Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Finding Me: A Memoir by Viola Davis

199 reviews

itscassie's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Viola’s storytelling ability coupled with the depths of vulnerability and healing she shares had me in awe throughout each chapter. I felt I saw a distant relative telling me their life lessons and speaking to the young girl, adolescent in me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Sexual violence, Classism, Death of parent, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Bullying, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual violence, Abortion, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Medical trauma

morgane3471's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

2.75

I wanted to love it but I I didn’t.  I really liked her in HTGAWM and was interested in learning more about her life. Sadly, it was poorly written in my opinion and It wasn’t really captivating. It felt very repetitive . I don’t understand why this book as got so many good reviews. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Abortion, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, and Child death

mathenam's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

This story is inspiring and heartbreaking and difficult to process. 

Memoirs seem to always have a narrative that skips around, but that’s the nature of telling a story about a real life. It still felt a little too disjointed in places.

Also the story about the man who killed the cat in front of them and chased her sister around town felt unbelievable to me

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Infertility, Incest, Animal death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Racism, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Abortion, Rape, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

savyelizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Death, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying and Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

ayandell5's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Such a powerful story.  One that is absolutely heartbreaking and painstakingly beautiful at the same time.  If you can listen to this audiobook, I highly recommend that option.  Viola is, as many know, a magical storyteller.  I shed a few tears throughout, and wept at the end of the last chapter.  I jotted down so many quotes from this book.  I didn’t expect to relate and yet there were moments I did, and she gave me new perspective in those moments.  I have been a fan of Viola’s for some time now, but this just gives me a new level of respect and love for her.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug abuse, Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, and Infertility

mel_lo77's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

My only scale down with this book is that at times it felt like the writing repeated itself. At times it felt like particular phrases were repeated because the thing mentioned got moved around when edited. Otherwise beautifully told. Super inspiring. Audio book narration of course is 10/5!!! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

anarobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Devastating. Powerful. Beautiful.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Racism, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Racial slurs, Rape, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Death of parent

alizasminilibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

When it comes to memoirs a big portion of the ones I have read are typically from white authors or men. Those are the ones that typically get praised and uplifted. I do not want to diminish the work of those authors because they cannot change who they are and they deserve to be supported however it is hard to find memoirs of black women that do not get torn down and regarded as them just whining or unlikeable.

Listening to Mrs.Viola Davis explain her life and how she became who she is while struggling to understand herself as an impoverished black woman struggling and in a place where young girls were preyed on and black people were seen as less, ripped out my soul and formulated a mixture of emotions I have no way else to describe than as pain.

As a black woman who was grown up in poverty and who constantly moved around my only reprieve was the black community. This is a wonderful read that I will be recommending to as many people as I can. Especially to black woman, Mrs.Davis breaks the generational barriers of acknowledging issues such as mental illness, and having a differing personality than that expected of a black woman. 

It is also just the funniest thing ever that Mrs.Davis visited The Gambia, which is where my father was born and raised and where my half-siblings all still live.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Alcoholism

nurly_whirly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility and Incest

gigireadswithkiki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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”.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Classism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Infertility, Excrement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cancer