A review by magicalrealem
You Got Anything Stronger?: Stories by Gabrielle Union

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

 
You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union was the FBC November pick. This is Union’s second collection of personal essays and it’s a strong collection of vulnerable stories. Union’s writing is frank, honest, and clear. Some essays are humorous and others are more serious, including the first two essays which were brutal, emotional, and powerful. Union revisits her infertility journey and decision to choose a surrogate after receiving a medical diagnosis that previous fertility doctors missed. She writes about the days after her violent rape, a part of herself she had long locked away, watching Team USA Basketball and Gail Devers in the 1992 Olympics and how they showed her she would one day be able to get back up again. She writes a letter to Isis, her Bring It On character, who she created, birthed in her words, and how she failed her; she writes about her step-daughter’s, Zaya, trans journey. She writes about racism, blackface, neo-Nazis, appropriation, systems of oppression, dance-offs, strippers, limoncello, her Matrix audition, and much more. 

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