A review by maxgardner
Finding Me by Viola Davis

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

You absolutely have to listen to this book to get the full experience. You are immediately reminded that Viola Davis is a performer, but you also realize she's got a lot of passion about recounting her experiences and that she's thought a lot about what her story is and what it means. Sometimes autobiographies/memoirs fail to tie all the strings together, but Davis has clearly gone through her life and found these threads that she's woven into a really compelling, moving story. She's got a killer sense of humor and is able to move between that and gravitas easily as she takes us through an admittedly often grim childhood into her early adulthood trying to make it in the industry and finally into her time as a certified A-lister. With humility and gratitude, she tells us about the people in her life who have left an impact and contrasts the different versions of herself over the years, exploring how those contradictions created tension over time as well as opportunity to challenge herself and be reborn. One of my favorite books of the year!