Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Finding Me: A Memoir, by Viola Davis

39 reviews

coreyarch9's review

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

"Every January, we had our Martin Luther King celebration, a variety show [...] it was our rebellion. We were told it would ruin our instrument. Well, our soul was our instrument, too."

I love Annalise MF Keating, but I didn't know too much about Viola Davis. In Finding Me, Viola talks less about her career as an actress and more about the systemic poverty and racism and the coinciding internalized struggles that she had to overcome to be the woman we know today. And she doesn't hold anything back.

She talks a lot about what society deems beautiful, worthy, or correct. During her time at Juiliard, students were discouraged from hosting an MLK Day program or anything that might highlight their differences from their white counterparts. She talks about the typecast roles that she would be cast in or invited to audition for. She talks about what it was like to be called beautiful for the first time. She talks about therapy. 

In the end, she talks about finding herself, writing, "I am no longer ashamed of me."

I will never know firsthand what it's like to experience the abject poverty and racism that Viola grew up with. And that's why it's so important to read about. When she talked about being called beautiful for the first time, I started to wonder, when was the last time I told somebody they were pretty? When was the last time I told a woman of color that she was beautiful? When was the last time I supported a black-owned café instead of just picking up a latte at my local Tim Hortons? When did I last show kindness to a stranger?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Cancer, Child abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Rape, Abortion, and Sexism

Minor: Slavery, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Kidnapping

mattylovesbooks's review

dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.5

“Memories are immortal. They’re deathless and precise. They have the power of giving you joy and perspective in hard times. Or, they can strangle you. Define you in a way that’s based more in other people’s fucked-up perceptions than truth.”

Amazing story. It was sad, heartbreaking, and hard to read at times. Everything her mother, her family, she herself went through, it was unfathomable. How can a human survive that level or poverty and abuse? Somehow, Viola and her family did. It was inspiring. To see where she came from shows her resilience, hard work, and dedication. It really makes you take a step back and reevaluate. She's so strong, and I have an abundance of respect and adoration for her. She didn't give up, and look where she is now. She is an amazing woman, a phenomenal actor. Finding Me was eye-opening, and definitely made me want to read more memoirs/autobiographies. There were so many good quotes, but the one above is my favorite.

Would've been a five star if not for the editing. I think this could've been structured better. Some things felt out of place and not cohesive. But all in all, a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Blood

Moderate: Drug abuse, Cancer, Terminal illness, Abortion, Pedophilia, Rape, and Infertility

lucyduller's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

If you’re fed up of discussions about the royal family and the books coming out recently, please please pick up this one. It is simply fantastic. 

*Please check trigger warnings before reading this book*

This is hands down the best audiobook I’ve listened to. I can imagine it was a fantastic book to read, but having it performed to you by an Emmy, Tony and Oscar winning actress, was an unmatchable experience. Viola Davis has such a fantastic voice, and the way she told her story was so moving. 

In this book she recounts her life, from growing up in poverty, battling food insecurity and in a household filled with domestic violence of her mother from her father and the sexual abuse she received from her brother. She describes the reality of sexual abuse that she faced as a child, and as an adult and how she was able to overcome some of the behaviours she had accepted. 

I was entranced for the whole 9 hours. I usually listen to audiobooks at 1.2x speed, as a lot of the readers are quite slow. But this book I listened to at normal speed and I savoured every minute of it. 

Viola Davis recounts her experiences becoming an actress and how her upbringing informed how she went about achieving her dreams, going to Julliard and becoming an award-winning actress. She details the battles she faced in finding roles that were deemed suitable for a dark-skinned black woman, often those being best friend characters or addict mothers. 

 

Most poignant was her discussions about her relationship with herself, the way from the age of 8 years old she thought she was worth nothing. She resented being black and this she carried with her into her adulthood. But after years of therapy and life experience, she learnt how to embrace herself, at 8 years old and at 57. 

It was incredibly moving and one of the best books I’ve read, instant 5 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Racism, Racial slurs, Abortion, and Misogyny

Minor: Addiction, Sexual assault, Infertility, Alcoholism, Rape, Slavery, and Blood

kiomarys2000's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Rape, Cursing, Misogyny, Drug use, Grief, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Abortion, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Racism, Violence, and Alcoholism

lindseygilger's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Abortion, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Emotional abuse

rebekah_florence's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

What a treat to hear her own story in her own words in her own time.  I love Viola Davis. Her work meant so much to me from the moment I saw her in The Help at 12 years old.  Immediately after returning home, I furiously searched everything I could about her, her acting career, and how I could EXACTLY what she did- represent dark-skinned Black women on screen. Viola tells stories in such a captivating way that, even in time jumps, they flow seamlessly.  I don’t know if I believe in rating a memoir below 5 stars. I don’t know if I believe in rating a memoir at all, however, if someone has the courage to share their story, amen to that. Viola exposes some of the deepest parts of herself- trauma, abuse, bullying, self-doubt and ultimately forgiveness.  So many parts of the book had me in tears because I could relate to them.  I see how the stories she decided to share connect to her work.  This was raw and inspiring and beautifully done.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Cancer, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Medical content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Rape

Minor: Drug abuse

malorykiyomi's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Viola Davis is a master at the craft of storytelling, evidenced not just in her brilliant talent honed to a razor's edge through dedication in her career as an actress, but in the way this memoir enraptured me from start to finish. This story is one steeped in life's trauma, but more importantly, reflects the break-back work of taking the adversity and shit thrown your way, and persevering. A brutally honest read of how even for all the agonizingly hard work Viola put into her talent as an actress, the reality is that luck was a deciding factor in her career.

I was moved by her resilience in the face of abuse to forgive, her faith when she felt abandoned, her candid approach to therapy, and so so much more. I'm better for having read this book, and I scarcely feel this way about books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Cursing

Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, Classism, Misogyny, Infertility, Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Incest

reading_ladies_blog's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Child abuse, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

mecmccann's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

This book was everything I needed and more. When she said “The purpose of life is to live it” agghhhhhh I needed that 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Rape, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Infertility, Sexism, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, and Mental illness

mariasilva's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Hate crime, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Racism, Sexual violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Drug abuse, Rape, Excrement, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Terminal illness, Child death, Death, Incest, Infertility, and Medical trauma