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    This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare
    Unavailable
    This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare
    Unavailable
    This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare
    Ebook249 pages5 hours

    This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare

    By Gabourey Sidibe

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    The Oscar-nominated Precious star and Empire actress delivers a much-awaited memoir—wise, complex, smart, funny—that is different from anything we’ve read.

    One of Glamour's “Best Books to Read in 2017” * One of Entertainment Weekly's “Most Anticipated Books for 2017” and “Best Books to Read in May” * One of People Magazine’s “22 Super-Revealing Celeb Memoirs to Read Right Now” * One of Hollywood Reporter's “27 Books to Watch For in 2017” * One of Elite Daily's “5 Celebs About to Light up the Red Carpet and Release Books in 2017” * One of Bustle's “20 Best Non-Fiction Books Coming in May 2017” * One of HelloGiggles’ “7 Celebrity Memoirs We Can't Wait to Read This Year” * One of Nylon’s “50 Books We Can’t Wait To Read In 2017” * One of Bustle’s “9 Books By Celebrity Women Being Released in 2017 To Add To Your TBR” * One of Cosmopolitan’s “10 Books You Need to Read in 2017”      

    Gabourey Sidibe—“Gabby” to her legion of fans—skyrocketed to international fame in 2009 when she played the leading role in Lee Daniels’s acclaimed movie Precious. In This is Just My Face, she shares a one-of-a-kind life story in a voice as fresh and challenging as many of the unique characters she’s played onscreen. With full-throttle honesty, Sidibe paints her Bed-Stuy/Harlem family life with a polygamous father and a gifted mother who supports her two children by singing in the subway. Sidibe tells the engrossing, inspiring story of her first job as a phone sex “talker.” And she shares her unconventional (of course!) rise to fame as a movie star, alongside “a superstar cast of rich people who lived in mansions and had their own private islands and amazing careers while I lived in my mom's apartment.” 

    Sidibe’s memoir hits hard with self-knowing dispatches on friendship, depression, celebrity, haters, fashion, race, and weight (“If I could just get the world to see me the way I see myself,” she writes, “would my body still be a thing you walked away thinking about?”). Irreverent, hilarious, and untraditional, This Is Just My Face takes its place and fills a void on the shelf of writers from Mindy Kaling to David Sedaris to Lena Dunham.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateMay 2, 2017
    ISBN9781443449397
    Unavailable
    This Is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare
    Author

    Gabourey Sidibe

    Gabourey Sidibe’s Oscar-nominated turn in Precious (for which she was also nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Broadcast Film Critics, and British Academy of Film and Television Arts award and won both The Independent Spirit and the NAACP Image award) brought her into the spotlight. Since then, Gabourey has appeared on SNL (which she hosted in 2010), Conan, Chelsea Lately, Jimmy Kimmel, and Jimmy Fallon; she has been featured in the New York Times, New York magazine, Harpers Bazaar, People, and Elle. She can currently be seen as Becky on Fox's smash hit sensation Empire. She previously starred as Queenie in FX’s wildly popular American Horror Story: Coven and appeared in all four seasons of the Golden Globe nominated Showtime series The Big C. She splits her time between Los Angeles and Chicago.  

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    Reviews for This Is Just My Face

    4/5

    63 ratings4 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      One of the few "celebrities" I'd ever want to hang out with in real life. Gabourey's story is told with refreshing honesty, transparency, and (of course) humor. Everyone who ever had a big dream but didn't really know what their dream was until they'd already made the leap should read this book. I got goosebumps when she talked about being on Oprah's show. With her being so young still, I read this more as a "journey to being famous" than a full-fledged "memoir." Hopefully she'll write another book when she's older, like in her 40s or 50s. I'd love to read all the stories she'll have by that age.5 stars"How many psychics does it take to convince a sad little girl that she can be much more than the world is telling her she is? None. She's got to be able to convince herself to show up for her own life. I still don't see any real value in fame...But fame isn't what gets me out of bed in the morning. It's purpose. I've found my purpose and this is it. I love what I do. I'm grateful to be a two-time college dropout who finally believes in psychics. I'm not recommending it, but I'm not not recommending it."
    • 4/5
      Best for: People who like a good memoir.

      In a nutshell: Actress / director Gabourey Sidibe share stories from her life, from youth through Precious and beyond.

      Line that sticks with me: “I’m struggling to find the healthy balance between food, feelings, and actual hunger while people on social-media sites continue to make fun of me. Meh. Fuck ’em. I’m prettier than they are anyway.”

      Why I chose it: I know very little about Ms. Sidibe, and also I love a good memoir.

      Review: If you know who Ms. Sidibe is, it’s probably because you saw her in Precious, or you watch her in Empire or American Horror Story. She’s fantastic on Twitter, and seems to have a confidence about her that I dream of having. Her book gives us insight into her life, and how she got to where she is now.

      A few things stood out to me. One is a bit of a parallel between her life and Anna Kendrik’s in that they both were in movies that were clearly going to be wildly successful and people thought of them as rich and famous when in reality they were still quite broke. Another is how Ms. Sidibe is able to explain, without sounding like an ass, some of the troubles she faces now that she has a successful acting career.

      The sections I found to be most interesting, however, were the ones where she talked about her relationships with her family and her attempts to figure out what she wanted to do with her life. The story of her parents’ relationship with each other, her living situation, her attempts to figure out how she could be her healthiest, all let the reader in to knowing this person better. I’ve read some memoirs that seem to linger about an inch below the surface; Ms. Sidibe makes the reader think we’ve gone to the Marianas Trench with her. It’s possible she’s holding back; either way that’s some masterful storytelling.

      The book ends a bit abruptly, but near the end, as she talks about why she chose the write the book, I was reminded of how the exercise of autobiographical writing — whether for millions or just yourself — can be illuminating and cathartic. I know some view ‘celebrity’ memoirs as cash grabs or narcissism, and I’m sure some are, but ones like this feel organic and honest, which is what I’m looking for.
    • 4/5
      This Is Just My Face:Try Not To Stare by Gabourey Sidibe 2017 Houghton 4.0/5.0 I loved the warmth and honesty of Gabourey´s memoir. Before reading this, I knew little about ¨Gabby¨, other than I loved her in ´Precious´ and on ´Empire´. I came away feeling like I made a new friend. Her unique whimsy and inspiring introspection is refreshing and fierce. Growing up with a father who practiced polygamy, and a mother who sang in the subways, her gifts of perseverance and life gave her the desire and ability to rise above.I´m so glad she did and that she decided to share her stories with us. I hope this memoir is the first of many. Her energy and outlook are refreshing.
    • 4/5
      The audiobook is excellent!