luckyone's review
3.75
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Child death, Classism, Violence, Toxic relationship, Racism, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Addiction, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Domestic abuse, and Death
Minor: Racial slurs
mariasilva's review against another edition
5.0
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
alyssatut's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, and Racism
kcelena's review
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Medical content, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Violence
aloy's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Pedophilia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child abuse, Cancer, Addiction, Sexual violence, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Infidelity, Blood, Alcoholism, Racism, Physical abuse, Infertility, and Domestic abuse
mjscooke's review against another edition
4.5
Minor: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Racism, Rape, Addiction, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Death of parent, and Infertility
entropydoc's review
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Medical trauma, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Classism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Animal death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Bullying, and Fatphobia
rheagoveas's review
4.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, Sexual violence, and Medical trauma
hesticht's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Racial slurs, Abortion, and Racism
Minor: Child death, Drug use, Terminal illness, Classism, Death of parent, and Drug abuse
blueeyedshook's review
3.75
I knew quite a bit about Davis from interviews and articles but of course this was a whole deeper level. And it was HARD. Such pain and darkness that she has lived through that the beginning was hard to get through simply because of her difficulty and the gravity with which she wrote it. But out of pain, has come beauty. I think the pain was focused on quite a bit more than the beauty though. Although, my hope is that this leaves room for her to write another book in the future.
The book leads right up to her winning the Oscar for Fences, but really passes over the successful years around that with a light hand. We do get a glimpse of meeting her husband and how he is (their relationship seems precious). And introduced very lightly to when she adopts her daughter.
I appreciated that she focused on her experiences. (it definitely wasn’t a Hollywood tell all or even tell some about any of the people in her movies or shows with her. Barely a tidbit about how Denzel Washington challenged her when he directed.) This was a book about Viola. And of course it focused on how poor she was, her love for her family (even in their own pain), and the experiences she faced in school, work and life with the color of her skin. Not only being black but being dark skinned black. Being a white woman, I have never experienced anything like she has, and I find it utterly ludicrous that she was considered not only different but ugly because her skin is so dark (even among other people of color). Makes my heart hurt. So much of this book just broke my heart for her and for all the little girls out there who have experiences prejudices and atrocities.
What a glorious thing that she can attest that all of that difficulty she faced and the trouble she had finding self-love was faced and began healing in her roll on How to Get Away With Murder. Watching that show made me feel like she was really coming through in the character, and she confirmed that to be true. Such breakthrough, not only for her but for all woman who look like her as well.
My favorite part, though, was the way she talked about her parents. How even through the pain, she loved her father and how he grew and healed as well. And the way she talked about her sisters, ugh. Heart wide open.
(My less than favorite part was how her favorite word must be the f word with mf taking a close second. But I digress.)
A beautiful, heart wrenching, aching memoir that I hope is not her last.
Graphic: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Abortion, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship