I first discovered Viola Davis on Brene Brown’s podcast “Unlocking us”. As soon as she started talking, I felt this immense opening within her and myself, too. She was just the most honest, forthcoming woman, and I could tell right away from the topics she discussed and the unapologetic way she spoke. I knew from that moment on I wanted to invest more time into getting to know Viola in the only way I knew how-to listen to more podcasts with her, and read her book. I discovered this book shortly after I discovered the podcast and was SO incredibly excited to read it. I knew the book would be nothing short of amazing, and it was.
The first half of the book or so is just Viola setting the scene if her childhood. Really pouring her damn heart and soul out to show you how she grew up. I felt like I was there witnessing it there with her. Her words are powerful, but not in the “her words make you think” type of way….powerful in the sense that it makes you feel like you are THERE with her. I experienced a lot of emotional pain while reading this. Little Viola went through so much simply because she is black and was poor. People treated her so horribly, she went through so much abuse, so much trauma, and it shook me. BUT I’m so thankful she shared these stories of hers. They’re so incredibly vulnerable, I can’t imagine the strength and bravery it took for her to write this.
The next section of the book is about all of her acting/theatre life taking off and her stories with that. It took quite a sharp turn from the trauma, to acting life-but such is life, right? There’s not always a linear path, but it was a bit tricky for me to adjust from the trauma to the acting bit. Not dogging on her, it’s still a great book, just my opinion that the transition was a bit tricky to dive into at first.
The last few chapters have a lot of wisdom and share her thoughts about systemic racism, what it means to be a black woman in a lead-acting feminine role, etc. Its a very good book-I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that’s raw with truth. Viola is a survivor. She’s someone I look up to immensely because of her bravery and vulnerability. Read the book!
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It was radical acceptance of my existence without apology and with ownership.Highlighted by 1,496 Kindle readers- It is a powerful memory because it was the first time my spirit and heart were broken.Highlighted by 1,222 Kindle readers
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Reviews with images
Loved this book you need to read it
This memoir is about the lovely and incredibly talented Viola Davis. This book was a treat to read, I remember when I saw that she was coming out with a book I went to Amazon to pre-order it. I love that the day it came out it was out for delivered to my house the same day. I could not wait to read it, so I also bought the Audible version of the book and listed to it while I was at work. I told myself that I had to be one of the first to get my review out. Here we are at the end of the month, and I am not one of the first to drop my review lol.I even joined Oprah’s book club because of this book it was a treat to join in weekly and hear how others were feeling about this book as well. On the last day of book club Oprah sat down with Viola and talked about the book. A few of the chips are on the Instagram page @Oprahsbookclub so make sure you check that interview out as well it was good. She also had a special on Netflix that came out on April 22nd,2022 check that out as well.This book is all about Viola and her up brining and tells us how she got to be the beautiful women we have grown to love. She talks about when she was younger her father uses to sleep around on her mother and how that affected them. She talks about how they had to deal with racism at an early age as well. She talks about her sisters and brother as well, how she got into acting. How she had to be the backbone to her family at one point in time.We all talk about the Ciara prayer, but we really need to be talking about the Viola Davis Prayer and how she landed her husband. Their love story is so good, she talks about it on the show Black love. You will learn about her acting career and shows and plays she was in. You learn all about how she snagged the role of Annalise Keating on the hit show “How to Get Away with Murder” and how she changed the last name of the charter.This book made me at times sad I felt bad for her upbringing how their living situation was not always the best. I love that through it all she never let it stop her but only let it help build up to the person that she is today. Her Relationship with her parents was not the best but as she got older, she was able to change that. She said in this book that when she was making a little bit of money, she would still be sending money home to help her family I thought to myself like she did not have to do that, but she did.I genuinely enjoyed this book I rated this book at 4 out five stars. I did not rate this book a five because even though I love Viola, and this was the kind of book I did not want to put down it was missing something. It was missing something that mad made feel like if I did not finish it that day, I would go crazy. Everything else about this book was good I do not have any take aways from it. I love that her books have photos and that the cover of the book is not so busy its simple black and white. Have you read this book? If so, is it a book that you would recommend to friends and family? What did you rate it?
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2022
The first half of the book or so is just Viola setting the scene if her childhood. Really pouring her damn heart and soul out to show you how she grew up. I felt like I was there witnessing it there with her. Her words are powerful, but not in the “her words make you think” type of way….powerful in the sense that it makes you feel like you are THERE with her. I experienced a lot of emotional pain while reading this. Little Viola went through so much simply because she is black and was poor. People treated her so horribly, she went through so much abuse, so much trauma, and it shook me. BUT I’m so thankful she shared these stories of hers. They’re so incredibly vulnerable, I can’t imagine the strength and bravery it took for her to write this.
The next section of the book is about all of her acting/theatre life taking off and her stories with that. It took quite a sharp turn from the trauma, to acting life-but such is life, right? There’s not always a linear path, but it was a bit tricky for me to adjust from the trauma to the acting bit. Not dogging on her, it’s still a great book, just my opinion that the transition was a bit tricky to dive into at first.
The last few chapters have a lot of wisdom and share her thoughts about systemic racism, what it means to be a black woman in a lead-acting feminine role, etc. Its a very good book-I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that’s raw with truth. Viola is a survivor. She’s someone I look up to immensely because of her bravery and vulnerability. Read the book!
Eye opening. Vulnerability at its finest. Survivor.
Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2022
I first discovered Viola Davis on Brene Brown’s podcast “Unlocking us”. As soon as she started talking, I felt this immense opening within her and myself, too. She was just the most honest, forthcoming woman, and I could tell right away from the topics she discussed and the unapologetic way she spoke. I knew from that moment on I wanted to invest more time into getting to know Viola in the only way I knew how-to listen to more podcasts with her, and read her book. I discovered this book shortly after I discovered the podcast and was SO incredibly excited to read it. I knew the book would be nothing short of amazing, and it was.Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2022
The first half of the book or so is just Viola setting the scene if her childhood. Really pouring her damn heart and soul out to show you how she grew up. I felt like I was there witnessing it there with her. Her words are powerful, but not in the “her words make you think” type of way….powerful in the sense that it makes you feel like you are THERE with her. I experienced a lot of emotional pain while reading this. Little Viola went through so much simply because she is black and was poor. People treated her so horribly, she went through so much abuse, so much trauma, and it shook me. BUT I’m so thankful she shared these stories of hers. They’re so incredibly vulnerable, I can’t imagine the strength and bravery it took for her to write this.
The next section of the book is about all of her acting/theatre life taking off and her stories with that. It took quite a sharp turn from the trauma, to acting life-but such is life, right? There’s not always a linear path, but it was a bit tricky for me to adjust from the trauma to the acting bit. Not dogging on her, it’s still a great book, just my opinion that the transition was a bit tricky to dive into at first.
The last few chapters have a lot of wisdom and share her thoughts about systemic racism, what it means to be a black woman in a lead-acting feminine role, etc. Its a very good book-I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that’s raw with truth. Viola is a survivor. She’s someone I look up to immensely because of her bravery and vulnerability. Read the book!
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2023
Top reviews from other countries
Adriana Barbosa Silva
Livro excelente! 🥰🥰📖
Reviewed in Brazil on March 30, 2023
Adriana Barbosa Silva
Reviewed in Brazil on March 30, 2023
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