Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Thicker than Water: A Memoir

I already loved Kerry Washington and listening to this book just made me love and appreciate her and her work so much more. Kerry was very vulnerable with her life experiences, exploring identity, belonging, complex family relationships, trauma, physical and mental health, and parenthood. Her own narration for the audiobook was icing on the cake.

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

“This is when the connection between art and social change became crystal clear to me. I started to understand the power of representation, the need for people to see themselves in the content they consume, but also the power of content to change how they think and feel and behave.”

I adored this memoir so much! Kerry Washington is a gift, and the way she laid bare the most vulnerable and intimate parts of her was staggering. She shares vignettes from her childhood, featuring her parents' marriage, her father's struggle with alcohol, her mother's journey with infertility, being sexually assaulted and gaslighted, how she internalized the lack of coping skills they displayed, and how she poured herself into creativity and acting instead. I was so delighted to learn about Kerry's involvement with the TADA! Youth Theater teen group, and she had to be trained in the social issues that the group often highlighted in their art.

As she takes us into her adulthood, Kerry shares her journey with disordered eating, the challenges she confronted when not hiding behind a character or job, and the inexplicable distance she felt between herself and her parents (which is hinted at in the prologue of the book, and revealed in the final chapters). The learned behavior of being the "good girl" and retreating into herself as to not stir up any trouble followed her into adulthood, and she eventually had to reckon with that. Acknowledging this loss of one's sense of self takes great bravery and self-compassion, and I deeply admire Kerry for revealing this part of her journey with us.

Kerry briefly covers the darker side of Hollywood and fame, with having to figure out how to best protect her children's privacy, as well as the constant rejection one faces as a Black female actress. What stood out to me most in these parts were the reminders that Scandal made history!!!! Kerry Washington was the first Black female lead in a network drama in almost 40 years!!! Black art and representation MATTERS!

As a Scandal superfan, it really did warm my heart to hear that the cast was as close-knit and as much of a found family as I'd imagined them to be. Hearing about their watch parties and live tweeting really dates that specific time in representing that Twitter-prime zeitgeist lol. Overall, I was enamored by Kerry's ability to holistically reflect on the connections and contrasts among her experiences. The way she described the contrast between her roles of Broomhilda in Django Unchained and Olivia Pope in Scandal was beautiful.

There is one part where she subtly calls out people who did not vote in the 2016 election and while I of course want as many people to vote as possible, I find that take to be frustrating because voting access is simply not equal among all Americans. To shame the Americans for whom voting is simply not accessible is not the narrative I want to push forward. I don't particularly think the way American politics is structured is a panacea for all of the issues Americans face (I think we should start over, it seems to be working *as intended* for white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism to thrive), so I'm not going to pass judgment on someone who doesn't have the same faith Kerry has in our voting process.

Other than this, I deeply felt for Kerry and her parents especially, and I am so grateful that she so graciously shared her story with us. "Blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood." I highly recommend this memoir!

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marinajonesreads's review against another edition

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It was just a bit too slow for me. I wanted to jump into the story sooner and I felt like it was taking too long to get to the real story—which was about how she felt upon finding out about her lineage.

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