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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
One thing I can say about Katharine Hepburn: she clearly didn't employ a ghost writer for her memoirs. For better or worse, Me: Stories of My Life is written in her voice: brisk, disarming, high-handed, New-England-patrician, with prose that veers off into sentence fragments at times. I have to imagine that some of the incidents she recounts here came across much better when told in person, with voices and body language over the dinner table, than they do in print—the whole section about going with a guy to pick up a car in Italy, told inexplicably in script format, fell very flat. But when Hepburn's style works, it works very well, as when she recounts the circumstances of her beloved older brother's death by suicide, something which clearly hurt and bewildered her so many decades later.
Lavishly illustrated with candid photos and snapshots taken on the sets of Hepburn's films; also includes a Welsh currant cake recipe and the fact that Hepburn's vocabulary included the phrase "tough titty."
Lavishly illustrated with candid photos and snapshots taken on the sets of Hepburn's films; also includes a Welsh currant cake recipe and the fact that Hepburn's vocabulary included the phrase "tough titty."
fast-paced
It's important to know that this is not a comprehensive autobiography. This is a group of stories. Happy stories. Stories that she has specifically elected to tell using the lens of "don't moan" that her parents taught her. This is not a tell-all. Because of that, there are big gaps here, so you have to either listen to the silences in between the stories or read a biography written by someone else. But this is a great read, in part of that Hepburn verve and joy that was such a part of her energy.
fast-paced
I'll be upfront in saying I never watched many Hepburn movies even though the woman is a legend. Me is a book of stories and I was interested in hearing those stories (read by Kate herself in her unique way). This isn't her biography per se, it's just personal stories from her life. She lived to be 96 so you know she had some stories to tell.
This books covers some of her childhood, Fenwick and growing up in Connecticut. She dearly loved her parents and siblings. In 1921, she found her brother Tom hanging by the rafters. It was presumed an accident but no one knew for sure. Kate also covers her early acting career. One obvious quality of Hepburn is her self-confidence. She never seemed to struggle for parts or self-esteem, even when she was "box office poison".
She saved Spencer Tracy for last. They met filming in 1941, already having known about each other. Tracy was married but Hepburn and Tracy had a complex relationship that lasted until his death in 1967. Listening to her account of time with Tracy, it showed that she put herself aside for the man she loved. The very last part of the book is a letter to Tracy, read with her voice breaking throughout.
This books covers some of her childhood, Fenwick and growing up in Connecticut. She dearly loved her parents and siblings. In 1921, she found her brother Tom hanging by the rafters. It was presumed an accident but no one knew for sure. Kate also covers her early acting career. One obvious quality of Hepburn is her self-confidence. She never seemed to struggle for parts or self-esteem, even when she was "box office poison".
She saved Spencer Tracy for last. They met filming in 1941, already having known about each other. Tracy was married but Hepburn and Tracy had a complex relationship that lasted until his death in 1967. Listening to her account of time with Tracy, it showed that she put herself aside for the man she loved. The very last part of the book is a letter to Tracy, read with her voice breaking throughout.
informative
medium-paced
Fragmentary memories by Hepburn at the age of 84. She venerated her emotionally harsh parents and developed her entire persona around not feeling emotion. Also, over 400 pages of self-indulgent bragging but only eight pages about Spencer Tracy, who she spent 27 years with.
I loved this. She wrote this entirely in her own voice and it felt like I was sitting down just having a conversation with her. It made me want to go rent all of her movies and watch them back to back. Can't wait to read her book on making the African Queen.
The good/great thing about the book is that you can simply HEAR Hepburn reading it to you as you read it. Her voice, her cadence, it just drips off the pages, travels through your fingertips and somehow ends up in your ears.
The downside is just rambles. Sometimes delightfully, other times just too much. The section about her journey through Italy with Rose is simply agony. It's partially by design, but no one else gets that degree of detail, and it feels out of place even while it helps to illustrate a number of things about their relationship and about Hepburn.
Luckily, the last 20ish pages devoted to Tracy are, unsurprisingly, the strongest of the whole book, so it ends on a very strong note.
The downside is just rambles. Sometimes delightfully, other times just too much. The section about her journey through Italy with Rose is simply agony. It's partially by design, but no one else gets that degree of detail, and it feels out of place even while it helps to illustrate a number of things about their relationship and about Hepburn.
Luckily, the last 20ish pages devoted to Tracy are, unsurprisingly, the strongest of the whole book, so it ends on a very strong note.
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
A very entertaining read about Katherine's life. It really feels like you've just sat down for a few hours and a chatty older woman has been telling you all about her fabulous life, only that woman is Katherine Hepburn. If you're reading a biography to get a timeline and a bunch of facts this isn't for you, but if you're reading because you love Katherine Hepburn and want to get to know her better, you've found the right book.
A splendid audiobook of chapters with reminiscences and long form thank you notes. Very dear very interesting nothing groundbreaking and definitely self indulgent—but that was kind of the point!