Renault Bright Creatures - Book Review

Every once in a while, I chance upon a book that forces me to slow the heck down. When I started out, this book really frustrated me with the slow development of its plot and the unhurried nature of its storytelling. My brain that is so attuned to scrolling through hours of mindless content on social media could not focus on little details about the sky, the water, the way someone spoke, the food and whatnot the author spent time detailing, drawing a slow and beautiful picture of. I wanted the subject-the premise-the climax with a small peppering of good moments. I gave up on it a quarter-way in because it made no sense to me to get to know each person so much, while the plot hasn't moved an inch. When I came back to it after 2 months now, I decided to have more patience and let it grow on me, and boy am I glad! This turned out to be such a feel good, warming read. The terrific narration by Marin Ireland & Michael Urie, and the way the characters touched me made me grateful for sticking it out! It's a lengthy book too, so it kept me occupied for days ❤️

Gaythri Madhavann

15 May 2025

Finding me: A Memoir by Viola Davis - Book Review

A completely baring, dismantling, raw, honest memoir. So honest it sometimes made my eyebrows furrow with worry, it made my insides quiver with unease and left a taste in my mouth. I heard the audiobook version, narrated by Viola herself and that made everything 100x more intense and real. Unlike fiction, there is no benefit of the doubt in memoirs and autobiographies- every cruelty in the book is real, every horrible thing mentioned was endured not imagined. It is impossible to dismiss or overlook the ruthlessness because it is somebody's life story, their history. Whether you like it or not, it exists and it muddles up your mirage. 

The book starts from the very beginning of her life, takes you through her very hard and heartbreaking childhood, her family dynamics, her education, her acting career, her marriage, all the way up to her success. Learning about young Vi was very dispiriting but it was so important to go neck deep with her into her past to truly understand the person behind the big name. For someone to come from such abject poverty and hopelessness to where she is today, is an unimaginable feat. I really didn't need any context to call her one of 'The Greats' before reading this book, but knowing her story makes my conviction that much stronger. 

There were many paragraphs where I just paused the book, opened the ebook version to read those lines again and again and to admire the depth of what she had said. It is always a learning- reading about the experiences of people, especially an oppressed people- and growing your sense of understanding about the world you live in, it fuels your empathy. That learning is never-ending and that is why it is so important to read. 

The last chapter alone has my whole heart. It is a fully grown, adult Viola talking about the most profound struggles of being a black woman, not fitting the conventional beauty standards, being a certain size and having a perceived unfeminine voice and physique, in Hollywood and theatre. If this is how Viola Davis, the star of stars feels I couldn't imagine how the others felt. Many of her thoughts and words about not fitting the beauty stereotype gave shape to emotions I didn't know I harbored. A thoroughly heartbreaking and inspiring read. Highly recommend the audiobook version, her voice is the voice that should be telling you this story.

Why we read

Words are sneaky little things. 

Written by someone,

read by someone else. 

The writer could have had a life completely different from ours,

Or exactly the same.

We could be years apart,

May not even live in the same century.

Maybe it's written in one language,

And I've read it in another.

None of that will matter.

Because words transcend time, distance, gender, sex, class, all sorts of divides.

When you read something and you resonate with it,

You're connected directly to the writer's soul,

their innermost essence,

from where the words came.

For those moments, you're one.

And you're understood, 

made less lonely by someone you've

probably never even met.

I guess music does this too, 

so do the arts.

This is why we need them.

They're a conduit between people.

It's a higher something we can tap into,

Searching for someone who felt like us,

So we can feel like we belong.

Even if no one else now gets it,

This author from 1875 does.

- Gaythri Madhavann

02 May 2025