Finding Me
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4.4 • 147 Ratings
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2023 GRAMMY Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album.
Finalist for the 2023 AUDIE AWARDS® for Audiobook of the Year and Narration by the Author
FINDING ME is the deeply personal, brutally honest account of Viola's inspiring life, from her coming-of-age in Rhode Island to her present-day career.
In my book, you will meet a little girl named Viola who ran from her past until she made a life changing decision to stop running forever.
This is my story, from a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond. 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.
As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. They are bogarted, reinvented to fit into a crazy, competitive, judgmental world. So I wrote this for anyone who is searching for a way to understand and overcome a complicated past, let go of shame, and find acceptance. 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.
Finding Me is a deep reflection on my past and a promise for my future. My hope is that my story will inspire you to light up your own life with creative expression and rediscover who you were before the world put a label on you.
(P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Early in her brave and honest memoir, actress Viola Davis recounts a therapy session in which she realized that instead of feeling sorry for her childhood self, she should respect her as a survivor. Davis reveals she grew up so poor that she dumpster dived in her small Rhode Island town for food and discarded clothes. Living with an abusive father at home, young Viola also survived racist incidents at school, including mistreatment from lighter-skinned Black classmates. In fact, colourism is an ongoing theme in Finding Me—even when Davis landed her breakthrough role in How to Get Away with Murder, she heard other Black actresses snipe that she was too dark and not pretty enough for the part. Yet throughout her story, the Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony winner exhibits the steely resolve and elegant grace that have made her a star. Her whisper-to-a-scream narration is a master class in building and releasing narrative tension, making her eventual happy ending feel that much more hard won and entirely deserved.
Customer Reviews
A vulnerable journey exploring self, love, connection and acceptance.
This book gives insight into not only finding Viola, but about finding self and connections to the world around us. To love oneself is true compassion, acceptance and power - thank you for sharing your journey in a vulnerable way that connects peoples souls to others, themselves, their truth and their voice.
Very negative
I’m really dissapointed. There’s no positives in this book. It’s all on the sad side of growing up. It brings you down. Such a shame as I like her as an actress.
An inspiring memoir
Emotional, raw and inspirational. Thank you for sharing your story Viola!!!