My beloved world - BookWyrm

315 pages

English language

Published April 4, 2013 by Knopf.

ISBN:: 978-0-307-59488-4
OCLC Number:: 793578874

(5 reviews)

An instant American icon, the third woman, and the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court, the author tells the story of her life before becoming a judge, in this personal memoir. Here the author recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine), and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge she took with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile daibetes 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, …

An instant American icon, the third woman, and the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court, the author tells the story of her life before becoming a judge, in this personal memoir. Here the author recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood, with an alcoholic father (who would die when she was nine), and a devoted but overburdened mother, and of the refuge she took with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. But it was when she was diagnosed with juvenile daibetes 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. She describes her resolve, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. She writes about her deeply valued mentors, about her failed marriage, about her cherished family of friends. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this story of self-discovery and self-invention.

1 edition

AliCorbin reviewed My beloved world by Sonia Sotomayor

Review of 'My beloved world' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The book was well received, despite a few quibbles. (Like how can a book about such an accomplished woman, in the first person, not come off as self-aggrandizing.) I found her attitude, and her humility, refreshing, in that she credited her success to sheer luck, or to the support of her many mentors, or the love of her family. And only as an afterthought to her own intelligence or to the discipline that she was forced to learn at a young age. (It certainly wasn't due to her parochial school upbringing, which ill-prepared her for a demanding college.) She makes a strong argument for affirmative action, as a means to sift out the promising students who would otherwise be condemned to continued poverty. And it is inarguable that the world is a better place because she herself was so plucked out.