An instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller!
From multi-award winner Whoopi Goldberg comes a new and unique memoir of her family and their influence on her early life.
If it weren't for Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010—and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later—she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone.
Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, Whoopi shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time. Growing up in the projects in New York City, there were trips to Coney Island, the Ice Capades, and museums, and every Christmas was a magical experience. To this day, she doesn't know how her mother was able to give them such an enriching childhood, despite the struggles they faced—and it wasn't until she was well into adulthood that Whoopi learned just how traumatic some of those struggles were.
Fans of personal memoirs such as Finding Me by Viola Davis and In Pieces by Sally Field will be touched by Bits and Pieces: a moving tribute from a daughter to her mother, and a beautiful portrait of three people who loved each other deeply. Whoopi writes, "Not everybody gets to walk this earth with folks who let you be exactly who you are and who give you the confidence to become exactly who you want to be. So, I thought I'd share mine with you."
An instant New York Times and USA Today bestseller!
From multi-award winner Whoopi Goldberg comes a new and unique memoir of her family and their influence on her early life.
If it weren't for Emma Johnson, Caryn Johnson would have never become Whoopi Goldberg. Emma gave her children the loving care and wisdom they needed to succeed in life, always encouraging them to be true to themselves. When Whoopi lost her mother in 2010—and then her older brother, Clyde, five years later—she felt deeply alone; the only people who truly knew her were gone.
Emma raised her children not just to survive, but to thrive. In this intimate and heartfelt memoir, Whoopi shares many of the deeply personal stories of their lives together for the first time. Growing up in the projects in New York City, there were trips to Coney Island, the Ice Capades, and museums, and every Christmas was a magical experience. To this day, she doesn't know how her mother was able to give them such an enriching childhood, despite the struggles they faced—and it wasn't until she was well into adulthood that Whoopi learned just how traumatic some of those struggles were.
Fans of personal memoirs such as Finding Me by Viola Davis and In Pieces by Sally Field will be touched by Bits and Pieces: a moving tribute from a daughter to her mother, and a beautiful portrait of three people who loved each other deeply. Whoopi writes, "Not everybody gets to walk this earth with folks who let you be exactly who you are and who give you the confidence to become exactly who you want to be. So, I thought I'd share mine with you."
Critiques-
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March 11, 2024
Actor Goldberg (Two Old Broads) reflects in this tender chronicle on the deaths of her two closest family members. Goldberg grew up in New York City’s Chelsea projects with her mother, Emma, and brother, Clyde, while Emma worked tirelessly as a practical nurse and a schoolteacher to support her children. Even as Goldberg hits the requisite celeb memoir career beats—including sections on her one-woman Broadway show, her breakthrough film role in 1985’s The Color Purple, and her supporting actress Oscar for Ghost—she keeps the focus on Emma, whose thriftiness and lust for life filled the author’s childhood with happy memories of trips to Coney Island and Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes. Goldberg contrasts these reveries with the overwhelming grief she felt when Emma died, in 2010, from a stroke. Five years later, Clyde succumbed to a ruptured brain aneurysm, leaving Goldberg to face the world without the “folks who let her be exactly who she was and gave her the confidence to become exactly who she wanted to be.” Throughout, Goldberg’s earthy, no-nonsense voice anchors her commentary on the ravages of bereavement (“If you go into a funk, then really let yourself go fully into it. Pull up a fainting chair. Draw the curtains. Close out the world for a while and get as insane in your grief as you ever thought you could”). This is no dishy Hollywood tell-all—it’s a salve for wounded souls. -
Kirkus Reviews (featured review)
"A poignant, enjoyable, and moving read...Readers will want to call their parents after finishing this behind-the-scenes look at the life of a major entertainer."
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Seth Doane, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent
"Whoopi Goldberg's trailblazing journey has been one of reinvention, determination...She says she was well-equipped starting with those lessons from her mom in that two-bedroom apartment in New York. It makes her perch here all that more impressive."
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Ayesha Rascoe, host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday
"A memoir about love, grief, and coping with losing those you love."
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People (online)
"From witnessing her mother's mental breakdown when she was a child to growing up in the New York City projects, Goldberg looks back on the experiences that impacted her in this moving tribute to family."
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Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper
"The pages are filled with fun and laughter, grief and sadness, and offer a rich tribute to the unbreakable love between mother and daughter."
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Anderson Cooper
"Her book is remarkable...If you think you know [Whoopi], there's a lot you can learn about her that's extraordinary in this book—and her amazing mom, Emma, who sounds a lot like my mom."
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Nicolle Wallace, MSNBC news anchor, former White House communications director
"A beautiful, exquisite, and heartfelt memoir...I cried on every page."
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Los Angeles Times
"From the boardwalks of Coney Island to the lights of Broadway, Bits and Pieces is a tribute to the New York City of Goldberg's adolescence."
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Library Journal
"A fine addition to biography collections."
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New York Journal of Books
"A rare gem among many ho-hum celebrity memoirs."
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Booklist (starred audio review)
"A memoir full of simple life lessons that become vibrantly alive on audio."
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Los Angeles Public Library
"A masterful storyteller...Throughout this memoir, be prepared to laugh out loud and maybe shed some tears of joy and amazement."
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Sherri Shepherd, author and Emmy nominated & NAACP Image Award–winning host of Sherri
"This is the most amazing love letter."
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Good Housekeeping
"Whoopi Goldberg is getting ready to give folks an intimate look at her life...When fans learned the Sister Act alum would be publishing another book, they immediately rushed to the comments to congratulate her."
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Barry Josephson, producer
"Anyone reading Whoopi's book Bits and Pieces will come away, as Whoopi puts it, 'knowing how to share the earth with other people' better than they had before. Thanks, Whoopi."
