Photo courtesy of www.gingerlie.com
Hey Lovelies,
I could not believe how I had not read this book sooner! We all know how remarkably talented American actress and producer, Viola Davis is but her memoir paints her in a completely different light.
Viola Davis is well known for her roles in critically acclaimed films from The Help to Fences to The Woman King.
Viola Davis just put the G in EGOT. She accepted the audio book, narration and storytelling recording award for Finding Me during the 65th Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony at Microsoft Theater on Sunday, in Los Angeles.
The honor follows her Emmy win for How to Get Away With Murder (2015), an Oscar for Fences (2017), and a Tony for both King Hedley II (2001) and Fences (2010).
She's only the third Black woman to claim EGOT status, and the 18th person to receive the honor overall.
Viola Davis wrote the memoir Finding Me to "honor the 6-year-old Viola — to honor her life, her joy, her trauma, her everything," Davis said in her acceptance speech. "And it has been such a journey. I just EGOT!"
We could not be more inspired by her vulnerability and resiliency which allowed her to triumph through adversity and discrimination to become the star we all adore.
Now let's dive into this book review!
Synopsis
In the memoir Finding Me Viola Davis introduces us to her younger self who ran from her past until she made a life-changing decision to stop running forever.
Her gorgeous story telling will leave you speechless. Listening to the trembles and joyful laughter of Davis's voice on Audible felt incredible, like she is in the room with you sitting you down for breaktaking life story.
She shares her encounters with living in abject poverty, running home from school to escape racism and discrimination, and witnessing her father's alcoholism and violence. She bares it all including sexual abuse, childhood trauma, her healing journey, finding love, hysterectomy, child adoption, family drama, and more.
Davis describes how she went from living in a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. Overtime she learned how to find her voice in a world that didn't always see her.
She teaches us as Black Women how to love the dark-skinned, natural hair, shy little girl inside of us. To see the beauty and spirit inside of her and embrace it, love it, and protect it.
This memoir serves as a deep reflection, a promise, and a love letter to her younger self. She inspires us to light up our own life with creative expression and rediscover who we were before the world put a label on us.
The inspirational
This book is for anyone running through life untethered, desperate and clawing their way through murky memories, trying to get to some form of self-love.
Davis wrote this for anyone who needs reminding that a life worth living can only be born from radical honesty and the courage to shed facades and be . . . you.
Oftentimes we may feel that it is necessary to hide who we truly are from friends, family, or in relationships due to fear of rejection. But self-love is the most radical form of expression.
Davis’s grit and determination are moving, and her unflinching reckoning with the “racism and misogyny” she faced in Hollywood makes her story of overcoming all the more powerful.
Even after acting coaches warned Davis that she might go weeks on end without getting a call back she didn't quit. She had fought so hard to survive that no other obstacle she faced could stand in her way.
After listening to this book it all came together and I understood why she was such a moving actress. Her willingness to bare it all in each roll that she plays is no different that her willingness to bare it all in this spectacular memoir.
Finding Me is a raw and brutal depiction of love yourself and blocking out the hate, the marginalization and discrimination. It is a captivating tale of self-discovery.
Davis teaches us how forgiveness is something we must do in order to move forward. She openly discusses how therapy helped her do this work.
Even with all her achievements, she still had to give herself permission to love that little girl she kept at arms-length for so long.
If we can't learn how to love the parts of ourselves that aren't so pretty than who will?
Davis reminds us that we must not bury the parts of ourselves others have told us to hate. Rather we must embrace ourselves wholeheartedly, even the parts that aren't so pretty, and stand in our truth.
Top Five Quotes
"It was a radical acceptance of my existence without apology and with ownership."
"Forgiveness is giving up all hope of the different past."
"Money, exacerbates a problem, because it takes away the ability for the individual to be held accountable."
"The purpose of life is to live it."
“I knew my life would be a fight, and I realized this: I had it in me."
Have you read Finding Me by Viola Davis?
What other books would you like me to review?
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