Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsMore than a memoir, perhaps a life lesson for all who read this
Reviewed in Canada šØš¦ on January 3, 2022
In the first chapter of Will Smith's memoir, his father tells him that he needs a new wall on the front of his "ice" shop. So he enlists eleven year old Will and his younger brother Harry to lay the bricks for the wall. He worked every day after school digging the footing, mixing the mortar and laying the bricks for nearly a year. Pretty hard work for a couple of preteen boys, I thought. They worked weekends, holidays and vacations including through the summer holiday from school that year. Rain or shine, day in and day out, they worked until it was finally done. His father told him to concentrate on one brick at a time, and not to think of the mammoth project or it would seem insurmountable. He followed his father's advice not only on the wall but for the rest of his life and career. The tremendous success he felt when he finished the wall was the same he would feel every time he finished a project in his life. Like his album sales and awards for his music as the Fresh Prince, like his eleven year, award winning sitcom, Fresh Prince of Bel Air and his many no. 1 winning opening weekends for plenty of his movies, he continued to lay the bricks of his own future. And in his personal life, he eventually achieved a long lasting marriage to a woman of his equal. And he did not abandon his son from his first marriage, rather he embraced the child's mother and included her in all the family gatherings, like birthdays, Christmas and special occasions and even holidays. Then he was able to still be a full time Dad to his eldest son, and include him in the family along with his new brother and sister. That's quite a feat. A lot of credit must be extended to his new
wife, Jada, who was all in with the decision to do that.
This is not simply a list of his achievements but it is also his way of giving us all a lesson like the one he received when he was only eleven. When his father lay dying, and Will went to be with him, I learned so much. How to say goodbye mostly which I really needed to know. Thank you, Will, for that lesson and thank you for your candour on all the other personal things you discussed in your book.
But I have to say, I knew you were going to be a big star from the first time I saw you on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. You deserve all the good things that happened for you.
