From two-time Academy Award winner and screen icon Geena Davis, the surprising tale of her “journey to badassery”—from her epically polite childhood to roles that loaned her the strength to become a powerhouse in Hollywood.
At three years old, Geena Davis announced she was going to be in movies. Now, with a slew of iconic roles and awards under her belt, she has surpassed her childhood dream—but the path to finding yourself never did run smoothly. In this simultaneously hilarious and candid memoir, Davis regales us with tales of a career playing everything from an amnesiac assassin to the parent of a rodent, her eccentric childhood, her relationships, and helping lead the way to gender parity in Hollywood—all while learning to be a little more bada-s, one role at a time.
Dying of Politeness is a touching account of one woman’s journey to fight for herself, and ultimately fighting for women all around the globe.
Yall know by now that I love me some memoirs.
ESPECIALLY by Hollywood stars.
They are usually great fun to listen to…sometimes hilarious…sometimes warm and fuzzy…sometimes awful…but almost always hella entertaining.
I heard Geena Davis talking about this book on my girl Glennon’s podcast, “We Can Do Hard Things.”
Check out the episode right here:
This memoir was stories of her growing up, both as a child AND as an adult.
I heard a couple things about kiddo Geena that I could COMPLETELY relate to…she was kind of a hypochondriac as well as had a HUGE imagination, which is the perfect cocktail to create whopping ANXIETY.
OMG TOTES ME AS A WEE ONE. I was super fun to deal with in my young years 🤦♀️
She never felt like she quite fit in in her hometown—same—and knew from a young age that she wanted to be an actor—also SAME. (except I didn’t actually become one lol)
And THAT is where any sameness between me and Geena Davis ends, yall 🤣
There were random, interesting tidbits revealed that were great fun to hear about.
Two examples: she was an exchange student for a year in Sweden when she was in high school and she was a living mannequin once a week for the Anne Taylor window in NYC when she was young and starting out.
What was MOST interesting for me to listen to though was how she found her true, strong voice and her true, authentic “badass” self later in life.
It took her a little bit to be comfortable being assertive and follow her instincts…she actually credits Susan Sarandon for lighting that spark for her by learning by her example on the set of “Thelma & Louise.”
Susan does not take ANY SHIT, yall. DEFINITELY a QUEEN Badass by definition🙌
I wish I could have heard more about Geena’s work to advocate for more equal representation in the media. This was only touched on in the tail end of the book.
If yall don’t know what I’m talking about, go read up on what her collected data project has done in Hollywood….it’s freaking phenomenal.
Click below:
I appreciated and enjoyed hearing Geena Davis’ story…buttttttt admittedly it was not my most favorite memoir ever to listen to.
I put this book in the category of “pretty good.”
Not really sure why as I can’t put my finger on why I wouldn’t rate it “super good”.
She did use this weird, annoying Muppet type voice every time she narrated something her mother said so IDK WTF that was about…but that wasn’t enough for me to knock it down a rating or anything.
It just was what it was I guess!
All in all, pretty good little listen that helped my entire day of deep cleaning be a tad more bearable.