booksbydorothea: REVIEW - Fearless and Free (audioBOOK)

Fearless and Free by Josephine Baker (audiobook)

OVERVIEW

This was a very different memoir than what I am used to, which makes it TOTALLY Josephine Baker. From what little I knew about Josephine before reading this memoir, she was quite the character.

I really liked this memoir but didn't love it. It was originally published in 1949 in French and is being translated and published in English for the first time. What a life!

However, this memoir was somewhat superficial and didn't explore her thoughts, feelings, or psyche like most do. But as Josephine would say, "Ooo la la"! This was her memoir, and she did it her way, as if she was was sitting in front of you just chatting in front of her interviewer.

This novel only covers her life until 1949 and does not cover her later years at all, including her adoption of her children and her civil rights activism.

TRIGGER ALERT: War, racism, racial slurs, and xenophobia

OVERALL REVIEW: 4.0 stars

Writing: 4.0 stars

The writing was good because it was in Josephine's own voice. It did have moments when it dragged and was a little slow or monotonous..

The two translators also did a fantastic job as this was a 75-year-old memoir. Bravo to them both!

The foreword by Ijeoma Oluo was very well done, added context, and set the stage for this memoir.

Narration: 5.0 stars

The narration was amazing. Josephine did not narrate her memoir (as I prefer) as she has been gone for quite some time. However, the male and female narrators captured her essence beautifully.

Character Arc: 3.0 stars

The audiobook is somewhat chronological but highly scattered, as I expect Josephine would have been in person. She obviously had a brilliant mind that was always in overdrive!

But I wanted more. I wanted Josephine to dig deep into her life and analyze it so we could learn from her personal experiences, especially her childhood and WWII spying.

Memorable: 4.0 stars

Since this memoir was written almost 75 years ago, there was a lot of horrible racism directed directly and indirectly towards Josephine. What shocked me was that this occurred in New York City and was incredibly blatant and obvious. The acceptance by the French people makes it understandable why she felt so much more comfortable in her adopted country of France.

I do believe that some will focus on her brief diatribe on the conflict between the Jews and Blacks in Harlem. It was a different time, and it was a sad situation, period.

Entertaining: 4.0 stars

This memoir was full of anecdotes, funny stories, and lots of spilled tea (for people of that time). It was dark and sad, especially when Josephine talked about racism, WWII, and her illnesses.

Additionally, Josephine talks about many characters I didn't know who they were, but I could follow due to the context. Their names and what they did didn't matter as this memoir was about Josephine.

Book cover: 5.0 stars

Beautiful.

Book title: 5.0 stars

Perfect.

DEFINITE recommend

STATISTICS

Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) borrow (audioBOOK)

Fearless and Free by Josephine Baker (audiobook)

Penguin Audio

8 hours, 42 minutes

Original release date of 1/1/1949

Rerelease date of 2/4/2025