Jennifer Hudson’s new book misses the mark
Posted January 31, 2012 at 10:29 pm in Lifestyle
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Loading ...Rhythm and blues dreamgirl Jennifer Hudson has achieved another feat.
This January, the mother, actress, singer and Weight Watchers spokeswoman released her autobiography I Got This: How I Changed My Ways and Lost What Weighed Me Down, crossing into the literary field and adding another talent to her multi-faceted career.
Though Hudson’s autobiography is a bit heavy on her weight struggles, and at times excludes fans who just want to read about her work, it’s improved by Hudson’s “be true to yourself” mantra, which comes off as sincerely inspiring.
Before launching into the story of how she grew up as a “big girl,” Hudson pens a lively scene of her moment on the red carpet. “Jennifer,” a reporter asks, “are you insecure about being a ‘big girl’ in Hollywood?”
Her internal response — “Oh, hell no. She didn’t just ask me that” — would probably have been more comical if it weren’t so grounded in reality. Still, her emotional honesty gets her point across.
About 40 percent of Hudson’s autobiography is spent describing her experiences balancing her weight and her talents while trying to break into the industry.
This is the most intimate section of the book. She writes about buying plus-sized gowns from the few stores that sold them, getting rejected from a position to sing behind Barry Manilow and her fashion-related weight trials on American Idol.
Even for readers who are not plus-sized, Hudson’s detailed personal examples raise questions of self-acceptance. Additionally, her conversational, if imperfect, prose serves to draw in her audience.
To a point, that is. Those who know of Hudson’s dark past involving the murder of her brother, mother and nephew shortly before her wedding would be surprised to know that the subject, along with other prominent personal moments, is not mentioned at all in I Got This.
“Certain things are off-limits and should be respected,” said Hudson in an interview with The Seattle Times when asked why she omitted such a vital point in her life.
This is certainly understandable. But aside from segments about her work on American Idol and Dreamgirls, most of the intimate details of Hudson’s life are absent from her autobiography. The brief instance where she describes the moment she realized she was pregnant is as good as it gets. Hudson even skips over how she met her husband, David Otunga, and doesn’t even discuss the wedding ceremony at all. These omissions definitely put up an unwanted wall between author and audience.
In fact, the only time Hudson really reaches out to her audience is when she tries to justify her arguably drastic weight loss. Determined to get fit and set an example for her son, Hudson writes about how she signed up for Weight Watchers and shed her large frame for the slender but shapely one she has today — an act that did not please many fans.
“They [rejected] me instead of embracing me for getting healthy. One article accused me of ‘pulling a disappearing act,’ saying that I was ‘so svelte in my tangerine orange Versace dress, I nearly vanished when I turned to the side,’” writes Hudson before adding: “Well, at least they didn’t say it was too tight!”
While she succeeds in convincing the reader of the value of her weight loss, her justifications seem somewhat unnecessary and make up too large a portion of the book.
Her positive messages on self-acceptance are definitely welcomed, but at times her talk of Weight Watchers has all the annoyance of a pop-up ad. The back of the book features 25 pages of the company’s recipes in addition to coupons to join the program. In addition, Hudson spends several pages documenting the weight loss journeys of her family members who also used the system.
For those who want to enjoy a fun read about the life of a superstar, it can be a little overbearing, but perhaps the title should warn us.
Other than its product placement tactics, I Got This is enjoyable and full of personality. Though Hudson’s writing could possibly stand a little more editing, the book is quite readable and even, on some occasions, laugh-out-loud funny and profoundly moving.
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This article is tagged: books, I Got This, jennifer hudson, Weight Watchers
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Regardless of anyone says, she did a WONDERFUL job on the book. To say she is wrong for not mentioning her family tragedy….the nerve of you all. She was well within her rights to omit that from her book. And to say you didn’t know about her family tragedy…that was ALL over the news for weeks and is about to be back on the news because they are about to go to trial. But no one wants to relive such hard pain. And the book is titled “i got this, how I changed my ways and lost what weighed me down”. Her family tragedy didn’t add weight to her. Her relationship and wedding to David didnt weigh her down. She considered herself a big girl way before these things. So yes she was right to leave certain things out her book. And to not mention her wedding. That’s her business. She is a celebrity but is also as normal as the rest of us. To mention her wedding would give the media a real day of work because they would certainly invade her space and ruin one of the most memorable day of her life. So if she wants to keep her wedding on the hush hush, I say Jen go right ahead. It’s your day.
I think JHud was correct not to include the details of her feelings following the murders of her mother, brother and nephew. It is very personal and must still be incredibly painful. I enjoyed the book very much and I enjoyed her sense of humour, I do remember laughing out loud a few times. I quite liked the anecdote about her throwing some nachos out of a car window when she was pregnant because the order was wrong! Jennifer didn’t mention her wedding because she isn’t married yet. I think the book could have been fleshed out a bit, especially regarding her meeting David Otunga and a bit more about their life together. However, I think there is still enough material for her legions of fans and it is a good read.
Meh, its alright but it could have been better. Having not known anything about her life before reading the book, except that she had won some awards, I didn’t even know there had been a family tragedy until I read the words “since my family’s tragedy”. I had to flip back and re-read several pages to see if I had missed something. Then, because it literally is not mentioned until those words, I had to google “j-hud family tragedy” to find out what was up. I mean, that’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, but at least say something like “Although I won’t be discussing it in this book, a tragedy befell my family and took the life of several family members” – BEFORE mentioning the word “tragedy”. Would that have been so difficult?
The 50 page WW advertorial was a bit much. I felt like it needed the footer “This is an advertisement”. And it was strange how she kept writing “I can eat whatever I want”, and then she would write something like “I don’t eat fried foods”. Umm…whaaa? Anyway, its an ok book but I don’t feel like she connects to readers all that well. If this book makes the New York Times bestsellers list, it will be because everyone has now seen her on American Idol, Dreamgirls, and WW ads – and not because it is a well-written book.
I think Jennifer Hudson was right on the mark. Like her are not she is one of the most authentic artist in the business. I say she did a super job with her new book. Jhud clearly is incontrol of her career. She is not about to sell out for the nay sayers. Jennifer Hudson is doing it her way period. Yes, she is from the southside of the windy city. However, she is no dummy. No Jhud did not miss anything all you haters did. People must forgot Jennifer Hudson graduated with honors!!!!! All her talents, gifts, and honors speaks for itself.
Uhmm wtf? She was right certain things are off limots, this was a book about weight loss, not her family murders or wedding. If you want to hear about that watch her behind the music episode. She doesn’t owe it to either of you or anyone else for that mattet to discusd such a personal thing. I’m glad she’s not using her family to sell a book, you geniuses should be ashamed.
I read the book and was also surprised that nothing was said about her parents death and her wedding. It was a great read though. But I did feel like I was reading a commercial when she started talking about weight watchers: a little too heavy. I am still a great JHud fan.