Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Finding Me by Viola Davis

40 reviews

darlingmoira's review

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4.5

This is a beautiful book. Viola Davis has been one of my favorite actresses for many years and when I heard about her book and the praise it was getting I knew I had to give it a try. The book is beautiful and sad and moving. Her writing so deeply has her voice behind it. Her life and the stories are so clear you can picture every moment. 
I have so much respect for her and her drive. I would love to just sit with her and continue to hear her life’s stories. She deserves all the praise she is getting and I hope she realizes the power she has brought to women (especially black women) by telling her story. 

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fblair's review against another edition

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4.25


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kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

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3.5

Davis has lived a life full of good and bad times, torture and fame, love and grief. While reading, I consistently found myself wanting more — details, anecdotes, snapshots of the past. What has been written is engaging, entertaining, and at times even inspiring but I still wished for more. Davis’ role as Annalise Keating is one of my absolute favorite television roles and I would read two more books this length about her life, her time on different sets, and the people she’s worked with who she came to love and respect. 

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ali1004's review against another edition

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5.0


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pagesandpixels's review

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4.0

So poetically written. I listened on audiobook and it was beautiful and engaging. What a life Viola lived and what an honor to listen. Another great book that reminds us why we need to buy/listen to women voices and stories.  



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gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

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5.0

Every single performance I’ve seen Viola Davis in, her acting ability has taken my breath away. I’m usually reticent toward celebrity memoirs but this takes the cake for one of the best memoirs I’ve read. As Davis takes readers through her difficult and tumultuous backstory with searing candidness, we begin to understand the many layers of who she is and how she came to be the person she is today. From the racist climate of the East coast to the colorism glaringly prevalent in both film/stage and the Blck community, Davis’ voice is emotionally intelligent and critically astute. There are definitely very dark moments layered through out this story, so I would definitely recommend checking content warnings on those, but each of these moments is handled with immense care and grace. I really loved this read, it’s definitely made me want to watch “How to get away with murder”.

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inthemoonforcheese's review against another edition

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4.5


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saramoser's review against another edition

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No rating - memoir
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AMAZING. The audiobook was so good, I could not stop listening. Viola Davis tells her heart wrenching and in depth story of childhood, hardship, living in poverty and how she dug herself out, but also knows that some of it was luck. She explains how unlikely her life was to end up where she is, and how amazing it is. She explains her childhood with warmth and is awestruck by some of the people she has encountered that had it worse than she did - which is insane.
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Highly recommend.
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TW: sexual assault, child abuse, child neglect, racism, sexism, infertility, loss of a parent

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_evyn_'s review against another edition

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5.0

Viola is a true artist. She's so vulnerable and open about her life in this book. She talks about her complex relationships with the acting industry, her family, partners, and most importantly, herself. I love the way she explains her struggles because there are moments I can relate to and moments I could not have truly understood until her depiction and imagery and rawness. You can feel sympathy the world over for another's problems and trauma but if you don't  REALLY understand what they're going through and how they're affected, you won't have empathy. Without empathy, you tend to listen to stories only for what you can relate to instead of what is actually being said. With empathy, you still have a bias about the more important aspects of the history, but it doesn't stop you from hearing and (hopefully) understanding the whole truth. I felt with her every time she had to step back and question a barrier in her life. She made me think about the choices I've made and what my future could look like (not in relation to her life, but the questions she asks herself or that others ask her, prompted me to try to answer them for myself). 
Would highly recommend.

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anastasia_raf's review

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4.0

I don't think you can "rate" a person's life, so I'm just rating the pacing, the writing and the overall composition of the book.
I kept reading and reading and often wondered how did she kept on going? I know What kept her going, but still...how was that enough? A lot of her experiences brought me to tears, terrified me, and made me think of how lucky I am and how much protection, opportunity and "luck" White privilege provides.
Viola Davis is an incredible actor and so very talented in so many fields.
There were a lot of quotes from this memoir that stuck with me.
Here's one of them: "stop making love to something that's killing you."

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