Review of "Worthy: A Memoir" by Jada Pinkett Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith (born 1971) is an American actress, singer, and talk show host.

Jada Pinkett Smith

I'd seen Jada in several movies and television shows, but knew little about her, other than the fact that she was married to actor Will Smith; had an 'entanglement' with a friend of her son Jaden; and was at the Oscars when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. When I saw Jada promoting her memoir on a talk show, I got curious, and decided to read her book.


Jada Pinkett Smith on the television series 'Gotham'

One often thinks celebrities, being rich and famous, have easy lives, but reading their memoirs shows that's not always true. Jada begins her book by describing her despair at the age of forty: "For two decades, I'd been putting on a good face, going with the flow, telling everyone I was okay. Yet underneath, bouts of depression and overwhelming hopelessness had smoldered until they turned into raging hellfire in my broken heart." Jada was suicidal, but therapy and ayahuasca sessions (hallucinogens) with a medicine woman helped her heal.

After this revelation about her mental health, Jada goes back to the beginning, when she grew up on the mean streets of inner city Baltimore. As a child Jada lived with her mother Adrienne - a nurse who was addicted to heroin; and her grandmother Marion - a refined woman who taught Jada the importance of gardening, being well-rounded, and spirituality.


Young Jada Pinkett

Jada was something of a wild child, and as a young teen Jada was always sneaking out at night, navigating the dangerous Baltimore streets to see her boyfriend at the 7-Eleven. Jada had little use for school, and wanting to earn her own money, she became a drug dealer while also working part-time at a record store, or Merry-Go-Round (a clothing retailer), or the Gap. At one point, Jada even envisioned herself as a drug kingpin. During this time, Jada was robbed of her drug stash and money, and had a gun pointed at her, but was spared because she was 'too pretty.'


Inner City Baltimore


Teenage Jada Pinkett

Jada's acting/singing/dancing talent showed up early, and by the time Jada started ninth grade at Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA), she'd been in the TWIGS program (To Work In Gaining Skills) for a year - a course for students who were interested in music, dance, theater, visual arts, and other creative disciplines. At BSA, Jada met fellow students Josh Charles (the actor) and Tupac Shakur (the rapper).


Jada Pinkett in high school


Tupac Shakur in High School

Jada and Tupac became best friends, and remained close until the rapper was killed in 1996. Jada writes a great deal about her relationship with Tupac, whom she even visited in prison when he was accused of sexual assault.


Jada Pinkett and Tupac Shakur

After performing in many local productions, and a year at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, nineteen-year-old Jada made her way to Hollywood. Jada details her early days in the movie capital, which included auditioning, acquiring an agent, and experiencing racism in the form of the question: "What are you mixed with? Is your mother White?" Jada observes, "This [implied] that to look as I did, I couldn't be of full African American heritage." (Which she is.)

In a way, Jada was lucky, because from the late 1980s to the late 1990s, MANY doors began to open for Black actors and filmmakers, with TV shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Family Matters, and In Living Color; and movies from directors Spike Lee, John Singleton, Julie Dash, and others.



After a relatively short time, Jada was cast as Hillman College student Lena James in the television series, A Different World, and she was on her way! Though Jada was becoming a show business success, she remained loyal to her homegirls and homeboys in Baltimore, who lived in a completely different world - one that often involved guns, drugs, and prison.


Jada Pinkett as Lena James on 'A Different World'

In the early days, Jada was something of a party girl in Tinseltown. She writes, "Play hard was my real-deal mantra. And it wasn't just drinking and getting f__ up, it was also men.....There were all flavors and varieties....Sex, for me, was a distraction from having to look at my genuine need to be held, have connection, and feel loved. It fed the appetite of the little girl who hadn't had enough parental affection and attention."


Jada Pinkett and Bumper Robinson on the television series 'A Different World'

Jada's first big movie was 'Menace II Society' (1993), in which she played a young single mother.




Jada Pinkett as a young single mother in 'Menace II Society'

Eventually, Jada had a multifaceted career in television, movies, and music - with her nu metal band 'Wicked Wisdom', which she started in 2002. Jada details her climb up the show business ladder, which required ambition, hard work, luck, and talent.


Nu Metal band 'Wicked Wisdom'


Jada Pinkett Smith singing with her 'Wicked Wisdom' band

In addition to the high points in her life, Jada highlights the inner turmoil she experienced. On an otherwise ordinary day, Jada was driving, felt hot and shakey, and turned into a side street to park. She notes, "I tried to to pull myself together through torrential tears and an avalanche of emotions. I felt incredibly anxious, my heart was beating out of my chest, my breath was short, and I couldn't fight off a tidal wave of sadness....It felt like fear and relentless sorrow had sucka-punched me." Jada called her mom to come to Hollywood, took steps to deal with the anxiety, and decades later, turned to ayahuasca and the medicine woman.

Jada and actor Will Smith knew each other casually for years before their relationship heated up around 1995. Jada writes about Will, "He was a gifted conversationalist, highly intelligent, well read, and contagiously passionate about a wide range of interests....He had an expansive vision, not just for his career, although he made no apologies about his drive one day to be the biggest movie star in the world."


Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith


Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith got married on New Year's Eve

Jada writes about the couple's courtship, their marriage in 1997, their children Jaden and Willow, and 'bonus son' Trey, from Will's first marriage. Jada and Will's union had ups and downs, and (what many people would consider) a curious 'open marriage' arrangement. Jada home-schooled Jaden and Willow using a controversial learning method from Scientology, and Jaden moved out at the age of fifteen. All this is well-detailed in the memoir, in case you're curious. In any case, both Jaden and Willow now have successful entertainment careers.


Jaden Smith (left) and Willow Smith


Trey, Willow, Jaden, Jada, and Will Smith (from left to right)

In 2018, Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow Smith, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris began a talk show called the Red Table. The program, shown on Facebook from 2018 to 2022, was a "non-traditional talk show with topics explored from different, unfiltered perspectives." The show had a variety of high-profile guests, including Jessica Alba, Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg, Tiffany Haddish, Leah Remini and many more.


The Red Table hosts, (from left to right) Willow Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris


The actual red table, with (from left to right) Adrienne Banfield-Norris, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Willow Smith

Many people might read Jada's book to learn more about her alopecia, her entanglement' with musician August Alsina, and 'the slap' at the Academy Awards. Jada talks about losing her hair, on and off over the years, until now she's almost bald. Jada mentions her relationship with Alsina (she doesn't write his name, calling him the entanglee), which occurred after Jada and Will agreed to live separate lives, but remain married. Jada also writes about being at the 2022 Academy Awards when Chris Rock made a joke about her alopecia, and Will strode up to the stage and hit him. So you can learn more about those incidents, if you're interested.


August Alsina and Jada Pinkett Smith


Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2022 Academy Awards


Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards

Jada includes much more in the book, writing a good deal about her extended family and friends, and expressing gratitude to the many people who provided career advice, guidance, and opportunities, such as Keenen Ivory Wayans, Debbie Allen, and others.

I found the book interesting, and have a new respect for Jada Pinkett Smith, who - despite lots of wild shenanigans - is a successful entertainer, loving mother, resolute activist, caring person, and dog lover.


Jada Pinkett Smith with her dog Bandit

Jada has gone on a long spiritual and self-education journey during her life, and she inserts advice, self-help tips, and philosophical ramblings at the ends of chapters. This is meant to be helpful, but I found much of it too airy-fairy.

Overall, I recommend the book to readers who enjoy memoirs.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Beyond Reasonable Doubt: Keera Duggan Legal Thriller #2 " by Robert Dugoni

This review was first posted on Mystery & Suspense Magazine. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/be...

Former Seattle prosecutor Keera Duggan is now a defense lawyer in her family law firm, Duggan & Associates.



The firm was founded by Keera's father, Patrick (Patsy), but Patsy's alcoholism has taken a toll, and he's stepped back from trial work.



The other family members at the firm are Keera's sisters: Ella - the managing partner;



and Maggie - the office administrator.



As a break from work, the Duggan clan has a family dinner once a month, which is sacrosanct to Keera's mom.



When Keera is assigned to bring the salad, she puts lettuce into a large wooden bowl, and prepares separate plastic bags with grape tomatoes, chopped walnuts, hard-boiled eggs, and fresh bacon bits because "her family members couldn't agree on the time of day if they were all staring at a stopped clock, let alone what they liked and disliked on their salads." This, in a nutshell, depicts family relations, which are fractious but loving.



Keera is enjoying a much-needed staycation when she gets an urgent call from Maggie, asking her to come to the office. There Keera finds Patsy waiting with Jenna Bernstein, the former CEO of a biotech company called Ponce de León Restorative Technology (PDRT).



PDRT imploded five years ago, when its product - which was supposed to alleviate deadly diseases - was shown to be a fraud. At that time, PDRT's chief scientist was murdered, and Jenna was tried for the crime. Patsy got Jenna off with a SODDI (some other dude did it) defense, and Keera hoped to never see Jenna again.



Keera and Jenna have known each other since they were ten years old, and Jenna has always been narcissistic, self-centered and mean. On the girls' first meeting, when Keera tried to pull herself up onto a trampoline, Jenna jumped on Keera's fingers, pinched and scratched Keera's hands, and pushed Keera off with her foot. This foreshadowed the girls' ongoing relations, wherein Jenna jealously thwarted Keera whenever she could, all the way through college.

Now Jenna once again needs help from Duggan and Associates. Jenna and Sirus Kohl, her former business partner (and boyfriend) at PDRT, were indicted for fraud, because they misled PDRT's investors.



There were rumors that Kohl was going to make a deal, and throw Jenna under the bus. Now Kohl has been murdered, and Jenna is a suspect again.

Violent Crimes Detective Frank Rossi.....



.....and Prosecutor Walker Thompson have a strong case against Jenna.



Jenna left her apartment - in a baseball cap and large sunglasses - on the night Kohl was killed; she was caught on a CCTV camera near Kohl's home; and she owned a 9-millimeter gun like the one that killed Kohl. Moreover, Jenna had a powerful motive if Kohl was going to testify against her.

Since Patsy is semi-retired, he convinces Keera to take Jenna's case, though Keera is VERY reluctant. Keera thinks Jenna is a sociopath and a liar, and she believes Jenna might well be guilty. Nevertheless, Keera vows to give Jenna the best possible defense, and she engages the law firm's private detective, J.P. Harrison, to investigate Kohl's murder. Harrison tries to find alternative suspects for the homicide, like PDRT employees who were fired and PDRT investors who lost money.



When Jenna goes to trial, the prosecution puts on a strong case, and Jenna must use her smarts, and the strategies she learned as a chess champion, to craft a defense. The resolution of the case is a bit too forced and complicated, but this is a good courtroom drama, recommended to fans of the genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, Robert Dugoni, and Thomas and Mercer for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness" by Suzanne O'Sullivan

Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan is an Irish neurologist who wrote the prize-winning book 'It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness.' This book follows in the same vein, discussing illnesses that seem to have no somatic cause.

Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan

*****

The placebo effect occurs when a sick person receives a 'fake treatment' (like a sugar pill) and feels better anyway. It seems the mind can convince the body a fake treatment is the real thing.



The opposite is true as well. A person can exhibit ailments caused by their mind. Symptoms might include paralysis, blindness, headache, dizziness, coma, tremor, skin rashes, breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations, bladder problems, diarrhea, stomach cramps, or any other symptoms or disability one can imagine. This type of illness has been given many names over the years, including hysteria, conversion disorder, psychosomatic disorder, and functional neurological disorder (FND).



O'Sullivan observes that many people wrongly consider psychosomatic symptoms 'less real' than other medical problems She writes, "I struggle to see where this underestimation comes from....That the body is the mouthpiece of the mind seems self-evident to me, but I have the sense that not everybody feels the connection between bodily changes and the contents of their thoughts. So when a child becomes catatonic in the context of stresses....people are amazed and perplexed."

O'Sullivan became interested in childhood catatonia when she read a 2017 article about a 9-year-old girl in Sweden called Sophie. Sophie can't move, communicate, eat, or even open her eyes.....though medical tests show nothing wrong. Moreover, Sophie isn't unique. Other young girls in Sweden have fallen into similar catatonic states, suffering from a condition called 'resignation syndrome.'


A girl with resignation syndrome

The common factor among the resignation syndrome victims seems to be the fact that their families are asylum seekers. Sophie's family escaped persecution in Russia, and other catatonic girls belong to ethnic minorities like the Yazidi or the Uyghurs, who are oppressed in their home countries. If asylum isn't granted, the families will be deported.

Asylum seeking is a years-long process, and the families can feel like they're on trial....like they're being interrogated rather than listened to. O'Sullivan writes, "The asylum system seeks to find the mistakes that disprove an applicant's case, rather than looking for the evidence to prove it." O'Sullivan believes the children faced with possible deportation are under strain, and this induces the symptoms of resignation syndrome. Moreover, when granted residency the children usually wake up, albeit very very slowly.

Unfortunately many people look at psychosomatic symptoms as being 'fake' and untreatable. A physician called Dr. Olssen took O'Sullivan to visit two Yazidi sisters in Sweden - Nola (10) and Helan (11) - both of whom suffer from resignation syndrome.


Nola and Helan have resignation syndrome

O'Sullivan writes, "Dr. Olssen welcomed me because I was a neurologist. She hoped that I could find a [brain-related] explanation....that I would interpret the clinical signs and legitimize the girls' suffering and convince someone to help them. That Nola had been lying in bed for a year and a half without eating or moving had not been deemed impressive enough to get her the help she needed."

Oddly enough, though asylum seekers are found all over the world, resignation syndrome seems confined to Sweden, and affects only certain ethnic groups. O'Sullivan speculates the syndrome is not a biological or psychological illness in the Western sense, but rather a sociocultural phenomenon.

O'Sullivan goes on to write about additional sociocultural/psychosomatic illnesses, which manifest differently in diverse places and varying ethnic groups.

*****

The Miskito people indigenous to Nicaragua have outbreaks of a condition called grisi siknis, which appears as irrational behavior and hallucinations. Victims have been seen to have convulsions, foam at the mouth, rip off their clothes, run manically, hyperventilate, and break and eat glass. Miskito people don't believe grisi siknis is psychosomatic, but say it's caused by a spirit or demon that (usually) appears as a man.


Girl showing symptoms of grisi siknis


Boy showing symptoms of grisi siknis

*****

In the Kazakhstani cities of Krasnogorsk and Kalachi, many residents experienced a mystery illness that drove them from their homes. One victim, named Tamara, got sick at a community party. She tells O'Sullivan that she started to feel strange, light-headed and sleepy and had to leave the party early. Tamara then went home, went to bed, and didn't get up for a few days. Tamara recovered, but never went back to feeling as healthy as she had been before she fell asleep. Tamara was not an isolated case, and many people in the region experienced similar symptoms.


Kazakhstani woman with mystery sleeping sickness

*****

In 2016, an illness called Havana syndrome originated among Western diplomats in Cuba. American and Canadian State Department employees developed symptoms such as headache, earache, hearing impairment, dizziness, tinnitus, unsteadiness, visual disturbance, memory problems, difficulty concentrating and fatigue.




A woman with Havana Syndrome being examined by medical personnel

Most of the victims reported hearing a strange noise before their symptoms started, and speculation began that they had been subjected to a sound energy or sonic attack. The FBI and CIA looked high and low for traces of a sound weapon, but found none. Later, new victims appeared in China, and more recently in Serbia and India. Physicians aren't able to explain the sickness, and it appears to be a functional neurological disorder.


No sonic weapons were found

*****

In La Cansona, a region of Colombia, schoolgirls got caught up in a health crisis that began in 2014. The phenomenon began in a high school, when a group of girls - all in the same class - collapsed. Some just fell to the floor in a faint and some had convulsions. The condition spread quickly, and within a day, girls in several other classes got sick.


High school class in Colombia

By 2019, it was estimated that, out of 120,000 people in the area, as many as 1,000 girls had fallen ill. The villagers attributed the illness to an HPV vaccine administered years before, but doctors dismissed this as a cause.

*****

High school girls in Le Roy, a town in upstate New York, developed neurological symptoms in 2011. The manifestation began with a teenager name Katie Krautwurst, who woke from a nap to find she had developed involuntary movements and verbal outbursts reminiscent of Tourette's syndrome. Katie twitched and writhed and let out involuntary shouts. Katie's best friend Thera got sick next, and the disorder soon spread to other teenagers. Some victims had convulsions, others couldn't walk. Katie and Thera ultimately needed wheelchairs when the muscle jerks became so violent that they caused them to fall. Doctors could find no somatic cause and the girls were diagnosed with conversion disorder.


Katie Krautwurst was one of the first girls to develop neurological symptoms

A similar phenomenon occurred in Guyana in 2013, where the local people attributed the illness to 'Granny', the spirit of an old woman who lives in a cave.

*****

O'Sullivan discusses all these illnesses in detail, emphasizing that medical tests NEVER demonstrate a somatic cause and patients ALWAYS resist the idea they have a psychosomatic disorder.

O'Sullivan also goes on to discuss Western medicine vs. native remedies; attitudes of doctors to functional neurological disorders; the social stigma associated with having a 'fake' illness; the fact that psychosomatic disorders are attributed more often to females than males; her belief that people with psychosomatic disorders would improve with the correct treatment; the effect of the media on conversion disorders; the effect of culture and tradition on psychosomatic disorders; patients she's treated; and more.

The book is interesting and I liked the parts about O'Sullivan's travels; her interactions with people she met; victims she saw; foods she tried (like Colombian buñuelos (cheese donuts) and Kazakhstani mayonnaise soup); and more.


Buñuelos


Mayonnaise soup

On the downside, the narrative is somewhat repetitive and disjointed. Still, this is a fascinating subject and the book would probably appeal to readers interested in functional neurological disorders.

Thanks to Netgalley, Suzanne O'Sullivan, and Pantheon Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars