritative memoir. . . . Mature, life-affirming musings from a venerable life shaped by tenacity and pride.
            Kirkus Reviews

Product details

• Authors: Sonia Sotomayor
• Publisher: Vintage USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 07.01.2014
• EAN: 9780345804839
• ISBN: 978-0-345-80483-9
• No. of pages: 432
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 200 mm x 25 mm
• Series: VINTAGE BOOKS
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Biographies, autobiographies; Social sciences, law, business > Law > General, dictionaries