Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Shonda Rhimes has an impressive career and a unique life by anyone's measure but seems to leave little actual skin in the game in this memoir. She writes a book that is largely about allowing herself to be vulnerable and trying to be true to herself, but deftly shares very little of her true self with the reader. We learn little about her professional ascension, little about her profound choice to become a single mother through adoption and gestational surrogacy, and even less about her decision to remain single. Rhimes certainly has every right to maintain privacy, but the final product feels somewhat hollow because she doesn't seem to share much of herself, despite the conversational, confessional girl-talk voice she adopts in an attempt to disguise how little she actually reveals. In summary, Rhimes is an innately awesome 'badass' who was born to a badass non-aging 'Benjamin Button' brilliant family who just needed to learn to woman-up and accept all of those pesky awards invites and accolades on her journey of personal growth (all speeches given during this time of immense personal growth and navel-gazing are reprinted for your edification, thank goodness.) She needed to realize how smoking hot she looked in that Carolina Herrera dress and just own it, you know? She needed to use her team of 'Ride or Die' friends (about whom we learn very little because this is all about Shonda, people) to help her rise from the ashes, ditch the weight, and live her new glamorous life with swagger and, as she says, 'badassery.' If you would like to revel in the shining light of Shonda Rhimes' general badassery for a couple of hours, then this book is for you! But if you're looking for an authentic voice and genuine candor you may leave this book feeling vaguely dissatisfied, like you just ate a kale salad when you really wanted the veal, as Shonda might say.