Viola Davis, an actor who is brutally honest and truthfully brutal, looks back at her childhood as if she was a victim of a disaster. She remembers every horrible moment but is still dazed by it all.
Her mother was often beaten and bloodied by her alcoholic father. Viola and her five siblings lived together in a filthy, rat-filled home that was deprived of heat and plumbing. They attended school often in dirty clothes, and were often unwashed. Their only meal was lunch at school.
Viola was harassed by other children from Central Falls, Rhode Island. They shouted anti-Black epithets and chased her around after school. The school children watched as the fire engines arrived to save Viola’s home from a burning house. The humiliations were never ending. Later, sexual abuse was added to the list.
Davis is today a well-known actress. She has won an Oscar (“Fences”) and two Tonys (“King Hedley II”), as well as an Emmy (“How to Get Away with Murder”), and many other honors. Her 8-year-old self-image as an ugly, stupid, and unwelcome child fled her home. She was told that she was so. Davis’s perspective changed. She saw her child as a survivor, and she began to appreciate the adult she had become as someone who had found joy and love, and achieved success.
Davis was a courageous observer even though she didn’t realize it at the time. An introvert, Davis found a place in school theater. The troubled student was awarded a scholarship to college and a Juilliard place. The small-town theater-loving girl had to endure New York City’s auditions and rejections. Meryl Streep was the one she trusted when she was uncertain of herself. It took some courage. She stepped in when she finally found love.
Now Davis has written a blistering memoir. It is not a regretful remembrance told with the polished prose that suggests it wasn’t that bad. “Finding Me,” is raw and brutal in its anger, sometimes downright vulgar, but it’s incredibly alive with Davis’ passion pouring into every page.
