Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Just as I Am by Cicely Tyson

4 reviews

leonormsousa's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexism, Terminal illness, Classism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, and Racism

fkshg8465's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

5.0

Wow! So many things I never knew, like how she was married to Miles Davis. How did I not know that??? She is a very classy and dignified woman who has the greatest confidence in her abilities and deserves every bit of pride in them. Knowing how often I’ve been told that I think too highly of myself only because I’m BIPoC, I can only imagine how much more people must’ve tried to snuff her down. She used all her time to make the world a kinder, better, more evolved, and more enriched environment. She trusted herself better than she CEO, and got it right more often than not. She bares a lot of heart and soul all throughout. She is missed. She is an icon.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Domestic abuse and Pregnancy

amandalorianxo's review

emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

“Turning a blind eye to our history has not saved us from its consequences.” I personally am only familiar with Ms. Tyson thanks to How to Get Away With Murder since she portrayed Annalise Keating’s mother aka sharing the small screen with Viola Davis. Regardless, I was aware that her death had occurred late January of this year. I wanted to know more about this actress and I’m glad I did. Beautifully raw, vulnerable, honest and genuine. As painful as some of her early childhood might have been as well as reliving a lot of the pain she went through must have not been an easy task for her to compile. I do appreciate that she did respect her family’s privacy and altered some of the names. Her late start in the Hollywood world of acting didn’t stop her from shining all the way through. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Toxic relationship

zombiezami's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

4.0

Cicely Tyson is someone who my mother and grandmother both admired a lot. I didn't know much about her. My main connection to her was watching her on How to Get Away with Murder. I really enjoyed hearing about Tyson's career, outlook, and overall life in this book. I had no idea she was in a relationship with Miles Davis (because I also don't know much about his personal life), and I was really amazed and saddened that someone as talented and important as she was believed it was her job to fix his life. I also thought it was my job to fix a boyfriend's life when I was in high school. It's amazing how pervasive that messaging is for women. 

Although I liked the book a lot overall, there was a lot of respectability politics throughout, which I suppose isn't surprising for someone of Tyson's generation. For example, it struck me as very odd that she railed so hard against Blaxploitation films for their stereotypical depictions of Black folks, while at the same time being close friends with Tyler Perry and championing his work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Slavery, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Cancer, Genocide, Stalking, and Biphobia

Lynching, serophobia