Finding Me: An Oprah's Book Club Pick

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I have loved this actress for a long time based solely on her skills as an actress, but now I am doubly impressed. There are conversations related to misogyny, racism, and colorism; things that I knew existed in Hollywood, but were still heartbreaking to hear via Davis' experiences. I’m not one to enjoy love stories but this was a stand out part of the book that really impacted me.

But thinking about it from the perspective of the entire universe, distilling the novel to its aching soul, it could be the story of many other women, women who still need to make peace with their past, women who struggle to put an end to the abusive streak they're enduring. Nothing I experienced can even glimpse a moment in the Davis family life of poverty so extreme that it is almost unfathomable, of abuse, fear, guilt, and things I can't even put words to. I’ve never witness my father beat my mom within an inch of her life and I’ve never experienced racism on the level that Viola has for being too dark. The feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you have stage fright or humiliation, that was the shame of living in 128. I don't usually read non-fiction books, even less if they're biographies, but my amazing best friend and her flawless taste in books thought this was the perfect Christmas gift for me, and it truly was.I mean Viola had to deal with racist bullying from kids at school and when she was in grade school her teacher told her she would never be anything because she's Black. I love how she explained what Shonda Rhimes did for her in creating HTGAWM role for her and the healing that came from that. Davis's memoir 'Finding Me' illustrates that the hard-won accolades resulted from determination, hard work, talent, luck, and encouragement from the occasional mentor.

Finding Me is raw and honest, and it feels like you are sitting in a room with Viola, and she is telling you about her life. Like many people, I discovered Viola from her incredible work on How to Get Away With Murder and have been following her work ever since. This is the path I took to finding my purpose and my strength, but also to finding my voice in a world that didn't always see me. She is not trying to make you feel sorry for her; she is merely baring her soul and allowing you, as the reader, into her introspection of how she became the spectacular woman she is today. Davis begins at the beginning: born on a South Carolina plantation (truly), she shortly moved with her mother and alcoholic father to Central Falls, Rhode Island, where she grew up in dire poverty.If there is anything that I learned from each of these moments, it's that you can never tell what someone has been through by just looking at them.

She is the winner of an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards, and in 2021 she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. Surviving child sexual abuse/incest and coping with systemic racism to become an Oscar winning actress.Viola Davis, Inside Out: How she drew on a life of private hardship to become one of the greatest actors of her generation.

Can we all exude a bit more kindness and compassion and freaking assistance when someone is struggling?I'm now aware that the not-so-happy memories lie in wait; but the hope and the joy also lie in wait. She wants to connect and communicate to the reader what’s it’s like to come from poverty, to live in fear, to fight for your life.