Synopsis: 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.” 

This is a fantastic memoir. I picked this up not knowing anything about Gabourey Sidibe other than how much I wanted to support her. I switched between ebook and audiobook. Audio is by far the best way to experience this delightful exploration of her personal journey. It was incredibly funny, raw, and too real. I didn't have any pre-conceived notions about the actress, but she still managed to surprise me with her wit and candor. She choose to jump between life stories as opposed to a straight timeline of her life. At first this confused me, as I kept thinking I must have missed some crucial part of her story. However, after finishing, I am convinced that the traditional timeline is probably a bad move for artists who are so young. Her story unfolds on an emotional narrative scale; childhood memories; periods of her life spent in fear or depression, periods spent striding towards jobs, periods of life spent dealing with depression again. The book is less about chronicling the important steps in her life and more about the things that created and defined her. I finished the book feeling like I know Gabourey Sidibe. What more can one ask of a memoir?

This is a great crossover adult book. I think mature teens would love it. Even younger teens would enjoy it, especially those living in NY or other major urban environments where they would have encountered similar language or situations.