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Cack-Handed: A Memoir

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I immediately wondered if her controlling and conservative mother (who wouldn’t even let her go to friends’ parties in the neighborhood or take swimming lessons at school) would have been so passive, if Gina wasn’t the successful international comedian she was. A collection of eccentric, addictive, and uproarious stories that combine family, race, gender, class, and country, Cack-Handed reveals how Gina’s unconventional upbringing became the foundation of her successful career as an international comedian. When she was writing about being a lift engineer it was still very interesting to read about her experiences with her colleagues and also her experiences with lifts. There were tons of other relatable experiences, like her mother’s undying quest for her becoming doctor, hateful parental figures, hair disasters and familial expectations.

It is the story of growing up as an outsider in a place that is your birth country but that is rejecting you.I felt that her memoir could've been a bit more rounded, and would've loved to hear about when she chose to publicly come out; so much more could be been written on this issue, especially with her mother and the community she was raised in. I do think the earlier chapters about her childhood/context of the Nigerian British experience would be considered more compelling to the majority of people than the later chapters which mostly detail her rise in the global comedy scene. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Gina has a really easy to read style to her writing and it made reading this book a pleasure, it's rare to find a book that you look forward to picking up at any chance you get but this was one of those books. It's part stand-up routine but also a sober commentary for up and comers on the structural racism and sexism of the world in general and in particular as developed here, in the entertainment world--esp. Throughout the book, Gina recounts her experiences as part of the "lost generation" of Nigerian children born abroad, her educational journey that took her to a career in engineering that then swerved into her flourishing comedy career, with hints about her coming out story along the way as well.

Not me thinking I spaced out in the later half , only to relisten to this again to find out I didn't space out and it was infact how the book ended. This book also ends with her about to make the move to the American comedy market, but since she's been active over here in the US for a bit - Netflix special, Bob Hearts Abishola, etc - now it felt strange to not have any reflections on that in a book coming out now in 2021; it seems like this book was ready for publication a couple years ago. But the violence, abuse, and cruelty that run throughout the first two thirds of the novel are far from amusing or entertaining.

The book spends a lot of time on that and I’m willing to bet because it had that much of an effect on her, more so than her sexuality which she stumbled upon a little later than some. I learnt so much about African culture in the UK in the 70s and 80s (the time when Gina was growing up). I won an uncorrected proof of this book as a Firstreads giveaway and would like to note to the publisher that in trawling through the daily list of giveaways, it was the title that first caught my attention. She talks about the gender discrimination of breaking into a traditional male-dominated career as an engineer and how that all heralded her leaving for the uncertainty of the entertainment industry.

From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark—a sign that she was her grandmother's chosen heir, and would fulfill Patience's dreams. We know that she left the UK to find success in the US and this is clearly written with her American fans in mind, as she often explains and/or translates British sayings or experiences for them. I understood Gina's frustrations completely as there are far too many British comedians who are just simply not funny, but are given platform after platform to showcase very average talent.Gina's mother pursued a private prosecution against him but the judge gave the man an absolute discharge. From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark - a sign that she was her grandmother's chosen heir, and would fulfil Patience's dreams. From what I’ve read, it does seem to be blurring now, especially as people of direct African heritage are outnumbering Caribbean heritage people in the UK now. This hilarious memoir tells the story of how from growing up as a child of Nigerian immigrants in working class London, running from skinheads, and her overprotective mum, Gina went on to become the first female engineer with the UK branch of Otis, the largest elevator company in the world, where she went through a baptism of fire from her racist and sexist co-workers.

By this point, the reader has come to understand Yashere’s journey, thanks to the the variously entertaining, troubling, stories from her life, both professionally and personally, that she tells so engagingly and with more heart that comes through in her often hard-edged stand-up. Gina's childhood and adolesence are described in vivid detail, and although my own experience of growing up was very different from Gina's, there were so many themes and cultural motifs I recognised! They come with a bunch of ill conceived ideas about a place like the US or in her case the UK and they don’t really give a rats ass about what is or isn’t cool. Much of this will be familiar to anyone who knows Gina Yashere's work, she describes a difficult upbringing partly due to her mother's experience of being Nigerian in the UK and partly due to her abusive step-father, (she protests that she never thought of this as abuse though, it was just how it was). She’s also very clear on the institutional racism handed out by employers, the police and the British entertainment industry, coming over as fair and fairly angry and giving a lot of extra value to the book.Yes, it was really interesting, a real extra bit of commentary and societal information in addition to the life story. It feels more like a collection of essays on the author’s background, her sister, her mother, school, her stepdad, vacations, and her rise in comedy. Perhaps they prefer that it’s not in adult film or crime, but fame has a way of pacifying even what are considered the most "shameful" acts or professions. It’s her well-evoked earliest years which pull you into her story, though, built loosely around a family legend that considers her the resurrection of her murdered Nigerian grandmother, Patience, destined to fulfil a prophecy that she would ‘speak perfect English, live unfettered by men or children, work a man’a job and travel the world as a free spirit’.

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