AUDIO BOOK REVIEW: We’re Going to Need More Wine by Gabrielle Union (Author and Narrator) ★★★★☆

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 forty-four-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. 

Overall Rated: 4/5 

Narration Rated: 5/5 

Story Rated: 3/5 

“Here’s to us being afraid and doing it anyway.”

Gabrielle Union is very unapologetic. I want to stress that I appreciated her frankness with the issues, like race and rape she faced growing up in Omaha Nebraska and in Hollywood. I appreciated her honesty about fears of success, her failure, love and support. She made them somewhat relatable and with some shocking moments and a few laugh out moments, she proves that she’s just like us, overcoming many emotional hurdles life throws at you from letting go of a toxic marriage to moving and forgiving yourself. 

“An empress does not concern herself with the antics of fools.” 

That said, my journey of ‘Getting to Know Gabrielle Union’ through this audio book was indeed very mixed. I’ve only watched her in two movies and her guest slot on Friends, so I can’t really judge her too harshly because in all three roles she’s played the mean black girl. Because of her profession as an actress, Union did an excellent job at narrating her own story and I think this would have lost MANY stars if I had just read it. With an even pace, and subtle tones, she was thoroughly engaging brought this book to life. 

“You’re gonna have to be bigger, badder, better, just to be considered equal. You’re gonna have to do twice as much work and you’re not going to get any credit.” 

Now, this is where I turn mean. On one hand I give her credit for speaking out against the injustice of rape victims, classism, beauty standards, homophobia and Hollywood’s dire attitude of black actors. On the other hand, Union’s personality came across as that valley-super-mean girl (like sure we can hang out but I know she’ll definitely write about me in her burn book). raised in a middle-class family in a suburban white neighbourhood, Union has come a long way to gain her success as an actress, with fame and fortune, but she came across as somewhat indulgent and unpleasant with no apology attached. For example, she disses one friend to get into an exclusive Prince party, she was somewhat clueless about one of her high school buddies being a homosexual, and she selfishly focused on other things rather than comforting a dying friend. This book was overshadowed with other dominate high school memories, like stealing boyfriends, cheating on boyfriends, stalking ex-boyfriends etc. 

“What positive happened in your life because you tore this woman down?” she asked. “And, by the way, you showed exactly how much power she has over you because you spent an hour talking about her to a roomful of people.” 

And speaking of sexual encounters, I’m really not a fan of celebrities or indeed anyone talking about their first period and sex life. Maybe a certain reader might feign interest, but I didn’t care and hearing her say ‘black pussy’ for the tenth time was cringy as hell. Thank God I had my headphones on in public. Look, I’m not going to faint when a narrator swears, we all swear for x and y reasons, but the overuse of profanity and crude words will alienate a certain reader. After listening to this, all I could remember from Union’s memoir was all about her sexual experimentation with as many partners, with little respect for her own privacy. Chapters about becoming a step-mum, black hair and meeting other sexual assault victims, became dust in the wind, which is indeed a shame. 

People don't know what to do with you if you are not trying to assimilate. 

For those who want a quick, easy, engaging read/narrator that feels like a chat with a friend, then WGTNMW is the ideal book for you, if you don’t mind a self-indulging woman galivanting about her sexual accounts. I enjoyed Union narration as a whole, with certain chapters sticking with me. I only appreciated half of this which is a shame. 

Written and Narrated By: Gabrielle Union 

Publisher: HarperAudio 

Date: October 17th 2017 

Duration: 7 hours, 48 minutes 

Genres: Non-fiction/ Autobiography, 

Started from January 9th 2020 to January 25th 2020