Handbook for an Unpredictable Life

March 31, 2014
Rosie Perez, actress, choreographer, and activist known for her roles in films such as Do the Right Thing and White Men Can't Jump, opens up about everything from her difficult upbringing in a home for girls run by nuns to the breaks and trials of fame and silver screen success. Perez's life takes an unexpected turn when, living in L.A. and taking college classes, she is plucked from a crowd of dancers at a club to appear on Soul Train. Soon enough, Spike Lee discovers her at a "butt contest" and she is cast in his breakout film. While die-hard Perez fans may appreciate peaks at the actress' early life, the book otherwise falls flat. Perez speaks from the heart when describing an abusive childhood, but the carefree prose doesn't do the darker material justice. There is very little entertainment tell-all here: we learn that her mother suddenly turned kind after Perez became successful, there was drama with the Fly Girls on In Living Color, and that Jennifer Lopez was, as much as Perez liked her, challenging to work with. Half difficult-childhood tale, half celebrity-memoir, both storylines end up lacking.

April 28, 2014
In this audio production of her tell-all, Perez is nothing if not expansive in her performance. She shouts, she cackles, she whispers, she gasps. This over-the-top reading is a pity, because the story Perez recounts is dramatic enough to engage listeners on its own. Abandoned by her mother as an infant, she spent the first three years of her life being raised by a loving aunt before her mentally ill biological mother returned, only to shunt Perez into a Catholic home for girls. This memoir recounts Perez’s triumph over a traumatic childhood and success as an actress and choreographer. While there are certainly some entertaining aspects of her performance, a less demonstrative narration would have allowed the powerful story to speak for itself. A Crown Archetype hardcover.