This isn't memoir but more a series of essays about her life and experiences. Gabrielle Union is the actress you see in movies and offering interviews, but this book is more Nickie Union. That was her name in school. Nickie is funnier, a little meaner, more honest and hilarious. I often found myself laughing aloud in public. She is honest about her first marriage, her jealousy about her career and other actresses, and her childhood as one of the few black girls in her suburb to summers in her parents' hometown Omaha, Nebraska and its closeknit black community. Union's writing style is pretty engaging because it is so conversational. She has some wonderful insights on race, colorism, and the unrealistic expectations people have of women and female actors.

It's a very funny book.


This review is based on an ARC won in a Goodreads drawing.