Cack-Handed: A Memoir

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I also got reminded of funny little details most of us have now probably forgotten, such as the removable cassette-players people used to have in their cars and take out with them for fear of theft! In this entertaining and informative autobiography, Gina takes us honestly and openly through her formative years in London, with a formidable Nigerian mum and horrible stepfather, covering her childhood, education, work in engineering, burgeoning career and attempts to crack America and ending with her moving there with a two-year work visa.

Her mother was unable to make use of her teaching qualifications due to mounting racism in the UK and her father had few prospects of getting a job that matched his qualifications. I admit that since I wasn't very familiar with Gina's beginnings in UK comedy, I found myself zoning out during the latter half of the book. But as someone who loves stories about family and immigration *as well as* being a person pursuing a stand up comedy hobby, I was here for all of it.

Bullying and alienation at school, made worse in Gina's case by racism and even by rivalries between Carribean and African people owing to internalising the white narrative of lazy blacks. They leave their homes for better opportunities for themselves and their children, and I can’t imagine how I’d be if I had to move to a foreign country with a whole different language and customs to learn. I immediately wondered if her controlling and conservative mother (who wouldn’t even let her go to friends’ parties in the neighborhood or take swimming lessons at school) would have been so passive, if Gina wasn’t the successful international comedian she was. The back of the book describes it as ‘humorous’ and ‘hilarious’, which I found odd considering the first third is an extensive catalog of horrific mental and physical child abuse the author suffered at the hands of various family members.

This is truly an enlightening and insightful book, particularly if you come from any privileged background. Her journey, at least in its early stages, was, admittedly, a bit haphazard - but which comic’s isn’t? A couple of niggles I had with the book: Gina starts off with an account of the history of Benin (which I am very familiar with and I believe showcases poignantly the deeply racist and colonial attitudes of the British in the 19th century) but which is told in an overly simplified language as if the book is addressed to an audience that can barely read. She explains that she thought that if she worked hard, played by the rules and proved her popularity, she would get her own show, get to make her own decisions about her programmes. I usually finished my books quicker but between the hysterics and the sadistic behavior of the people she dealt with--I had to keep rewinding it to LOL at her hilarity or just shake my head in disgust and disbelief of some of the treatment she endured.Behind every great comedienne there is a great deal of pain and this certainly made a lot of that pain public.

This hilarious memoir tells the story of how from growing up as a child of Nigerian immigrants in working class London, running from skinheads, and her overprotective Mom, Gina went on to become the first female engineer with the UK branch of Otis, the largest elevator company in the world, where she went through a baptism of fire from her racist and sexist co-workers. I don't usually read memoirs but I was intrigued by the story of the daughter of Nigerians who immigrated to the UK. They come with a bunch of ill conceived ideas about a place like the US or in her case the UK and they don’t really give a rats ass about what is or isn’t cool.She grew up in the poorer parts of London, raised with her siblings by a single mother who emigrated from Nigeria. The decision to move to the US was a gamble because she would be starting from scratch but one that paid off.

There were tons of other relatable experiences, like her mother’s undying quest for her becoming doctor, hateful parental figures, hair disasters and familial expectations. No wonder it was a world she wanted to leave, despite - or possible because of - being the company’s totem of diversity. Of course, you'll want to read it yourself, first, so that when Mom starts citing some of the random lines at you you'll get the jokes.

From what I’ve read, it does seem to be blurring now, especially as people of direct African heritage are outnumbering Caribbean heritage people in the UK now. When she started as a lift engineer with Otis the clearly peeved white engineer she was paired with huffed: ‘I was promised a mate instead I get some sort of fucking diversity experiment’.