Michael K. Williams (1966–2021)

Michael K Williams and Jon Sternfeld look hard and without rose colored glasses at the Williams' life in SCENES FROM MY LIFE. Williams lived life hard and despite a complicated family, a rough (and often deadly) neighborhood, and an inner turmoil and was never quite resolved, Williams found success and notoriety like few people do in his situation. While working through his own flaws and discovering his identity in this world, Williams found ways to give back to his home neighborhood and the world . Williams admittedly was an addict and although that created challenges in his life, that addictive personality eventually led to him being addicted to helping people. Williams found solace in helping others and doing what he could to make the world a better place.
As much as this book is a celebrity memoir with fun stories and anecdotes, it also a book that takes the reader inside the life of an addict. It just so happens that this addict had a public persona and this book was an opportunity to touch more people than a unknown addict's story would. Clearly Williams was proud of who he was and where he came from, just not proud of many of the choices he made. Williams and Sternfeld do a nice job of weaving in culture and history into Williams life and how they contributed to his maturity into adulthood. Williams is brutally real about his life, his feelings, his triumphs and his faults.
Despite all of his faults, Williams lived a life we can all hope to get close to. In SCENES FROM MY LIFE, the take away is that everyone has faults and makes mistakes, but how we grow from them is truly what makes a person successful in life.
Thank you to Crown Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (meer)