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kelly_e's review against another edition
4.0
Author: Gabrielle Union
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.00
Pub Date: September 14, 2021
T H R E E • W O R D S
Vulnerable • Empowering • Witty
📖 S Y N O P S I S
A lot has changed in the four years since Gabrielle Union published her first book We're Going to Need More Wine, so she's back with all new stories to inspire, encourage, empower, and to offer hope to those who struggle. She shares about her journey with surrogacy and on becoming a mom, and delves into tackling racist institutions and practices in the entertainment industry.
💭 T H O U G H T S
After reading We're Going to Need More Wine, I knew I needed to pick up Gabrielle Union's second book You Got Anything Stronger? to see what else she had to say. These new stories and conversations go even deeper touching on suicidal thoughts, becoming a mom via surrogacy, being a working mom, raising a LGBTQIA+ child, aging as a Black woman, racism within the industry, among other things.
I commend Union for digging deep and exposing the most vulnerable aspects of her life with the hope of making others experiencing similar things feel less alone. Knowing you are not alone can be one of the most healing ways to move through life's most difficult moments. Written with both humour and sincerity, this book isn't all heavy. She mixes in some lighthearted stories to create a nice balance. It's great on audio, read by the author herself which makes the experience that more genuine.
Again with this one, I struggled with the normalization of drinking culture and the references of turning to alcohol when things get hard. I do think the titles of both her books were chosen with distaste. And yet, these books open up some much needed dialogue on important topics, so I had to look past the titles.
Both books are worth reading, but I would definitely recommend reading her earlier publication first simply for context as some topics are a continuation while others are completely new. There's a little something for everyone in each, although I think I gravitated towards this one a tad more. For me, it just hit harder.
📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who want to be empowered
• Gabrielle Union fans
🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S
"The right thing to do is, as usual, the hard thing to do."
"I let her tell me who she was. I listened to her, even before she had words."
Graphic: Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Sexual assault, Cursing, Cultural appropriation, Grief, Rape, Medical content, Alcohol, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Transphobia
danileah07's review
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Infertility, and Cursing
Moderate: Sexism, Rape, Miscarriage, Transphobia, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Homophobia
ashleysbookthoughts's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Infertility, Cultural appropriation, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Homophobia, Rape, and Transphobia
Minor: Infidelity
zoes_human's review against another edition
5.0
There are triggers in here, but there is also joy and wisdom and a celebration of life and learning. Her vulnerability is a gift to us all.
Graphic: Infertility
Moderate: Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Hate crime, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Deadnaming, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Transphobia
zeenatpatel01's review
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship
bookwormsandcoffeestains's review
4.25
Moderate: Infertility and Miscarriage
Minor: Transphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Rape