Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Scenes from My Life by Jon Sternfeld, Michael K. Williams

13 reviews

wakandrea's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book provides another real example of how our country fails it's most vulnerable citizens and persecutes them for having appropriate responses to the consequences of living in these failed systems.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Classism

zenzi2read's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.0

He didn’t talk about himself or enough, despite the fact that it was an autobiography his life didn’t feel deeply examined. The last half of the book was mostly about Justice work he never really dealt into the dramatic events that shaped him or into his creative process. It would’ve been nice if he spoke more about his work or even about his personal life or romantic life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Violence

Minor: Child abuse

conniejoy529's review against another edition

hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

I thought this was a great book.  We read it for my Beyond Black History month book club.  I knew Michael K. Williams' face but I didn't know much about him as a person.  This memoir really went into depth about his life experiences, all that he struggled with and had to overcome and how he tried to use his platform to bring about positive change for his community.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Drug abuse

fkshg8465's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

His life was too short. He had just started doing the most important work of his life. Cannot imagine not the depth of his reach has he lived. What a beautiful man he was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Racism

Minor: Abandonment

adiajamille's review against another edition

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

5.0

“Heavier than the blood in our veins, are the stories we inherit about ourselves”

This book is so hard to read/ listen to knowing that ultimately he lost to his demons. It’s heartbreaking that he wasn’t able to find the peace he deserved in life. But I think that ultimately that’s part of the gift he’ll always leave with us. This tragic story of an imperfect person who spent his life trying to find his voice and space, while simultaneously struggling. It’s a portrait of the ups and downs of healing, and how it’s not linear. And it serves as a reminder that you can never get too comfort in your healing, remembering there’s always more. And I think the gift for him is that now he has this beautiful legacy of complex and compelling characters that helped reshaped Black identity as seen on film. He’s left behind this legacy of lives he impacted directly. And with his life and memoir a reminder of how we can do more within our communities. And he’s given a multifaceted view of addiction, humanizing it in a way many Black folks are never afforded. His final, public, words being words of love and encouragement. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

dpearson5257's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Violence

destheesquire's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

buxomfloozy's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Absolutely one of the best memoirs I have ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Racism, and Violence

jules6469's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, and Grief

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

micklesreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

This was a beautiful memoir and so bittersweet knowing he died just before it was published. There is so much we didn't get to see from him, not just as the incredible actor he was, but in his work with youth of color who are over-policed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use