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mecmccann's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Infertility, Sexism, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Mental illness
koala982's review against another edition
3.0
- What I didn't like about the book was the structure and the writing. The overall structure (going from chapter to chapter) is fine, but the structure of the chapters themselves was sort of weird. I wasn't always sure when something was happening, the transitions between very different topics was often sudden, and really big things (
- I love her use of punctuation!!!
- I also appreciated the information she provided about how the theater/film/tv industry works. It helped explain why the media we consume looks the way it does and also showed me how hard being an actor can be/often is.
Moderate: Racism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Drug abuse
nrogers_1030's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Addiction, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Rape, Domestic abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Abortion, Pedophilia, Incest, Infertility, and Pregnancy
Minor: Terminal illness, Cancer, and Medical content
micalyia's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Sexual content, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Racism, Abortion, Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence
librariangeorgia's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Abortion, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, Addiction, Racism, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
kcelena's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence
aloy's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Cancer, Addiction, Sexual violence, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Blood, Alcoholism, Racism, Physical abuse, Infertility, and Domestic abuse
leweylibrary's review against another edition
5.0
Update after first reread:
This is just as much a five star read the second time around 🙌 I don't often buy audiobooks or reread them, but this one felt like the perfect way to wrap up a challenge I'm doing on IG. I had forgotten about some of the details of just how rough her childhood was (that cat part like wut 😳)
Graphic: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Racial slurs, Grief, Death of parent, Medical content, Domestic abuse, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, and Abortion
Moderate: Toxic relationship
stoleyourfoodinthelibrary's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Infertility, Domestic abuse, Stalking, Death of parent, Bullying, Grief, Child abuse, Body shaming, Racism, Violence, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, and Addiction
Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual harassment
Minor: Toxic relationship and Vomit
blueeyedshook's review against another edition
3.75
I knew quite a bit about Davis from interviews and articles but of course this was a whole deeper level. And it was HARD. Such pain and darkness that she has lived through that the beginning was hard to get through simply because of her difficulty and the gravity with which she wrote it. But out of pain, has come beauty. I think the pain was focused on quite a bit more than the beauty though. Although, my hope is that this leaves room for her to write another book in the future.
The book leads right up to her winning the Oscar for Fences, but really passes over the successful years around that with a light hand. We do get a glimpse of meeting her husband and how he is (their relationship seems precious). And introduced very lightly to when she adopts her daughter.
I appreciated that she focused on her experiences. (it definitely wasn’t a Hollywood tell all or even tell some about any of the people in her movies or shows with her. Barely a tidbit about how Denzel Washington challenged her when he directed.) This was a book about Viola. And of course it focused on how poor she was, her love for her family (even in their own pain), and the experiences she faced in school, work and life with the color of her skin. Not only being black but being dark skinned black. Being a white woman, I have never experienced anything like she has, and I find it utterly ludicrous that she was considered not only different but ugly because her skin is so dark (even among other people of color). Makes my heart hurt. So much of this book just broke my heart for her and for all the little girls out there who have experiences prejudices and atrocities.
What a glorious thing that she can attest that all of that difficulty she faced and the trouble she had finding self-love was faced and began healing in her roll on How to Get Away With Murder. Watching that show made me feel like she was really coming through in the character, and she confirmed that to be true. Such breakthrough, not only for her but for all woman who look like her as well.
My favorite part, though, was the way she talked about her parents. How even through the pain, she loved her father and how he grew and healed as well. And the way she talked about her sisters, ugh. Heart wide open.
(My less than favorite part was how her favorite word must be the f word with mf taking a close second. But I digress.)
A beautiful, heart wrenching, aching memoir that I hope is not her last.
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Abortion, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship