A review by maggiestraveledbookshelf
Finding Me by Viola Davis

inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

📖 Finding Me
✍🏻 Viola Davis

☑️ Memoir

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩.”

What a poignant and insightful memoir!

Overview:

•Celebrity Memoir

•Traumatic Childhood

•Honest Reflections

•Courageous Honesty

𝗩𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝘀, 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱-𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝘂𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝘂𝗽𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.

This was not a lighthearted read. As a child, and through adulthood, Viola has gone through horrific situations. So her reflections and her emotional stamina made this memoir quite impactful. 

She speaks at length about her parents and her siblings. The poverty, the domestic violence, the racism, the food insecurity… It puts things in perspective. I found her outlook on her parents (her dad specifically) so interesting. 

“𝙃𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚. 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙣.”

She also relays her personal insecurities and how she often questioned her own worth, and the most inspiring part of this book to me is how she grew into such a confident person.

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜.”

She honestly depicts her experience as a dark-skinned Black woman - both as an actress and as a person. As a white person, that perspective is always eye-opening and an important reminder.

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚-𝙩𝙬𝙤 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙡. 𝙈𝙞𝙭 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙗𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙢𝙣 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚.”

One of my favorite parts of this book was when she described her trip to Africa. The specific memories of the different people that she met and their dances and songs and conversations… It felt special to hear. 

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙-𝙪𝙥, 𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙡, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝘼𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙘𝙡𝙮𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙄𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚.”

The only thing I knew about her prior to this memoir is that she was an actress. Hearing her talk about her winding journey through the world of acting was simply inspiring.

“𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙖𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨.”

I wish I was an Audiobook person because I’ve heard incredible things about this audio version, and I can only imagine it would elevate this memoir to even greater heights. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone!

*available via Kindle Unlimited*

✨ Read via Libby ✨ 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, and Abortion