Around the Way Girl: A Memoir

Oscar-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson's Around the Way Girl is a rarity among celebrity memoirs: it's a highly nuanced and deeply introspective story told with emotion and perspective. Raised by a divorced mother and loving but absentee father in "one of the most troubled areas of a city where poverty and hopelessness made neighbor prey on neighbor," Henson learned to become fearless. "Fear is a liar. I make a point of calling its bluff," she writes.

Henson was 17 when she met her "forever love," Mark. Six years later (while attending Howard University as an acting major), she gave birth to their son, Marcell. Henson and co-author Denene Millner (who wrote several books with Steve Harvey) write with aching tenderness and clarity about the relationship ("Youth, inexperience, environment, and the lack of relationship role models made my union with Mark a recipe for disaster") and raising a black son alone in a still-racist world ("The whole world loves a sweet little chubby brown boy. Until they don't").

When her acting career gains momentum (Hustle & Flow, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, TV's Empire), Henson grapples with consequences of choosing financial security for her family's future over her personal relationships. Unlike some actresses who work to gain fame, Henson truly loves acting and creating characters, and readers get fascinating details on how she finds those characters on and off the script's pages. Henson's memoir is an inspiring account of overcoming adversity and a quest for self-discovery, written with vitality and enthusiasm. --Kevin Howell, independent reviewer and marketing consultant

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