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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Told with openness, honesty and without a hint of self pity or aggrandisement. Kate Mulgrew has lived her life with determination.
I have this problem sometimes with memoirs - and I will start off by saying I realize how unfair it is - where it seems like the events described are almost in too much detail. Of course that is exactly what we are asking the person to do in writing a memoir, to look back on significant events and recount their details and why they were important. But in some books, like in this one, it almost seems too much. If it were presented as a novel I would have bought into it, but as nonfiction I get very reactionary. Kate Mulgrew is clearly a terrific writer, and if she wanted to write a TV show and star in it I'd be all there.
Here in particular, everything that happened seems to have been the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. There is a lot of drama, and a lot of whimsy, and some instalove. I don't identify with whimsy, not in the least. Please do not leave your children alone with a man in a bar or a receptionist at a hotel that you've just met. Please do not whisk off to foreign lands at the drop of a hat as if that is a normal thing to do when you grow up in a house full of children in the Midwest.
The problem with not enjoying a memoir is that it sounds as if I am judging her life, and I don't want to do that, but it is hard to convince myself that she is a real person and not a character in a book when it is presented this way.
Here in particular, everything that happened seems to have been the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. There is a lot of drama, and a lot of whimsy, and some instalove. I don't identify with whimsy, not in the least. Please do not leave your children alone with a man in a bar or a receptionist at a hotel that you've just met. Please do not whisk off to foreign lands at the drop of a hat as if that is a normal thing to do when you grow up in a house full of children in the Midwest.
The problem with not enjoying a memoir is that it sounds as if I am judging her life, and I don't want to do that, but it is hard to convince myself that she is a real person and not a character in a book when it is presented this way.
Kate Mulgrew seems to have lived an extraordinary life, full of passion and wild adventure and abandon. She loves freely and deeply, and if an adventure presents itself, it seems only a matter of time before she's throwing herself into it.
She's quite a bit different from the controlled and commanding Janeway, which is what I know her from most of all, and at first I wasn't sure I liked the free spirit she presented herself as, who often jumped without looking to see what the landing looked like. But she's determined and focused in her own way, and it's unfair to hold her up against a fictional character. And to be honest, I think I'd like Kate Mulgrew if we ever met, and I'd like to think we actually have a bit in common. Her story is definitely an exciting one, and I was completely captivated by her reading of it in the audio version.
She's quite a bit different from the controlled and commanding Janeway, which is what I know her from most of all, and at first I wasn't sure I liked the free spirit she presented herself as, who often jumped without looking to see what the landing looked like. But she's determined and focused in her own way, and it's unfair to hold her up against a fictional character. And to be honest, I think I'd like Kate Mulgrew if we ever met, and I'd like to think we actually have a bit in common. Her story is definitely an exciting one, and I was completely captivated by her reading of it in the audio version.
2018 Read Harder Challenge Task #12: A celebrity memoir
I read this book slowly, and I throughly enjoyed it! I was surprised by how skilled Mulgrew is as a writer. Her life story was a fascinating read.
I read this book slowly, and I throughly enjoyed it! I was surprised by how skilled Mulgrew is as a writer. Her life story was a fascinating read.
This book was absolutely captivating. Kate Mulgrew is a woman of legend. Her childhood in particular struck a chord with me, as I am very familiar with the Irish generational oddities and methods of child rearing.
I initially picked up the book because I dearly love Ms. Mulgrew's character Kathryn Janeway and all things Star Trek, but now understanding how deeply she loved acting, it feels like even more of an honor that she deigned to grace the franchise with her presence. Not only a magnificent actrees, Ms. Mulgrew is a fantastic writer, and envelops the reader in her history. It feels as if you were there with her. Or at the very least, she would have welcomed your presence and told you 'Fuck it, let's do it'.
I initially picked up the book because I dearly love Ms. Mulgrew's character Kathryn Janeway and all things Star Trek, but now understanding how deeply she loved acting, it feels like even more of an honor that she deigned to grace the franchise with her presence. Not only a magnificent actrees, Ms. Mulgrew is a fantastic writer, and envelops the reader in her history. It feels as if you were there with her. Or at the very least, she would have welcomed your presence and told you 'Fuck it, let's do it'.
I was both impressed and disappointed in this book.
Kate Mulgrew is a better writer than I was expecting - her prose is lyrical and enthralling. I found it difficult to put this book down, which is why I gave it 3 instead of 2 stars.
Regarding content...as an actress, I can't say it's all that surprising to find that she's very flamboyant and dramatic in the telling of her life as well as the living of it, but even when she was obviously writing from her heart, I found it difficult to find the authentic in it. Her passions run hot and fleeting, at the expense of almost any other thing in her life except her acting. She didn't appear to struggle at all in the acting business. She hadn't even finished acting school when she was cast simultaneously in two major parts on tv and the stage, and from there, her obvious acting chops and professionalism were always recognized. Except for that one time she botched her audition for the captain of a starship, after which she said something to the effect of "that was a terrible audition and I apologize, but as you can see I am a woman in love and very distracted" - and the love she speaks of there, that was the real love, the one that made her realize all the other loves were fake loves, for whom she dumped her two young children with a local teen for the day to go fishing (it was pouring rain) and hang out in the pub until she got back from driving for two hours to meet him at a hotel with a closed bar. When she got back her children were angry with her for leaving them for so long, so she bought them things to make it up to them. Her love for her children is actually pretty obvious, but her passion and spontaneity mean that she neglects them. Not even for work - if it was just that, I would have sympathy because she needs to work and acting requires long hours - but for passionate loves and wild adventures. I think she loves loving and being loved, but the mundane every day of cultivating and maintaining it bores her. She speaks frankly and (as always) passionately about the daughter she gave up for adoption, but less so about the sons she raised. She speaks of meeting her daughter for the first time as being a wonderful and heartwarming experience, and it was beautifully written. She thanks her sons in the book's acknowledgements, and then extra-thanks her daughter. Having never been pregnant let alone either raised a child or given one up for adoption, I can only guess at how it must feel, but how must her sons feel as she continually left them in the hands of the nanny or babysitter or their father to work and play, all the while pining after the daughter she gave up.
In all - I love her work, she's a talented actress, passionate about life, and I would love to drink with her one day, but I don't think we could be friends.
Kate Mulgrew is a better writer than I was expecting - her prose is lyrical and enthralling. I found it difficult to put this book down, which is why I gave it 3 instead of 2 stars.
Regarding content...as an actress, I can't say it's all that surprising to find that she's very flamboyant and dramatic in the telling of her life as well as the living of it, but even when she was obviously writing from her heart, I found it difficult to find the authentic in it. Her passions run hot and fleeting, at the expense of almost any other thing in her life except her acting. She didn't appear to struggle at all in the acting business. She hadn't even finished acting school when she was cast simultaneously in two major parts on tv and the stage, and from there, her obvious acting chops and professionalism were always recognized. Except for that one time she botched her audition for the captain of a starship, after which she said something to the effect of "that was a terrible audition and I apologize, but as you can see I am a woman in love and very distracted" - and the love she speaks of there, that was the real love, the one that made her realize all the other loves were fake loves, for whom she dumped her two young children with a local teen for the day to go fishing (it was pouring rain) and hang out in the pub until she got back from driving for two hours to meet him at a hotel with a closed bar. When she got back her children were angry with her for leaving them for so long, so she bought them things to make it up to them. Her love for her children is actually pretty obvious, but her passion and spontaneity mean that she neglects them. Not even for work - if it was just that, I would have sympathy because she needs to work and acting requires long hours - but for passionate loves and wild adventures. I think she loves loving and being loved, but the mundane every day of cultivating and maintaining it bores her. She speaks frankly and (as always) passionately about the daughter she gave up for adoption, but less so about the sons she raised. She speaks of meeting her daughter for the first time as being a wonderful and heartwarming experience, and it was beautifully written. She thanks her sons in the book's acknowledgements, and then extra-thanks her daughter. Having never been pregnant let alone either raised a child or given one up for adoption, I can only guess at how it must feel, but how must her sons feel as she continually left them in the hands of the nanny or babysitter or their father to work and play, all the while pining after the daughter she gave up.
In all - I love her work, she's a talented actress, passionate about life, and I would love to drink with her one day, but I don't think we could be friends.
