The Last Black Unicorn. Tiffany Haddish. 2017. 289 pages. [Source: Public library.]
It’s rare that a book has me actually laughing out loud nearly the entire time I read it. Most comedic books are funny, but not that funny. Tiffany Haddish easily kept me in stitches throughout The Last Black Unicorn, perhaps more so because it was an audiobook narrated by Haddish herself.
In her autobiography, Haddish covers it all — her unstable upbringing, abusive/manipulative relationships, and the stop-and-go evolution of her career. There are energizing highs, and heart wrenching lows. But what’s undeniable is Haddish’s ability to tell these stories with candor and humor. She states early on in the book that readers will either laugh or cry, and that she’d her best to have them do the second. Without question, she’s presented a book that strikes a fair balance of honesty without turning it into a sob story. In fact, I’d say that at times, the way she presents things is almost bordering on the ridiculous, yet she always brings it home.
What stands out to me about this book is how transparent Haddish is about her various experiences. She’s upfront and detailed about her missteps, even those that came as she ascended in her career. At a time when public personas are carefully crafted to make celebrities polished and marketable, Haddish has maintained her authenticity, as if who you get on screen is going to be the same person you get if you run into her on a 7-11 run at 10pm. Some of the stories she shares are endearing, some are questionable, and a few mortifying. Regardless, she presents them not for pity or to tout her resilience but as a way to allow people to connect with her on her own terms.
While this book is amazing on its own, I can’t say enough for the quality of the audiobook. I tend to think that autobiographies and memoirs are best read by their subject. However, I cannot imagine this audiobook in anyone’s voice but Haddish’s. She brings the stories to life in a way that nobody else can, and this is the version I would recommend most. Regardless of the format, The Last Black Unicorn is a win.
No Comments