Nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Root
Chosen by Emma Straub as a Best New Celebrity Memoir
"A book of essays as raw and honest as anyone has ever produced." â?? Lena Dunham, Lenny Letter
In the spirit of Amy Poehler's Yes Please, Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman.
One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Unionâ??a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic '90s moviesâ??instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real."
In this moving collection of thought provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic, and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and supp… (más)
Amazing read. I learned so much about growing up as a Black girl, navigating life as a Black woman, raising Black boys and the bias and racism that she has faced as a Black actress. Incredibly moving and eye opening. ( )
This kind of feels like a first date. I have that same feeling you get five minutes before you meet the other person, when you're giddy about where things might go. But also wary,. because you've been on enough bad dates to know exactly how this can go awry. They order the salmon and pronounce the L and you're like, How the hell has my life come to this?
Before listening to this book, I always thought of Gabrielle Union as a 5 star actress. Talented, beautiful, smart, classsy and funny. After listening to this book, I GENEROUSLY gave it a 3 star. She is entitlted to her opinions and views on life and people but I found them over the top. For the life of me, I can't DNF a book, always hoping that it will get better and just maybe I didn't like that one chapter. It took me nearly 7 weeks to listen to a 7 hour book. I won't give anything away but personally, I wish I hadn't listened to her book. ( )
Before listening to this book, I always thought of Gabrielle Union as a 5 star actress. Talented, beautiful, smart, classsy and funny. After listening to this book, I GENEROUSLY gave it a 3 star. She is entitlted to her opinions and views on life and people but I found them over the top. For the life of me, I can't DNF a book, always hoping that it will get better and just maybe I didn't like that one chapter. It took me nearly 7 weeks to listen to a 7 hour book. I won't give anything away but personally, I wish I hadn't listened to her book. ( )
I dedicate this book to those who have been humiliated and wanted to hide away forever. To those who have been broken and superglue wasn’t enough to help. To those who have felt frozen in fear and shame. To those who have kept smiling as their throats were closing up. To those who thought they had all the answers but realized they were sorely ignorant. I see you. I gotchu. And to my parents, who I never understood until I became an adult who followed her heart . . . I’m sorry and I love you. I get it now.
Most black people grow accustomed to the fact that we have to excel just to be seen as existing, and this is a lesson passed down from generation to generation.
So I would simply become the invisible black girl again. I checked my language, the cadence of my walk, and the confidence of just being in my skin.
"Your world is only as small as you make it, Nickie," she said.
When you're in a place where you don't know what makes you happy, it's really easy to be an asshole. I put other people's pain on my Happy List.
"Do you know why no one asks men how they balance it all? It's because there is no expectation of that. Bringing home money is enough. We don't expect you to be anything more than a provider, men. But a working woman? Not only do you have to bring home the bacon and fry it up, you gotta be a size double-zero, too. You've got to volunteer at the school, you've got to be a sex kitten, a great friend, a community activist. There are all these expectations that we put on women that we don't put on men. In the same way, we never inquire about what's happening in a man's urethra. 'Low sperm count, huh? That why you don't have kids? Have you tried IVF?"
And so, you, my sweet, patient, understanding reader: Sookie made me promise to tell you not to act out of fear. I can only add that you can be scared to death, as I've been while sharing these stories with you, and do the thing you need to do anyway. Take care of yourself.
Nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Root
Chosen by Emma Straub as a Best New Celebrity Memoir
"A book of essays as raw and honest as anyone has ever produced." â?? Lena Dunham, Lenny Letter
In the spirit of Amy Poehler's Yes Please, Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman.
One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Unionâ??a forty-four-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic '90s moviesâ??instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real."
In this moving collection of thought provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards, and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic, and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and supp
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