Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Finding Me by Viola Davis

21 reviews

lilybear3's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

I couldn't put this book down.  Viola Davis is a force of nature and her autobiography, the Grammy-award winning audiobook that she earned EGOT status for, is further evidence, if you weren't already swayed.  

While I'm normally not into celebrity biographies, there are a handful that I loved and this is one of them, so much that I consider this required reading.  Ideally, you should listen to the audiobook (again, Grammy-winning audiobook).  Viola pulls you in and doesn't let go.  Her autobiography is all encompassing from birth to present, all the details from her childhood to working in Hollywood.  I don't know what else to say other than to read this book.  It is incredible.

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kennedybullen's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

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dark emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read/listened to. Viola Davis is an incredible person. Her strength and all the things she went through is unimaginable. This was a hard book to listen to at times, Viola does not shy away from taking you through memories of her childhood. Her dad’s abuse towards her mom, sibling abuse from her older brother, poverty so intense most of the time they didn’t have electricity, food or a working toilet. How she overcame so many obstacles and horrible things that happened to her growing up to then go on to graduate from Juilliard, then go on to act with Denzel Washington and then Meryl Streep until her big break out in How to Get Away with Murder is truly incredible. She is an amazing individual and a true inspiration.

This book is one that I know will stick with me. 

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coreyarch9's review

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

"Every January, we had our Martin Luther King celebration, a variety show [...] it was our rebellion. We were told it would ruin our instrument. Well, our soul was our instrument, too."

I love Annalise MF Keating, but I didn't know too much about Viola Davis. In Finding Me, Viola talks less about her career as an actress and more about the systemic poverty and racism and the coinciding internalized struggles that she had to overcome to be the woman we know today. And she doesn't hold anything back.

She talks a lot about what society deems beautiful, worthy, or correct. During her time at Juiliard, students were discouraged from hosting an MLK Day program or anything that might highlight their differences from their white counterparts. She talks about the typecast roles that she would be cast in or invited to audition for. She talks about what it was like to be called beautiful for the first time. She talks about therapy. 

In the end, she talks about finding herself, writing, "I am no longer ashamed of me."

I will never know firsthand what it's like to experience the abject poverty and racism that Viola grew up with. And that's why it's so important to read about. When she talked about being called beautiful for the first time, I started to wonder, when was the last time I told somebody they were pretty? When was the last time I told a woman of color that she was beautiful? When was the last time I supported a black-owned café instead of just picking up a latte at my local Tim Hortons? When did I last show kindness to a stranger?

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mariasilva's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

5.0


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maemiller_'s review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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seullywillikers's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I've always admired Ms. Davis as an actor, and this memoir is the catalyst for falling in love with her as a person. Raw, honest, brutal, and beautiful, listening to Ms. Davis tell her story without flinching, pulling punches, or apology, has been an incredible experience. Her compassion and empathy are without compare, and her focus on seeing the humanity in all people is a testament to her strength and inner goddess.

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amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0


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lbhreads's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0


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amandalorianxo's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Unflinching raw, honest and I am so glad Viola was able to be her authentic self in this memoir. 

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