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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
This book was interesting. There was definitely a feeling that Couric needed to specifically justify her switch to CBS that became kind of a… chorus. Sometimes it felt like we were back to justifying moving to CBS when I thought we had moved onto other things like one of MANY poached eggs in midtown restaurants. Still, it was interesting to learn more about Katie Couric and also cool to discover that she grew up not far from my hometown. Bye!
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
LOVED this book. Love, love love! The storytelling is great. Katie is very relatable in the world of knowing you can do a GREAT job at something, but having to advocate hard for yourself in a world of male-dominated fields.
I loved this. You can tell that Katie has spent her life telling stories for a mass audience. She doesn’t brush away from tough subjects and it’s an immensely entertaining book. What a life!
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
My son is a high school theatre critic; they are trained to critique the performance (acting, technical elements) and not the play itself. Likewise, I'll try to review the book and not its author!
I named my daughter Kate because of Katie Couric. On her very first day at The Today Show, she was introduced as Katherine Couric, trying to make herself seem more serious -- and just one minute later she giggled and said she wasn't sure what she wanted to be called. (My daughter's birth certificate says Kate and we've rejected any nicknames for this reason!)
This book talks about this moment, and it's a bit of theme throughout -- Katie as a genuinely fun, bubbly, magnetic personality versus Katie as a serious, respected journalist. And yet, with just a few exceptions, I felt like this book remained surface-level. (And then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened.) I didn't feel like I learned anything real.
I've very much enjoyed the miniseries and documentaries that look back on the past few decades through a new lens -- the American Crime Story series on Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky comes to mind. But Katie Couric looks back on the significant moments from her career with an 'aw, shucks' -- no real reckoning, no real introspection. She skirts around the entire Me Too movement with a shock that seems entirely disingenuous. I'm not saying she was complicit, but it seems so clear that her crass and tone-deaf humor (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) allowed her to flourish in the old boys' club. (I was reminded of the Alex Levy character in The Morning Show, and how she is so incredibly unlikeable.)
Her career moves after the Today Show (CBS evening news anchor, syndicated talk show, Yahoo global correspondent) were filled with missteps that she never really took responsibility for -- just a vague 'gosh, I just didn't realize...' tone. There was nothing personal there, nor was there anything contextual.
Ultimately, this book was pretty empty.
I named my daughter Kate because of Katie Couric. On her very first day at The Today Show, she was introduced as Katherine Couric, trying to make herself seem more serious -- and just one minute later she giggled and said she wasn't sure what she wanted to be called. (My daughter's birth certificate says Kate and we've rejected any nicknames for this reason!)
This book talks about this moment, and it's a bit of theme throughout -- Katie as a genuinely fun, bubbly, magnetic personality versus Katie as a serious, respected journalist. And yet, with just a few exceptions, I felt like this book remained surface-level. (And then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened.) I didn't feel like I learned anything real.
I've very much enjoyed the miniseries and documentaries that look back on the past few decades through a new lens -- the American Crime Story series on Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky comes to mind. But Katie Couric looks back on the significant moments from her career with an 'aw, shucks' -- no real reckoning, no real introspection. She skirts around the entire Me Too movement with a shock that seems entirely disingenuous. I'm not saying she was complicit, but it seems so clear that her crass and tone-deaf humor (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) allowed her to flourish in the old boys' club. (I was reminded of the Alex Levy character in The Morning Show, and how she is so incredibly unlikeable.)
Her career moves after the Today Show (CBS evening news anchor, syndicated talk show, Yahoo global correspondent) were filled with missteps that she never really took responsibility for -- just a vague 'gosh, I just didn't realize...' tone. There was nothing personal there, nor was there anything contextual.
Ultimately, this book was pretty empty.
She’s a lot. There is an air of wealth and entitlement that aggregated me beyond belief (references to fancy vacations, specific fancy and expensive foods she ate at a restaurant and fancy people she texts with on a daily basis… to name a few) but it was also an honest look at her life and journey, which I appreciated. She lives a life that is beyond my comprehension, but it was interesting to have a peek into it nonetheless.
Fascinating stories, excellent on audiobook (read by Katie), a mix of family life and professional life. I really loved the first half, especially stories about her marriage, having kids, the growth of her career, her relationship with her father, and her Today Show days. I did feel like she threw a lot of people under the bus with critical comments (ex-boyfriends, colleagues, etc.). Some likely deserved it, but after a while, I started to feel like it was a lot. Although I guess that is the theme of "going there!"
Audio which was very pleasant. The lady has lived. Matt Lauer is a douche. Neil Simon and Larry King were leches. Bad stuff happens to good people. And war re-enactors are nutso.
Going There is an apt title for the autobiography of Katie Couric because she doesn’t hold anything back. It’s fun to celebrate the highs of her life and hard to wade through the lows. Her life has been incredibly interesting and dynamic. But my main takeaway from this book is that she is kind of a snob in how she talks about people. She sounds like a loving mom, daughter and friend, but also very judgmental too. It’s hard when someone you grew up admiring (I was a broadcast journalism major for awhile in college, in large part due to her influence) for their warmth, philanthropy and humor turns out to be kind of mean in her assessments of things. I still have deep respect for her career and how she handled the various tragedies in her life, but also feel a little disenchanted with her too. Regardless, this was an interesting memoir of a full life of incredible experiences and worth reading to see how the news industry has changed alongside Katie over the course of her career.