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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Best for:
Those who enjoy a fairly light Hollywood memoir that primarily focuses on the industry while also providing some glimpses into one’s personal life.
In a nutshell:
Actor Geena Davis shares stories from her life.
Worth quoting:
“If a human can do it, I can do it.”
Why I chose it:
Looking for a fun listen while starting up running again.
What it left me feeling:
Impressed.
Review:
I didn’t know much about Davis’s life before reading this. I was familiar with her work in Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own, and Thelma and Louise. I also was vaguely aware of her work on gender representation in media. This book helped me feel like I know her a bit better now, though not a ton more, and she’s pretty upfront about that.
Davis has been acting since the 80s. She’s been in some very high profile films, and also had some fairly high-profile romances, including marriages to Jeff Goldblum and Renny Harlin. After finishing this book, I find her to be a bit intriguing. She’s honest throughout about her challenges with speaking up for herself and her need to be polite, but she also seems to have been blessed with a naivete that some could mistake for gumption. She would just do things that others would never dream of (such as pretending to be an animatronic mannequin, or sitting next to the director on set), but not because she wanted to be subversive - she just thought it would be interesting or cool or help her career.
One of the through lines of this book is her growth in her ability to speak up for herself, which culminates in her creating the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. It started out as a way to look at gender representation in children’s media, but now looks at other historically underrepresented identities as well. She also talks about taking up archery and making it quite far in the sport, which I found fascinating.
I appreciate that Davis chose to draw a line around her children - she doesn’t talk about their conception or really much of anything having to do with them. I’d imagine that will disappoint some people, since she had her kids at 46 and 48 respectively. She does touch on the inappropriate questions she received from the media about that, but explains that its just none of our business. And I respect that. She is open about her childhood, and her relationship with her parents and her husbands, but she chooses to keep that private. Good for her - we’re not entitled to all that information.
Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it
Those who enjoy a fairly light Hollywood memoir that primarily focuses on the industry while also providing some glimpses into one’s personal life.
In a nutshell:
Actor Geena Davis shares stories from her life.
Worth quoting:
“If a human can do it, I can do it.”
Why I chose it:
Looking for a fun listen while starting up running again.
What it left me feeling:
Impressed.
Review:
I didn’t know much about Davis’s life before reading this. I was familiar with her work in Beetlejuice and A League of Their Own, and Thelma and Louise. I also was vaguely aware of her work on gender representation in media. This book helped me feel like I know her a bit better now, though not a ton more, and she’s pretty upfront about that.
Davis has been acting since the 80s. She’s been in some very high profile films, and also had some fairly high-profile romances, including marriages to Jeff Goldblum and Renny Harlin. After finishing this book, I find her to be a bit intriguing. She’s honest throughout about her challenges with speaking up for herself and her need to be polite, but she also seems to have been blessed with a naivete that some could mistake for gumption. She would just do things that others would never dream of (such as pretending to be an animatronic mannequin, or sitting next to the director on set), but not because she wanted to be subversive - she just thought it would be interesting or cool or help her career.
One of the through lines of this book is her growth in her ability to speak up for herself, which culminates in her creating the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. It started out as a way to look at gender representation in children’s media, but now looks at other historically underrepresented identities as well. She also talks about taking up archery and making it quite far in the sport, which I found fascinating.
I appreciate that Davis chose to draw a line around her children - she doesn’t talk about their conception or really much of anything having to do with them. I’d imagine that will disappoint some people, since she had her kids at 46 and 48 respectively. She does touch on the inappropriate questions she received from the media about that, but explains that its just none of our business. And I respect that. She is open about her childhood, and her relationship with her parents and her husbands, but she chooses to keep that private. Good for her - we’re not entitled to all that information.
Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it
This book has a few really good laughs and Davis is, simply put, a nice person who wants to leave the world better than she found it. She lovingly describes many people from her life without judgement, and she is able to talk about multiple events of her life in a matter of fact way. She's selective about who she discusses and how in order to protect people and relationships. My complaint is that she seems to hold back a lot of her thoughts, and some important things are glossed over. I suspect it's how she typically communicates, but this minimalistic way of relaying her memories leaves some gaps in certain scenes. I will say that her relationship with her parents is lovingly detailed, and the passage towards the end of the book where she shares her dream is touching and emotional.
One more point: Davis' advocacy for female representation in film and TV is admirable and has had a lasting impact. I'm grateful for it, but was disheartened to hear her mention WalMart as her sponsor. WalMart is not a company known for exemplary treatment of its women employees. Once it was stated as the sponsor, the endeavor lost some shine for me, and my mind kept returning to that disappointment.
One more point: Davis' advocacy for female representation in film and TV is admirable and has had a lasting impact. I'm grateful for it, but was disheartened to hear her mention WalMart as her sponsor. WalMart is not a company known for exemplary treatment of its women employees. Once it was stated as the sponsor, the endeavor lost some shine for me, and my mind kept returning to that disappointment.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Geena Davis is a badass. She may not think she started out there, and this book takes you on her journey of becoming said badass, but to even be able to have the awareness and to ask the questions that she ask makes her one from the get-go. A phenomenal read across an inspiring life with stories. Expertly told, each story brings a new emotion--spanning from amusing to laugh-out-loud, heartwarming to profoundly sad. A significant time of the book discusses her time as an actor in the 80s and 90s. She contextualizes her experience in that time and the cultural climate, ultimately taking action and enacting seismic change in how women and girls are represented in media. Her championing of this idea is still so relevant today. For all that she has done, it provides a glimmer of hope for tomorrow despite however dim the current situation seems.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Geena is an inspiration. It was so enjoyable reading about her life, career, and pursuit of equality in media. I also simultaneously watched “This Changes Everything” and was in awe of all of the incredible women in film, especially Geena for her foundation and work.
I truly loved this book. Geena Davis is funny, lighthearted, and a strong female character in all of her roles, and in this one she hits on some heavy topics while sharing details of her life I had no idea about.
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
The title is so wildly accurate for the point of this book. Davis walks the reader through stories from her life that both chart the growth of her career as well as her personal growth and advocacy for equitable gender representation in media. Davis' experiences of sexual harassment and misogyny in the entertainment industry are simultaneously heart-breaking yet unsurprising. But seeing her evolution from a "polite" young woman to a game-changing voice as she breaks free from her gendered socialization to speak up and speak out for herself and others is affirming and inspiring. Davis' blunt discussion of gendered age discrimination after turning 40 and her positioning of Susan Sarandon as her self-advocacy role model were two highlights that I thoroughly enjoyed. This memoir expertly walks the line between instituting and upholding strong boundaries around the author's personal life while boldly calling out garbage men whose abhorrent past actions deserve public scrutiny.