Listening to Viola Davis
I listened to my first audiobook, Finding Me: A Memoir, by Viola Davis. It made me appreciate audiobooks, but more importantly Davis’s beautiful book changed me for the better.
What I read (listened to): Finding Me: A Memoir (paid link) by Viola Davis (author and narrator). Published April 26, 2022.
In my last post, “On Reading,” I mentioned that I had never listened to an audiobook.
As for audiobooks, I must admit I’ve never listened to one. I’m not sure why. One of my closest friends mostly “reads” this way and seems to do so with the same joy I get from reading with my eyes. I’ve downloaded the audiobook for one of my friend’s favorite biographies and I’m going to give that a try.
The audiobook to which I was referring was Viola Davis’s Finding Me. My friend regularly references this book and how good it is. He’s correct. It’s superb.
Last week I spoke at a conference in Dallas, Texas. I had four flights booked, two each way, with long airport layovers. So, I figured that would be a suitable time to give an audiobook a try. During my first flight I boarded the plane and began listening to the 9+ hours of narration by author Viola Davis.
I’ve not read many biographies. Some. But it’s not a genre of book that’s drawn me consistently. Perhaps that might change after listening to Davis’s book, but her book sets a high bar of excellence.
A man sitting next to me during one of my flights was reading Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music (paid link) and he raved about it. Maybe that will be the next biography I read.
After listening to the first few chapters, I immediately texted my friend who recommended the book telling him how remarkable it is and that it was already one of the best books I’ve run across in quite some time.
Much has been written about the power of story. As someone who has read a lot of nonfiction throughout my life, I’ve taken notice of the many articles extolling the benefits of reading fiction. In “Storytelling is not just entertainment. It's a fundamental part of being human,” Christine Hennebury offers this as one of the reasons stories have such an impact on us.
Because stories create an emotional connection, we can gain a deeper understanding of other people's experiences.
That not only helps us to understand their lives but allows us to take the lessons they have learned and apply it to our own.
In “How Reading Fiction Can Shape Our Real Lives,” Francesca Lo Basso points to scientific evidence that reading fiction can bestow upon us.
Indeed, an ever-growing body of research shows fiction has the proven capacity to make readers more open-minded, empathetic, and compassionate…
Biographies reside in that realm that relates true happenings in the form of story. It’s not a fictional narrative, but a true one. Through the telling of a true story, either through the eyes of the subject in autobiography or through the perspective of a biographer writing about someone else, we can engage with a more open, empathetic, and compassionate mind.
Listening to Davis recount the unfolding of her life created a profound sense of awe and respect for her.
She tells of her early life of poverty and the ongoing financial struggles to simply house and feed herself before her talent and hard work aligned with the luck that allowed her to make a living as an actor.
Her early life witnessing spousal abuse of her mother was heart wrenching and gave me a visceral understanding of how horrific that can be.
Throughout she explains in detail the difficulty and reality of creating an actor’s life that generates enough income to be self-sustaining. As a former actor myself, I was already aware of how the odds are stacked against any actor to make a decent living, but the telling of Davis’s life hammered home that reality while the media too often makes significant success look like it’s run-of-the-mill for all working actors.
But there was a common thread throughout the book from Davis’s early childhood until contemporary times – the fact that she is Black and how that fact stacked the deck against her as it does for anyone of color. Even as successful as Davis became, she would repeatedly encounter an entertainment industry defaulting to hiring stereotypically beautiful white actors. Davis’s story reveals the still racist underbelly of our country.
Racism and the challenges Black people faced in Davis’s early years and still face today is the throughline permeating the book. By listening to Davis’s story, it feels like I have a slightly better understanding of what Black people in our country go through. I’m not naïve enough to believe I understand that reality enough. At multiples times while listening to Davis tell of an occurrence in her life it struck me how much my white male privilege has benefitted me.
So many white people, especially white men, seem to resist the notion that their whiteness might have given them a leg up in life. It’s human nature to want to believe we arrive at where we are in life through hard work and dedication, but if we get honest, many of us benefit considerably from navigating through life as white.
Davis repeatedly mentions that despite her hard work and talent, luck always played a role in determining her future. If they’re honest, those who succeed in life should acknowledge how much luck has played a part in their success. But it’s a lot easier to take advantage of luck when it crosses your path if you’re white. It just is. No matter what someone might say.
I’m a changed person having listened to Davis’s gorgeous book. If you prefer to read it, I’m sure it has a similar impact in text form. But the narration by Davis is so alive with emotion and her storytelling skills so great that I’d recommend listening to it if you can.
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