Cack-Handed: A Memoir

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If you've read my reviews you know there's nothing I love more than a comedian narrating their own audiobook.

I don't usually read memoirs but I was intrigued by the story of the daughter of Nigerians who immigrated to the UK. America's gain is definitely our loss, I am happy that she has found success and happiness there, I look forward to reading more about that in the sequel. For me, this was not a noteworthy memoir, but I did enjoy Gina's narration because her vocalizations are always hysterical.Empire and slavery casts a long shadow over the Yasheres (actually Iyasere is the real family name) and the comic skilfully raises some Home Truths about colonialism that has so defined history.

She explains that she thought that if she worked hard, played by the rules and proved her popularity, she would get her own show, get to make her own decisions about her programmes. It is the story of growing up as an outsider in a place that is your birth country but that is rejecting you.Gina would learn to speak perfect English, live unfettered by men or children, work a man’s job, and travel the world with a free spirit.

I only remember her on Mock the Week (and that only vaguely, especially if it was a while ago) but this sounds to be an enlightening memoir, especially the different perceptions of West Africans, Afro-Caribbeans and Afro-Americans of each tradition and culture. As well as her personal story, she interweaves information on race in the UK, giving a really good exposition of the reasons for the conflict between people of Caribbean and African origin: when she was a child in the 80s, Africans having been fed a diet of American culture thought that Caribbean and African American people were lazy and criminal, whereas British people of Caribbean origin didn’t realise they were originally African (there’s a big section on how the UK offshored its slave-owning to third countries); this division has started to clear with further generations, as other books I’ve read recently have clarified. It all comes to a head when her mother finally attends one of her comic shows and the host recognizes her outfitted in all her traditional garb so Mom stands up in the crowd and confirms that yes, she is the mother of the clown. I enjoyed learning about Nigerian culture through Gina's writing and it was also interesting to hear Gina's reflections about culture and cultural differences.Bullying and alienation at school, made worse in Gina's case by racism and even by rivalries between Carribean and African people owing to internalising the white narrative of lazy blacks.

From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark – a sign that she was her grandmother’s chosen heir, and would fulfil Patience’s dreams. When she started as a lift engineer with Otis the clearly peeved white engineer she was paired with huffed: ‘I was promised a mate instead I get some sort of fucking diversity experiment’. Not believing her life was difficult enough, she later left engineering to become a stand up comic, appearing on numerous television shows and becoming one of the top comedians in the UK, before giving it all up to move to the US, a dream she’d had since she was six years old, watching American kids on television, riding cool bicycles, and solving crimes.

Although a reference to her left-handedness, it also suggests a clumsy ineptitude – but what actually comes through, especially when it comes to her comedy years, is ambition; a determination - sometimes a pig-headed one - to succeed, especially when she was told ‘no’. I won an uncorrected proof of this book as a Firstreads giveaway and would like to note to the publisher that in trawling through the daily list of giveaways, it was the title that first caught my attention.