I have a confession to make. I have started reading many amazing novels this year, but I haven’t finished any of them. Don’t get me wrong; I still consider myself as much of a book-nerd as I was in my youth, when I would always be seen carrying around one young adult novel or another. These days, due to work, adult responsibilities and life in general, a book has to be exceptionally engaging to keep me turning its pages.
When I picked up Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat, I found myself unable to put it down, and I finished the book in three days. Rabbit tells the story of how comedian Pat Williams evolved from an impoverished child to a struggling teen mother/drug dealer, to a celebrated national comedian.
While reading Rabbit, I felt as if I was listening to a hilarious old friend tell me stories of her youth. The circumstances Williams lived through seemed almost unbelievable at times. At one point, she was even shot at by her own mother. When she was behind bars, or when she got out and found herself unable to make ends meet without turning back to selling drugs, Williams never blamed anyone — not her disengaged mother, not her deadbeat boyfriend, not even society at-large. At the end of the book, she points out that there are many women who grow up poor and Black in America who never find themselves pregnant at the age of 12, or teaching young children to hide illegal drugs in their underwear. However, one’s environment certainly plays a role in shaping one’s worldview and lifestyle, and in Rabbit, Williams was confronted with the choice to either stick to the status quo or rise above it.
They say you’ve got to laugh to keep from crying. Williams’ memoir invites the reader to find the humor in life’s most difficult situations. For example, when her family was without food, she found humor in her mother’s “baptism hustle.” Her mother would take Williams and her siblings to numerous churches around town and get them baptized at each one so that the family could have access to the church’s meals and food pantries.
As a reader, I found myself rooting for Ms. Pat, even when her circumstances seemed bleak. I was happy to see her discover her niche as a comedian, find a better man and settle into life as a Hoosier after moving to Indianapolis. I’m a sucker for happy endings, and I’m glad Williams found hers, because growing up is hard enough, even when your mom isn’t shooting at you.
