Finding Me: An Oprah's Book Club Pick

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I can say so much about how our life events sorta overlap but this is her story so I will leave it there. Davis is also the founder and CEO of JuVee Productions, an artist-driven production company that develops and produces in- dependent film, theatre, television, and digital content. As I wrote Finding Me, my eyes were open to the truth of how our stories are often not given close examination. Though Viola may have faced more obstacles than some other actors, she admits her struggles were universal.

I feel connected to her and to all the women, of any color, of any biological nature, who fight every day for the birthright to be themselves.American society and the entertainment industry remain so fundamentally flawed, that Viola, with all the awareness of being one, continues to be an exemption to the long-established rules and customs which continue to impede black women from social mobility.

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. Every painful memory, every mentor, every friend and foe serves as a chisel, a leap pad that has shaped “ME!

The book is absolutely exceptional, Davis finds ways to make you cry and shows her readers the work and effort she has put into her success. Overall, this was a beautiful, heart-wrenching book and I'm so glad that Viola Davis felt comfortable enough to share her story: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

She is a true testament to perseverance while also acknowledging how detrimental it can be to refuse to let go, forgive, and heal from the past. 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. Throughout the memoir, she recounts specific scenes, conversations, and events so the book felt immersive rather than boring.The colorism she experienced in the acting world and how they tried to “mold and shape” her into the perfect “white” actor. I’m guessing every reader will continue thinking about this book long after finishing it - certain sections more than others (all for varied reasons)…. 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. I was fighting an ideology about what an actor was, and it was all born in the depth of white superiority.