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livlosiewicz's review against another edition
3.5
•What I love most about memoirs is when people pour their honest selves into the text, and allow readers like me who have lived very different lives to step in their shoes and live in their heads for a little bit. Viola Davis does this beautifully, and opens up about a lot of traumatic, but important, topics. I especially love how we get so many facets of her relationships with her family, and how she holds up that there were many times when she was terrified of her father and wanted him to leave, while also acknowledging how much she loved him and how they were able to foster an important and close relationship at the end
•Davis provides some really important insights about how her identity as a black woman impacted her acting career and the way that both racism and colorism affect her life. This was peppered throughout the story, representing the way it was simply always present in her life. I found this to be both really well-done and informative!
Cons:
•The organization of this book left a lot to be desired. Some sections of the book were repetitive, either making the same point that she already made without adding anything new, or adding exposition we already had (like re-explaining her parttime job at Trinity). It read a bit like she decided to move the text to other spots but forgot to delete it in the first spot.
•Also, the book jumped back and forth in time (by margins of a few years; it was mostly linear) in a way that I didn’t really understand. For example, telling about a breakup and then the boyfriend appears pre-breakup a few pages later. If it was necessary to tell things out of order, some roadmapping transition language would have been helpful! It was like the way you would have a conversation or tell a story out loud, but it was confusing on the page. I suspect it might have been better as an audiobook
•(I’ll note that it seems a little unfair to be criticizing the grammar of someone who had to miss school as a child because their family had no hear or running water…so I’m not blaming her, I’m blaming the editor!! Take a red pen to this baby and it would be a real masterpiece!!)
Recommendation: I recommend to fans of memoirs, especially if you’re already a fan of Viola Davis. LOTS of content warnings: this woman has been through a LOT and somehow still managed to have an amazing career despite basically every obstacle. I really enjoyed her perspectives on her life and have a lot of admiration for her journey. Avoid if poor structure in memoirs can bother you or if you want something without trauma.
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Child abuse and Abortion
emilyreadsinallentown's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Incest, Misogyny, and Racism
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
laneylo's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Chronic illness, Child abuse, Excrement, Grief, Terminal illness, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Violence, Death, Blood, Cancer, Racism, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual content, Incest, Sexual assault, Rape, and Dementia
vatodd's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Racism, Child abuse, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Abortion
fromthelibraryofmarissa's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Sexual violence
Minor: Abortion
sariereads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Classism, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault
doylee's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racial slurs and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
cadystanton's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Medical trauma, Infertility, Rape, Misogyny, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Alcoholism, Drug use, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Sexual violence, Racism, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Blood, and Animal death
tonyabee's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
aquintela's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Racism, and Sexual assault