We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True by Gabrielle Union
A Review By: SY
In the spirit of Amy Poehler's Yes Please, Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl, and Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist, a powerful collection of essays about gender, sexuality, race, beauty, Hollywood, and what it means to be a modern woman.
One month before the release of the highly anticipated film The Birth of a Nation, actress Gabrielle Union shook the world with a vulnerable and impassioned editorial in which she urged our society to have compassion for victims of sexual violence. In the wake of rape allegations made against director and actor Nate Parker, Union - a 44-year-old actress who launched her career with roles in iconic '90s movies - instantly became the insightful, outspoken actress that Hollywood has been desperately awaiting. With honesty and heartbreaking wisdom, she revealed her own trauma as a victim of sexual assault: "It is for you that I am speaking. This is real. We are real."
In this moving collection of thought-provoking essays infused with her unique wisdom and deep humor, Union uses that same fearlessness to tell astonishingly personal and true stories about power, color, gender, feminism, and fame. Union tackles a range of experiences, including bullying, beauty standards and competition between women in Hollywood, growing up in white California suburbia and then spending summers with her Black relatives in Nebraska, coping with crushes, puberty, and the divorce of her parents. Genuine and perceptive, Union bravely lays herself bare, uncovering a complex and courageous life of self-doubt and self-discovery with incredible poise and brutal honesty. Throughout, she compels us to be ethical and empathetic and reminds us of the importance of confidence, self-awareness, and the power of sharing truth, laughter, and support.
Review Notes:
Audio Book Publication Year: 2017
An installment in a Series? No
Narrator (s): Gabrielle Union
Ms. Union shares the refrain "bigger, badder, better" to give insight into what drove much of her childhood and adult life.
Ms. Union uses transparency and humor to tell of her duplicitous middle-class upbringing between Pleasanton, California and Omaha, Nebraska - and how it informed everything from her school experience, social circles, and choice of profession. The quirky personality that often peeps through in her film and TV roles comes through in an authentic way while she tells her own story. On some level, anyone that has watched Gabby Union's acting career over the years may have guessed that she's disciplined and performative, but her retelling of events that shaped her life reinforces why. The book features more of her childhood than some might expect - if listeners are expecting a bird’s eye view into her and D. Wade’s relationship, this won’t provide that level of information. She spent a fair amount to time examining her own choices and missteps, as well as those around her. The narration lands as honest and at several points, sobering - the acting chops were useful while reading her memoir, and the listen was enjoyable.
Reading Recommendation? Yes!
Rating: 4 (It’s lit!)
Content Warnings? Sexual abuse/violence
