Rabbit : A Memoir
Author(s): Patricia Williams, Jeannine Amber
Finalist for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literature
Finalist for a 2018 Southern Book Prize for Biography and History
"An absolute must-read" – Shondaland
“[Rabbit] tells how it went down with brutal honesty and outrageous humor” – New York Times
“I know a lot of people think they know what it’s like to grow up in the hood. Like maybe they watched a couple of seasons of The Wire and they got the shit all figured out. But TV doesn’t tell the whole story.” – Ms. Pat
They called her Rabbit.
Patricia Williams (aka Ms. Pat) was born and raised in Atlanta at the height of the crack epidemic. One of five children, Pat watched as her mother struggled to get by on charity, cons, and petty crimes. At age seven, Pat was taught to roll drunks for money. At twelve, she was targeted for sex by a man eight years her senior. By thirteen, she was pregnant. By fifteen, Pat was a mother of two.
Alone at sixteen, Pat was determined to make a better life for her children. But with no job skills and an eighth-grade education, her options were limited. She learned quickly that hustling and humor were the only tools she had to survive. Rabbit is an unflinching memoir of cinematic scope and unexpected humor. With wisdom and humor, Pat gives us a rare glimpse of what it’s really like to be a black mom in America.
Review(s):
“Rabbit tells how it went down with brutal honesty and outrageous humor in unexpected places.”
“Unforgiving and darkly hilarious.”
“Rabbit feels like you are sitting in Williams’ living room, listening to her tell story after story over a cup of coffee. Somehow she’s managed to pull hilarity out of heartache. And when you are done laughing, you rejoice, her final words ringing in your ears.”
“This is, in short, a humdinger of a memoir – mesmerizing”
“Her story is one that dares everyone reading it to dream bigger.”
“Riveting…this is one autobiography that should not be missed.”
“Ms. Pat, gives readers insight into what it’s really like to be young black woman growing up in America.”
“Both savagely honest and often genuinely funny, this is the story of how a resilient woman survived a harrowing early life and found unexpected salvation through humor.”
“As heartbreaking as it is darkly hilarious, Rabbit will make you wipe away both tears of joy and sorrow...a memoir filled with wit and wisdom...Honest, poignant, and laugh-out-loud funny, Williams’ book is an absolute must-read.”
“An extraordinary memoir…[Rabbit] is both uproariously funny and heartbreakingly sad… Despite all the difficult parts, Ms. Pat’s story reminds us that redemption is always possible, and that love and humor can heal all wounds.”
ISBN: 9780062407313