The Last Black Unicorn

I needed this.

After the last two books I read left me disappointed, I needed something that I knew for sure I would like. Enter, the hilarious Tiffany Haddish.

I read the nearly 300 pages of this book in a matter of hours and got so much more out of it than I expected. I knew it would be funny and irreverent, but didn't expect much more than that. I didn't expect to read so much about the darkness of Haddish's upbringing, which shed a lot of light on her comedy.

Haddish was the daughter of an absent father and a mother who became mentally ill and abuse after a car crash. Haddish became a foster child, beaten and left and feeling uncared for. Her grandmother eventually took her in, but the scars of that childhood are still just below the surface. It almost feels like classic comic cliche; the sad clown, hiding tears behind laughter. She doesn't make apologies for it - she rolls with it, acknowledging it's there, but not using any of it as an excuse.

Beyond her childhood, this woman has simply been through some shit. From a bunch of jackass boyfriends to an abusive husband to promoters who expected her to put out if she wanted to get on stage. This book takes you along for the journey in an honest, often hilarious way. It feels real and raw and really honest. It's probably even better if you listen to the audio book so you can hear it in her voice.

Case in point: the chapter in which she takes Will and Jada Smith on a swamp tour. It's funny as hell in the book, but it's even funnier to hear her tell it. If you like this, you'll like the book. It's that simple.