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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Kate is forthcoming and has led an interesting life, but I couldn't get over the dramatic tone of the book. She's approached her storytelling as if she's acting on stage and has to exaggerate the emotions so the people in the back row can see it.
This was a really enjoyable look into a life of a person I've admired since I was a child, and watched her as Janeway in Voyager. I liked how dramatic she made her life sound. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the people she'd worked with in her earlier career. I had no idea she'd starred with Pierce Brosnan or Kelsey Grammer, who I'm a fan of.
My only disappointment was that I was hoping to hear a bit more about her life working on Voyager. She goes into a fair bit of detail, but I was hoping to hear more about her experiences with her co-stars, particularly Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan. She also doesn't go into Orange is the New Black at all, which I was surprised by, but the book ends before that point in her life, so fair enough.
My only disappointment was that I was hoping to hear a bit more about her life working on Voyager. She goes into a fair bit of detail, but I was hoping to hear more about her experiences with her co-stars, particularly Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan. She also doesn't go into Orange is the New Black at all, which I was surprised by, but the book ends before that point in her life, so fair enough.
I've read a number of books written by celebrities and they all have similar veins. Growing up usually in a small town, have a flair for drama, have the gumption to leave town to hit it big. Once they hit it big they have multiple failed relationships and get to live a life of alleged glamour. Give out nods to amazing producers and fellow actors in the book (have to keep people wanting to work with you). This book followed that formula but I liked the sass and quirkiness she and her family had which peppered the story with a little more humor.
I never really knew Kate Mulgrew until Orange Is The New Black. Of course, I knew she was Capt. Janeway, but I never watched the Voyager series so still didn't know much about her. What an interesting life she has lead! Stage, big-screen, small-screen, loves, adoptions, reuniting... She's done it all and appears to pull no punches in this book.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook. She narrates it herself and moves smoothly between sultry, vulnerable, excited, and morose all through her extremely poetic narrative. Great book, fantastic lady.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the audiobook. She narrates it herself and moves smoothly between sultry, vulnerable, excited, and morose all through her extremely poetic narrative. Great book, fantastic lady.
I enjoyed Kate Mulgrew on Voyager, so when I saw this I thought I'd give it a try. She is eloquent and a natural storyteller, and I felt she tried to be fair to those in her memoir. Her lifestyle is very different from mine, so I found it hard to relate to many of the situations. As an adoptive mother, I was especially affected by her experience as a birth mother. Lots of profanity and alcohol.
No doubt, Kate Mulgrew has lead a terribly interesting life. Her work on soaps, on Star Trek Voyager, and her experience giving up her baby via adoption and then reuniting with her all make for fascinating reading. However, there's something about the overall tone of this memoir that makes it difficult. Parts of this story are almost tone dead, with some experiences being related with little to no emotion at all (thinking of her split with her husband). And some are so over the top that you're almost cringing (her love affair that caused her to botch her first Star Trek audition). The pendulum swing of the storytelling led me to the realization that I don't really like Kate very much. I respect her, understand her decisions, but probably wouldn't get along with her in a professional or social setting. Listening to the audio version is usually a bonus, but in this case, with long stretches of unemotional recounting of events, it made for a tougher read than I anticipated. I'm still glad I tuned in, but I don't feel the need to explore her motivations any more.
I'm not finished, but I'm struggling with this book for the exact same reasons I struggled with "Loving Frank". The writing is lovely but I find it nearly impossible to identify with the protagonist, except in this case that's also the author. So the stars are for the writing, but expect to struggle with the life depicted.
I went into this book with high expectations, and they were all met wonderfully. Kate Mulgrew is probably one of my favorite actresses, but as is the case with most fans, my familiarity with her stops where the scenes end. I did have the privilege of meeting her once, and it solidified my interest with her as a person beyond the characters she played, and so I was delighted when I learned that she had written a book.
The writing itself was beautiful, and thought there were some details I felt could have been elaborated upon more thoroughly, I was time and time again surprised by some of the things Mulgrew went through, her experiences, and her passion. In many ways it was inspirational, which I fully expected it to be, but even with that in mind, it was remarkable how hard hitting it was.
There were some specific parts of this book I also connected with on a deep level, which is part of what drove my interest and focus, and they were equal parts positive and heartbreaking, written as only Kate Mulgrew could write them.
The writing itself was beautiful, and thought there were some details I felt could have been elaborated upon more thoroughly, I was time and time again surprised by some of the things Mulgrew went through, her experiences, and her passion. In many ways it was inspirational, which I fully expected it to be, but even with that in mind, it was remarkable how hard hitting it was.
There were some specific parts of this book I also connected with on a deep level, which is part of what drove my interest and focus, and they were equal parts positive and heartbreaking, written as only Kate Mulgrew could write them.
I loved hearing her read her own story in the Audible edition, and certainly her early life and career, which this covers, was full of ups and downs. The only frustration I had was in not hearing more of her internal experience, her thinking, especially around her string of truly disastrous relationships. I'd love to have heard what she thought as she escaped/left each, how she grew, what (if anything) she learned. It would seem that the answer is "not a lot." Admittedly, I tend to over focus on relationship health and communication (and Mulgrew had no healthy model for this), but I really wished for her sake that there had been more there.
