We're Going to Need More Wine
We're Going To Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union was an easy book for me to read on a Sunday morning. I couldn't put it down and it has all the hype that it deserves!
I have a weird relationship with memoirs. I have actually written 3 memoirs in my life time already and self published one of them. I am tinkering with another one that I have a lot of sensitivity to the possibility of publishing. Memoirs are therapeutic to write are difficult to write well. One of the challenges I've faced in reading people's tidbits of memoirs in workshop settings is that when someone takes the time to write them it is because there is a lot of emotional energy around the subject matter but sometimes that same emotional energy is the thing that holds them back from being good. Everyone has a story to tell but it takes a tremendous amount of craft and discipline for it to be interesting to read. Then there is the ethical dilemma with memoirs. In my post on Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham I explore the issue of Dunham's hypocrisy about feminism. There are also numerous amounts of memoir writers who have fabricated information.
Union seems to be an exception to a lot of the kinds of things I am wary of. Union crafts her story well. She has a great voice in her writing where the stories are told in a chatty tone but she touches on stories that have impacted her deeply about growing up in a middle class African American family, about being raped, relationships gone bad, raising African American stepsons. She writes these experiences in an accessible matter that feels like meeting her somewhere for happy hour that does not shy away from controversial issues. And she has a way of presenting the issues in a way that is deeply personal yet she poses the questions to the rest of society on things on behalf of women and to the African American community. She mentions supporting organizations like Planned Parenthood, The Susan B Komen organization in addition to being an advocate for her stepsons in their schools.
Her writing from the perspective of being an African American woman is one of the things that kept my interest. Sometimes I find myself asking the question of why should I care when I attempt to read someone's life story. Being famous for one reason or another is just not enough for me to think that it is worthwhile to spend the time or money to read someone's memoir. And writing with a life story with an activist bent does not necessarily peak my interest either. I've read a lot of books that have the perspective of someone I want to understand better but they are not written well enough for me to want to keep on reading. But Gabrielle Union does not fall into any of these traps.
I seriously would put this book on the same level as Between the World and Me which was one of my favorite books I read last year. (See my blog entry) I am not remotely surprised she mentioned reading Te-Nehishi Coates in her own book. I would put her book on the same level as Coates book!
I have a weird relationship with memoirs. I have actually written 3 memoirs in my life time already and self published one of them. I am tinkering with another one that I have a lot of sensitivity to the possibility of publishing. Memoirs are therapeutic to write are difficult to write well. One of the challenges I've faced in reading people's tidbits of memoirs in workshop settings is that when someone takes the time to write them it is because there is a lot of emotional energy around the subject matter but sometimes that same emotional energy is the thing that holds them back from being good. Everyone has a story to tell but it takes a tremendous amount of craft and discipline for it to be interesting to read. Then there is the ethical dilemma with memoirs. In my post on Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham I explore the issue of Dunham's hypocrisy about feminism. There are also numerous amounts of memoir writers who have fabricated information.
Union seems to be an exception to a lot of the kinds of things I am wary of. Union crafts her story well. She has a great voice in her writing where the stories are told in a chatty tone but she touches on stories that have impacted her deeply about growing up in a middle class African American family, about being raped, relationships gone bad, raising African American stepsons. She writes these experiences in an accessible matter that feels like meeting her somewhere for happy hour that does not shy away from controversial issues. And she has a way of presenting the issues in a way that is deeply personal yet she poses the questions to the rest of society on things on behalf of women and to the African American community. She mentions supporting organizations like Planned Parenthood, The Susan B Komen organization in addition to being an advocate for her stepsons in their schools.
Her writing from the perspective of being an African American woman is one of the things that kept my interest. Sometimes I find myself asking the question of why should I care when I attempt to read someone's life story. Being famous for one reason or another is just not enough for me to think that it is worthwhile to spend the time or money to read someone's memoir. And writing with a life story with an activist bent does not necessarily peak my interest either. I've read a lot of books that have the perspective of someone I want to understand better but they are not written well enough for me to want to keep on reading. But Gabrielle Union does not fall into any of these traps.
I seriously would put this book on the same level as Between the World and Me which was one of my favorite books I read last year. (See my blog entry) I am not remotely surprised she mentioned reading Te-Nehishi Coates in her own book. I would put her book on the same level as Coates book!
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