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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Trigger warning for rape/assault. This was such a hard read in terms of subject matter. Sometimes, when we read about a celebrity, we believe that they are born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Not Kate Mulgrew. Instead, she was born with teeth.
Her own mother struggled with motherhood, often forcing Mulgrew to babysit while just a toddler herself. She had so much loathing for it that she believes she killed her baby sister by making her drink ice cold water to spite her. Obviously, when you're young you don't know how things work, but she felt guilty about it. Mulgrew was raised in Iowa and is Irish Catholic, and her mom kept having children until one day when she came home after giving birth to another baby and had a jar of her uterus with her that she planted on the mantelpiece to remind all the kids where they came from. Mulgrew had a tough time in Iowa, not only having to take care of her mother's children, but being in school wasn't where she wanted to be. Instead, she wanted to act.
She dropped out of school as a teen to pursue her dream and get into a theatre school in Europe. She traveled all the way there, to a school she wanted to attend, even going so far as to get an interview, only to be rejected for being too young. So instead, Mulgrew settled for an acting school in New York. One of her teachers, after asking where she was from, told her that Iowa is where hearts are too soft and that if she wanted to pursue acting, Iowa had to be left behind. She also told her that she needed to complete the program in its entirety if she wanted to succeed. During this time, one of her younger sisters was struggling with a butterfly brain tumor and there was nothing anyone could do but wait until she died. On top of everything, she met a boy that she thought she would marry one day, only to find that once she became pregnant, he was long gone.
Being an Irish Catholic, she wanted to have the baby, but if she was going to be an actress, she knew she couldn't keep it. She went to a place run by the church that would give her baby to adoptive parents of her choosing. And she does choose a family, but once she has her daughter, they give her no information. She doesn't get to see her daughter, doesn't get to see the family, nothing. The church pushes her away saying that she made her choice to give up her child and that's that. Feeling hurt and manipulated, Mulgrew focuses completely on her career. She gets an opportunity to act, but has to drop out of school for it, going against what her teacher said. But she is a success.
The men that she meet throughout her career are all terrible, I'm just going to say it. While she is gaining popularity as an actress, they all just want her to drop everything for them in order to become a housewife and mother to their children. Luckily, Mulgrew does no such thing, but it always leads to a large strain in her relationships. When she does finally get married and has kids, they never see her because of how busy she has become, which leads to a lot of resentment. And now that Mulgrew is raking in all the cash from her career, she decides to hire a private investigator to find the daughter that she gave up for adoption. She finds that the family that she originally chose to take her didn't actually have her, but the Catholic church was still keeping quiet about what actually happened to her daughter, a battle that she would have to fight for years.
Eventually, with all this fame, came terrifying moments. While Mulgrew was on her way home, she gets robbed and raped at knifepoint. This was the hardest chapter for me to read and she does go into detail, but I will spare those who read my reviews of them.
Working long hours on Star Trek Voyager puts an even larger strain on her family. Her boys become so rowdy at a public showing, only acting out because their mother is never home, and it embarrasses her. Mulgrew worked so hard on her career and her own family despises her for it.
After over 20 years, the private investigators have finally found her daughter, and they do eventually meet in person. I have to wonder if, after all this time, she wanted to find her daughter because in the time it took to find her, her daughter never mistreated her. But if she would not have given her up to the Catholic church, I feel like their relationship would have been just as strained. Mulgrew put everything on the line for her career. She loved her kids, but you know she loved her life outside them more. And I think that Mulgrew was so focused on acting, and did it so well, because she wanted to escape the harsh realities life threw at her.
Overall, this was a very heartbreaking read, and Mulgrew told it so well.
Her own mother struggled with motherhood, often forcing Mulgrew to babysit while just a toddler herself. She had so much loathing for it that she believes she killed her baby sister by making her drink ice cold water to spite her. Obviously, when you're young you don't know how things work, but she felt guilty about it. Mulgrew was raised in Iowa and is Irish Catholic, and her mom kept having children until one day when she came home after giving birth to another baby and had a jar of her uterus with her that she planted on the mantelpiece to remind all the kids where they came from. Mulgrew had a tough time in Iowa, not only having to take care of her mother's children, but being in school wasn't where she wanted to be. Instead, she wanted to act.
She dropped out of school as a teen to pursue her dream and get into a theatre school in Europe. She traveled all the way there, to a school she wanted to attend, even going so far as to get an interview, only to be rejected for being too young. So instead, Mulgrew settled for an acting school in New York. One of her teachers, after asking where she was from, told her that Iowa is where hearts are too soft and that if she wanted to pursue acting, Iowa had to be left behind. She also told her that she needed to complete the program in its entirety if she wanted to succeed. During this time, one of her younger sisters was struggling with a butterfly brain tumor and there was nothing anyone could do but wait until she died. On top of everything, she met a boy that she thought she would marry one day, only to find that once she became pregnant, he was long gone.
Being an Irish Catholic, she wanted to have the baby, but if she was going to be an actress, she knew she couldn't keep it. She went to a place run by the church that would give her baby to adoptive parents of her choosing. And she does choose a family, but once she has her daughter, they give her no information. She doesn't get to see her daughter, doesn't get to see the family, nothing. The church pushes her away saying that she made her choice to give up her child and that's that. Feeling hurt and manipulated, Mulgrew focuses completely on her career. She gets an opportunity to act, but has to drop out of school for it, going against what her teacher said. But she is a success.
The men that she meet throughout her career are all terrible, I'm just going to say it. While she is gaining popularity as an actress, they all just want her to drop everything for them in order to become a housewife and mother to their children. Luckily, Mulgrew does no such thing, but it always leads to a large strain in her relationships. When she does finally get married and has kids, they never see her because of how busy she has become, which leads to a lot of resentment. And now that Mulgrew is raking in all the cash from her career, she decides to hire a private investigator to find the daughter that she gave up for adoption. She finds that the family that she originally chose to take her didn't actually have her, but the Catholic church was still keeping quiet about what actually happened to her daughter, a battle that she would have to fight for years.
Eventually, with all this fame, came terrifying moments. While Mulgrew was on her way home, she gets robbed and raped at knifepoint. This was the hardest chapter for me to read and she does go into detail, but I will spare those who read my reviews of them.
Working long hours on Star Trek Voyager puts an even larger strain on her family. Her boys become so rowdy at a public showing, only acting out because their mother is never home, and it embarrasses her. Mulgrew worked so hard on her career and her own family despises her for it.
After over 20 years, the private investigators have finally found her daughter, and they do eventually meet in person. I have to wonder if, after all this time, she wanted to find her daughter because in the time it took to find her, her daughter never mistreated her. But if she would not have given her up to the Catholic church, I feel like their relationship would have been just as strained. Mulgrew put everything on the line for her career. She loved her kids, but you know she loved her life outside them more. And I think that Mulgrew was so focused on acting, and did it so well, because she wanted to escape the harsh realities life threw at her.
Overall, this was a very heartbreaking read, and Mulgrew told it so well.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very well written and such a great look into a very interesting life. Even with a sick husband and a two year old, I managed to finish it within 24 hours!
I'm not sure if it's possible to write an autobiography without sounding arrogant. Mulgrew didn't manage it. Mulgrew tells about how her parents knew the Kennedys (yes, those Kennedys) and about how she and her siblings grew up in a large house with lots of land. Her mother regularly introduced her to influential people who could help her in her career or her travels or both. She has dealt with her share of adversity. Her father drank, was abusive, and carried on affairs with servants in the house. Her younger sister died of a brain tumor. After reaching adulthood Kate herself gave a baby up for adoption and experienced failed relationships, due in large part to the awful behavior of the men in her life. She was also violently raped by a stranger. She talks about how expectations were higher for her as a woman than they were for men, and she is right. Still, when she claims that she has made something of herself without anyone having given her anything, she is deluding her rich connected self.
This book ends while Mulgrew was still filming Star Trek: Voyager, so it's dated. It would have been nice to read (or hear - I listened to the audiobook) about the last 20 years, the end of Voyager, Orange Is the New Black, and what Mulgrew has done between the two.
This book ends while Mulgrew was still filming Star Trek: Voyager, so it's dated. It would have been nice to read (or hear - I listened to the audiobook) about the last 20 years, the end of Voyager, Orange Is the New Black, and what Mulgrew has done between the two.
She has such a joy of life. I think we've all known someone larger than life. Large, talented, witty, exciting.
Someone you'd love to share a pint with but pity the poor siblings, spouses, lovers, and children that get left in the wake of an artist following their muse. They are relentless and hard on those unfortunate enough to love them.
Great read.
Someone you'd love to share a pint with but pity the poor siblings, spouses, lovers, and children that get left in the wake of an artist following their muse. They are relentless and hard on those unfortunate enough to love them.
Great read.
Það var eitthvað við stílinn á bókinni sem fór óstjórnlega í taugarnar á mér. Ég endaði með að lesa bara nokkra kafla, hér og þar í bókinni.
Born with Teeth by Kate Mulgrew is a 2015 Little Brown and Company publication.
Kate Mulgrew is one of my husband’s favorite actresses, not because of her theatre or stage accomplishments, but for what is perhaps her best known role- that of Captain Janeway, in the television show “Star Trek Voyager”.
From my personal standpoint, I remembered this actress from wwaayyy back in the day, when she had a key role on the soap opera “Ryan’s Hope” as ‘story’ my mother frequently tuned into. I also remembered the short lived series- “Mrs. Columbo”, but the truth is, I knew absolutely nothing about Kate’s personal life. I had no idea if she had ever married, had children, and knew nothing of her personal struggles, her background or any of her other acting roles. When I saw this book advertised on Goodreads, I was intrigued by the title, and so with genuine curiosity, I waited for quite a while for the book to become available at my library, but it was a worth it.
Sometimes I was genuinely puzzled by Kate’s attitude in certain situations, felt deeply for her as we saw her heart broken time and again, and felt her moods swing from happy,sad, tenacious, regretful, determined, and at last peaceful. I didn’t always agree with her choices, but enjoyed the way she opened herself up, letting people see her humanity, her triumphs and failures, her ups and downs, and how she manages face it all with aplomb, sticking to her personal convictions, without arrogance, or self-pity, flippancy or excuses. It is what it is, which is very interesting indeed.
The book is very well written for a first person perspective of one’s own life. It was told with honesty, and highlighted many key moments in the actress's personal life as well as her professional one. Her childhood was marred with some shocking developments and tragedy, her professional life was spent doing what she loved most, but her personal life was fraught with doomed romances, a huge decision that affected her life for decades, which is the tale that stands out more than any other in the book.
There were a few times when I wondered about a situation or a person she mentioned and felt as though something was missing from the story, and it does feel like some areas are glossed over, but overall, this one is very well organized, and is devoid of dry, self- serving promotions. Thank goodness!
For fans of the actress, you will not want to miss this memoir, and for those who are not as familiar with Kate, you will find her love of stage performing and other lesser known facts about her life to be quite fascinating. Kate has certainly lived a full life, lived it with gusto, and is still churning out ground breaking performances.
Overall this one gets 4 stars
Kate Mulgrew is one of my husband’s favorite actresses, not because of her theatre or stage accomplishments, but for what is perhaps her best known role- that of Captain Janeway, in the television show “Star Trek Voyager”.
From my personal standpoint, I remembered this actress from wwaayyy back in the day, when she had a key role on the soap opera “Ryan’s Hope” as ‘story’ my mother frequently tuned into. I also remembered the short lived series- “Mrs. Columbo”, but the truth is, I knew absolutely nothing about Kate’s personal life. I had no idea if she had ever married, had children, and knew nothing of her personal struggles, her background or any of her other acting roles. When I saw this book advertised on Goodreads, I was intrigued by the title, and so with genuine curiosity, I waited for quite a while for the book to become available at my library, but it was a worth it.
Sometimes I was genuinely puzzled by Kate’s attitude in certain situations, felt deeply for her as we saw her heart broken time and again, and felt her moods swing from happy,sad, tenacious, regretful, determined, and at last peaceful. I didn’t always agree with her choices, but enjoyed the way she opened herself up, letting people see her humanity, her triumphs and failures, her ups and downs, and how she manages face it all with aplomb, sticking to her personal convictions, without arrogance, or self-pity, flippancy or excuses. It is what it is, which is very interesting indeed.
The book is very well written for a first person perspective of one’s own life. It was told with honesty, and highlighted many key moments in the actress's personal life as well as her professional one. Her childhood was marred with some shocking developments and tragedy, her professional life was spent doing what she loved most, but her personal life was fraught with doomed romances, a huge decision that affected her life for decades, which is the tale that stands out more than any other in the book.
There were a few times when I wondered about a situation or a person she mentioned and felt as though something was missing from the story, and it does feel like some areas are glossed over, but overall, this one is very well organized, and is devoid of dry, self- serving promotions. Thank goodness!
For fans of the actress, you will not want to miss this memoir, and for those who are not as familiar with Kate, you will find her love of stage performing and other lesser known facts about her life to be quite fascinating. Kate has certainly lived a full life, lived it with gusto, and is still churning out ground breaking performances.
Overall this one gets 4 stars
Really enjoyed this because of how I idolised her as a child, the first female starship captain!! Will write a proper review when I have time
I loved this memoir! Kate Mulgrew is a fascinating person who went through so many different trials in her life. But, she writes about them with such poetry and amazing language that it feels almost unreal, like you are reading fiction. One scene in particular, when she is sitting with the father of her first child, I was so heart broken that I almost cried. It played out like a romantic drama. Well done, Ms. Mulgrew!
I was lucky enough to win an advanced copy of the book through the "First Reads" giveaway, I grew up watching "Star Trek: Voyager" and idolized Kate Mulgrew (and her character) growing up. So needless to say, I was pretty excited to read her memoir. Its definitely well-written, a bit humorous, and I learned all sorts of things I didn't know about her. I loved the part about her childhood, it was written with such emotion but also a humor and self-awareness. After that, the book focuses a lot on her love life - which was really eye-opening about who she is but overwhelmed some other parts of her life like her career. I would have liked to see her discuss more some of her big roles, like Star Trek Voyager (7 years gets only a few pages) and Orange is the New Black. The ending felt rushed, and she could have definitely explored that part more. I think I just wanted more out of the book, because I so admire the woman - I wanted to know more about her than she gives in the book.
emotional
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
Born with teeth is a well written memoir from an actress who has led a very interesting life. I highly recommend the audiobook.