Cack-Handed: A Memoir

Product Information

The British comedian of Nigerian heritage and co-executive producer and writer of the CBS hit series Bob Hearts Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir. The author shares how she navigated her relationship with her mother and how her mother's moods and parenting affected her life. We also learn that she turned to comedy as a way to mitigate some of the racialized violence she experienced and how writing this book helped her understand her mother and her history in a brand-new way. It's always great learning about somebody else's experience. That's how we all grow as people, is something not similar to our lives, The memoir is about the history of the author's life and what it was like growing up as the daughter of two Nigerian immigrants in the U.K. during the 80s. We see the first twenty-five years of the author's life growing up in London, England, where racism was at the forefront of everything. She became the first woman engineer at Otis elevators in over one-hundred-year history. This is a very humorous memoir, but it also covers some pretty dark subjects. 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. 😂 It’s especially difficult for children of immigrants living among racists and bigots. Unless you're from a place deemed desirable, your culture and identity is up for ridicule and hate. 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.

The book ends with her making the finals of the NBC reality show Last Comic Standing, which opened more doors than an advent calendar. That’s a point that leaves plenty of room for a style sequel should the publishers want one. If your Mom is cool, might I recommend that you get her this book for Mother's Day? She'll love Gina's Mom, possibly even finding a little of herself in there, particularly if she sacrificed for you and your siblings and placed enormous expectations on you. Of course, you'll want to read it yourself, first, so that when Mom starts citing some of the random lines at you you'll get the jokes. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go get caught up on her appearance in Season 2 of The Standups on Netflix. 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. Then, I recalled that I'd seen Gina on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah where she'd killed. The book arrived within a day or two of my notification (h/t HarperCollins!) and was a superfast and highly enjoyable read. Incredibly, Gina holds the title of being the first female engineer with the UK branch of Otis, the largest lift company in the world, where she went through a baptism of fire from her racist and sexist co-workers. Not believing her life was difficult enough, she later left engineering to follow her ambition of becoming a stand-up comic.

Although Gina is of Nigerian heritage, I found it relatable as the daughter of Caribbean born parents. Immigrant parents live with a fear we as their children have to suffer. They leave their homes for better opportunities for themselves and their children, and I can’t imagine how I’d be if I had to move to a foreign country with a whole different language and customs to learn. 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. The British comedian of Nigerian heritage and co-executive producer and writer of the CBS hit series Bob Hearts Abishola chronicles her odyssey to get to America and break into Hollywood in this lively and humorous memoir. 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. Her journey, at least in its early stages, was, admittedly, a bit haphazard - but which comic’s isn’t? Yashere was a telecoms, and then lift, engineer with a passion for clubbing before falling into - and in love with - stand-up. 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’.

It reminded me that “most” parents only want their kids to be extraordinary. 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. Kim K anyone? I was a bit disappointed when I came to the end, because I was expecting more about her life in America, but maybe it's going to be written about in another memoir? I first saw Gina Yashere's comic routine on YouTube several years ago so I was happy when the publisher offered me a copy of her memoir. I loved it! If you aren't familiar with Gina Yashere, stop reading this review and go watch her thirty minute special on Netflix's show The Standups--the most laughter per minute stand up special I've seen in a while. Mum also provides many of the funniest lines in the book: the often bonkers Nigerian proverbs that Yashere uses for chapter headings, which always contain a nugget of folk wisdom, amusingly phrased.

Navigation menu

From birth, Gina carried a similar birthmark – a sign that she was her grandmother’s chosen heir, and would fulfil Patience’s dreams. Gina would learn to speak perfect English, live unfettered by men or children, work a man’s job, and travel the world with a free spirit. Is she the reincarnation of her grandmother? Maybe. At the heart of her story is her work ethic and sense of humor. Yashere is all about that hustle. She consistently works harder and is funnier than the (mostly white, male) other people in the room, and that's why she has succeeded. Yashere's story is one that I am so glad has been told. She grew up in the poorer parts of London, raised with her siblings by a single mother who emigrated from Nigeria. 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. But despite all the discrimination she faces throughout her life due to her race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, Yashere never defines herself by her struggles.

It ended up being rather anticlimactic and I thought it was interesting. 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.I wasn’t disappointed in the least. I chose to listen to the book for once rather than read it and it was a good choice. Hearing the accents and Gina’s boisterous intonations brought her story to life in a fun way. 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. Editorial Director Joel Simons says: ‘Gina Yashere is a trailblazer and comedy legend, and I’m delighted to be publishing her at HarperNonFiction. Her story is moving, inspiring and very, very funny – and all told with wonderful charm and honesty.’