Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
I have enjoyed watching Gina perform some of her comedy routines (on the Lenny Henry show although her comments about this well-loved, successful comedian from my area were somewhat one-sided) and some of her humour can be seen in this autobiography. Her early life was restricted as she was governed by her mother's view of Nigerian upbringing and culture. It was interesting to read about the views on punishment for childhood transgressions (I remember that period well, although Gina is younger than me). Her stories were not always in chronological order and I found this distracting, and I strongly disliked her use of American spellings throughout the book as it is set in England. As the book progressed it centred increasingly around discrimination, and while I accept this influenced her life I became so bored by the seemingly never-ending stream of blame that I stopped reading at 75%.

I have always enjoyed Gina's comedy and getting to read her life story was even better.
It's heartwarming hilarious and so beautifully honest

I really enjoyed this one!

It's brilliantly funny and you can really hear Gina Yashere's voice throughout. There's a balance between humour and offering insight into her life and experiences. I think memoir's can be really hard at times to get into - but that wasn't a problem with this one!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in return for a review.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Absolutely hilarious, expect nothing less from Gina Yashere. Would definitely recommend

Thanks again for my arc

I enjoyed this memoir. Gina Yashere is someone whose comedy I grew up seeing and it was great to put a backstory to her comedy. I'm frankly amazed that she is so forgiving of her mum with regard to her upbringing because it seemed super traumatic to me. Yashere employs her sharp wit and eye for what is funny even in the bleakest of circumstances and you can certainly see where she honed her craft. It's a shame the book stops where it does. I hope she does write about her transition over to the USA in more detail in future.

A very interesting and thought provoking memoir beautifully told.
Her sharp wit comes through every page

In this entertaining and informative autobiography, Gina takes us honestly and openly through her formative years in London, with a formidable Nigerian mum and horrible stepfather, covering her childhood, education, work in engineering, burgeoning career and attempts to crack America and ending with her moving there with a two-year work visa. Although her mum is very harsh and over-protective, she teaches her self-sufficiency and strength, and sets a good example, running her own business.

As well as her personal story, she interweaves information on race in the UK, giving a really good exposition of the reasons for the conflict between people of Caribbean and African origin: when she was a child in the 80s, Africans having been fed a diet of American culture thought that Caribbean and African American people were lazy and criminal, whereas British people of Caribbean origin didn't realise they were originally African (there's a big section on how the UK offshored its slave-owning to third countries); this division has started to clear with further generations, as other books I've read recently have clarified. She's also very clear on the institutional racism handed out by employers, the police and the British entertainment industry, coming over as fair and fairly angry and giving a lot of extra value to the book.

It's very funny of course and not at all heavy, and I came out of it liking Yashere even more.

I will be reviewing this on my blog on 14 July

I must declare that I am a fan and was delighted to get a copy of this book. I wasn't disappointed and really enjoyed reading it .I think Gina has had an interesting and not a straightforward life, no pun intended. I think it is really interesting to get an insight into someone else's upbringing as well ,quite different to my own, I certainly had much more freedom as a youngster ,maybe too much sometimes, I was interested to learn about the differences in our cultural upbringings .I used to go to a black comedy club in Birmingham when I lived there and am a fan of several black comedians I knew some of the names of the artists mentioned who I had seen. I was interested to read about Gina's journey, and there is obviously much more to tell, so I really hope she writes another book, I will be first in the line to get it. and I really enjoyed reading this one.

I found this a rather sad book. Gina seems to have had a very hard life. Such a harsh upbringing and so much prejudice at every turn! I wished that she had continued to tell about her new life in America.

Gina's stand up is always very funny; I've enjoyed watching her on various shows and at various festivals. I thought I'd really enjoy this look at her childhood and beginning of her adulthood. While it is interesting, I found it hard to follow because Gina tends to drift forwards and back a bit in time; a section where she's sixteen is followed by a section where she's eight followed by a section where she's twelve. It made it hard for me personally to remember what had and hadn't happened at any given time.

I know there are readers who this won't bother at all, and if you're one I advise you to read this - it really is funny and interesting! But it didn't suit me, I'm afraid.

A stunning memoir, intelligently written, filled with important information as well as being genuinely funny and clever. I miss her so much from British TV but this book makes it very clear why

This book reads like a brilliant and honest conversation with Gina. A fantastic read for those who are a fan of Gina's comedic work.

Having grown up watching Gina Yashere’s comedy career go from strength to strength, I was excited to read an ARC of her memoir Cack-Handed. The book details Gina’s journey from childhood to leaving the UK shores to embark on her American career.

The book balanced pathos with humour in equal measure, and despite having a challenging childhood and experiencing racism as well as intra ethnic rivalries Yashere didn’t dwell on the bad stuff when she was within her rights to do so.

As a British reader it is self evident that Cack-Handed was written with an American audience in mind. It was subtle but definitely obvious. My only other criticism
is that for those who have followed Gina’s career from the outset, this side of the pond it would have been great to see about her time in the States. It does mean a book two is definitely needed.

I understand Yashere has also narrated the audio version, which I believe would have been delivered with Gina’s energy, passion and wit.

***Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.***

A memoir written as a selection of short chapters connected to her mother's sayings, which is a clever structure. Much of this will be familiar to anyone who knows Gina Yashere's work, she describes a difficult upbringing partly due to her mother's experience of being Nigerian in the UK and partly due to her abusive step-father, (she protests that she never thought of this as abuse though, it was just how it was). Not always an easy read, her trademark humour shines through, as does her resilience and her admiration at her mother's strength. We know that she left the UK to find success in the US and this is clearly written with her American fans in mind, as she often explains and/or translates British sayings or experiences for them. I found this a little grating and maybe unnecessary, surely there is enough cultural cross over now, if not a glossary at the end would have been preferable. That said, this is an important piece of Black British history, her experience of racism in the 70's and 80's and of being the only female lift engineer in Canary Wharf! America's gain is definitely our loss, I am happy that she has found success and happiness there, I look forward to reading more about that in the sequel.

With thanks to the publisher and Net galley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love reading about people journeys especially in the comedy world. They are some of my favorite reads to date.
Premise
According to family superstition, Gina Yashere was born to fulfil the dreams of her grandmother Patience. The powerful first wife of a wealthy businessman, Patience was poisoned by her jealous sister-wives and marked with a spot on her neck. 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.
I loved reading about Ginas journey and how she was able to fulfill her grandmother’s dreams as I was very close with my grandmother as well.

If you don't know who Gina Yashere is you're missing out! I didn't have a clue and only picked up this book after reading an article in anewspaper about Gina's career as a stand-up comedian. I'm not a massive fan of stand-up comedy, in fact until recently I only knew three stand-up comedians (all women): Ellen Degeneres, Margaret Cho and a friend who attended a weekend course in stand-up and did a gig before returning to her country of origin and diseappearing from my life forever. Well, I've now added a fourth to my paltry list!

Gina Yashere is daughter to Nigerian parents who arrived in the UK in the late 60s for better jobs and education. This particular dream of theirs did not end well. Her mother was unable to make use of her teaching qualifications due to mounting racism in the UK and her father had few prospects of getting a job that matched his qualifications. When her father received a call from his sister in Nigeria asking him to go back home on the grounds that he would be much better off there, he didn't waste time. But her mother refused to go back with him. She had made her home in London and was determined to make the most of the opportunities available for herself and her three children, Gina and her two boys, Dele and Sheyi. This book is Gina and her family's journey from the council flats of Bethnal Green to international fame in the US as a comedian and writer.

To say that the Yashere family had it hard in the UK would be an understatement. An incident that highlights racist attitudes at the time really poignantly is the following: when Gina was 9 years old she happened to be leaning on a car when a grown man's voice was heard: 'Get the fuck off my car, you black bastard!" Despite being very young, Gina replied in kind: "Piss off you white bastard". The man chased her and beat her up really badly. Young Gina tried to find refuge in her school but the gate was closed and she banged on the door while a teacher inside was trying to open it, all the while the man hitting and punching her! He was arrested and cautioned. Gina's mother pursued a private prosecution against him but the judge gave the man an absolute discharge. It was like saying none of this happened, and if it did, well, it's not a big deal. Perhaps the child deserved it!

Gina's childhood and adolesence are described in vivid detail, and although my own experience of growing up was very different from Gina's, there were so many themes and cultural motifs I recognised! A strict parent not allowing you to go to friends' parties because they saw risks everywhere! Bullying and alienation at school, made worse in Gina's case by racism and even by rivalries between Carribean and African people owing to internalising the white narrative of lazy blacks. Despite the difficulties, Gina was very resourceful and enterprising and managed to get small crumbs of freedom wherever she could, for example by arranging to go on a trip to France as an A-Level student without her mother knowing she would be unaccompanied.

Her account of racism in the BBC is sobering. She was always treated as a 'token' Black, and therefore had few hopes of moving up despite being very talented and popular among viewers. She explains that she thought that if she worked hard, played by the rules and proved her popularity, she would get her own show, get to make her own decisions about her programmes. The reality coudn't have been more different. Despite working her back off and being ambitious and determined, Gina was suffocating in the UK. The decision to move to the US was a gamble because she would be starting from scratch but one that paid off.

A couple of niggles I had with the book: Gina starts off with an account of the history of Benin (which I am very familiar with and I believe showcases poignantly the deeply racist and colonial attitudes of the British in the 19th century) but which is told in an overly simplified language as if the book is addressed to an audience that can barely read. Fortunately, this eases off as we move on to Gina's birth and upbringing. Another niggle was that some characters are introduced at odd points in the story. Gina's step-father, for example, is introduced long after we've read about Gina's childhood with her two brothers and have formed a mental image of how they all lived at home. This disrupts the reader's expectations somewhat, but I can see that the narrative might have been too messy otherwise. Finally, the title: cack-handed. 'Cack-handed' means left-handed but also, a Gina explains in the Foreword, clumsy and awkward, which, she says, she is. 'It also represents the unconventional track [her] life and career have taken'. Fair enough. Gina also explains in the book that her left-handedness caused her a fair amount of trouble when she was a child because her mother tried to knock it out of her. Why? Because we eat with the right hand and use the left hand to ... you guessed it! Ok, not the most appealing title!

Having said all this, I loved this book to bits! Gina has a talent for story-telling and this comes through very clearly. I read the book in two sittings and really wished there was more! I learnt so much about African culture in the UK in the 70s and 80s (the time when Gina was growing up). I also got reminded of funny little details most of us have now probably forgotten, such as the removable cassette-players people used to have in their cars and take out with them for fear of theft! Overall, I highly recommend this, it's well-written, it's poignant and it's huge fun!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

Thank you for sharing this book with me. I really like Gina Yashere so was very pleased to get it, and it was interesting to read about her life. Some chapters are really funny.