cover image Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break

Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break

Sherri Shepherd, with Laurie Kilmartin. . Viking Grand Central, $24.99 (269pp) ISBN 978-0-446-54742-0

“I was one of those kids who was always putting on a show,” The View cohost Shepherd writes in this tell-all memoir loosely structured as a self-help book; after every tumultuous chapter Shepherd gives the reader permission to do this or not do that based on her own experience (“Write yourself a permission slip that says, 'I tried, and I can't handle this' ”). Shepherd is a feisty African-American single mom, comedian and former Jehovah's Witness. The tone is good-natured, rueful and funny. Yet it will be no surprise that Shepherd has had a few bumps in the road: among others, being shamed by her family and church for having sex at age 14; rejected in her showbiz career; and the birth of a severely premature baby, divorce and a diagnosis of diabetes. Shepherd is a woman coming to terms with her altered looks as she passes 40 alone and raising a child. She is still religious, and occasionally the reader may pull back, such as when Shepherd admits she does not believe in evolution. All in all, though, this is a good, dishy read, if not easy to apply to one's own everyday life. (Oct. 14)