Scan barcode
Reviews
Moving Forward: A Story of Hope, Hard Work, and the Promise of America by Karine Jean-Pierre
charlottejones952's review
3.0
Since the 2016 election of Donald Trump, I have been plugged into American politics; whether it be reading countless books on the topic, watching American news shows, or reading British coverage of the happenings, I'm fascinated. Karine Jean-Pierre is one of the faces I've seen across the coverage so when I saw she had a book out I was intrigued to learn more about her story.
A Haitian gay black woman in today's America, Karine gives insight into an upbringing very different from my own. She delves into the secrecy perpetuated in Haitian culture, stigma surrounding mental health issues, the problem with affiliating yourself with a political candidate and much more. For the most part, my attention was grabbed and I needed to learn more about the idea of canvassing and campaigning for a particular candidate. This was particularly interesting when it came to the portions about Obama.
However, there were a few things that lowered my opinion of this book and the first one was the medium itself. I listened to Move Forward on audiobook and unfortunately, despite the author's eloquence on television, I found the narration to be stilted with odd pauses in the middle of sentences. Also there are some tough topics discussed including suicide, sexual violence and sexual abuse and I felt that these were handled quite clumsily. Of course it is Karine Jean-Pierre's story so it is hers to tell, but I felt like these topics came up out of the blue and were spoken about in such a matter of fact way that it was difficult to concentrate for a few minutes after each of these sections. I'm glad that she was honest about difficulties in her life but I feel that some people may be triggered by the way they were presented.
Overall, I sped through this book and it gave me a real insight into the life of Karine Jean-Pierre. If you are interested in American politics and are familiar with the author's television appearances, you may enjoy it but I feel that it would be better read on the page rather than listened to.
3 out of 5 stars!
A Haitian gay black woman in today's America, Karine gives insight into an upbringing very different from my own. She delves into the secrecy perpetuated in Haitian culture, stigma surrounding mental health issues, the problem with affiliating yourself with a political candidate and much more. For the most part, my attention was grabbed and I needed to learn more about the idea of canvassing and campaigning for a particular candidate. This was particularly interesting when it came to the portions about Obama.
However, there were a few things that lowered my opinion of this book and the first one was the medium itself. I listened to Move Forward on audiobook and unfortunately, despite the author's eloquence on television, I found the narration to be stilted with odd pauses in the middle of sentences. Also there are some tough topics discussed including suicide, sexual violence and sexual abuse and I felt that these were handled quite clumsily. Of course it is Karine Jean-Pierre's story so it is hers to tell, but I felt like these topics came up out of the blue and were spoken about in such a matter of fact way that it was difficult to concentrate for a few minutes after each of these sections. I'm glad that she was honest about difficulties in her life but I feel that some people may be triggered by the way they were presented.
Overall, I sped through this book and it gave me a real insight into the life of Karine Jean-Pierre. If you are interested in American politics and are familiar with the author's television appearances, you may enjoy it but I feel that it would be better read on the page rather than listened to.
3 out of 5 stars!
hippiegrrl's review
4.0
As my first review on Net Galley, I am feeling a great deal of pressure to get this right, but Karine Jean-Pierre has made my job much less difficult with her lovely memoir. Moving Forward focuses on her childhood in Queens and the daily work that is required of the eldest child of an immigrant couple, her own journey to naturalized citizenship, and her subsequent lively political and media career.
Sharing the same birth year I felt at one with Jean-Pierre as she traced her youth and early adulthood in the 1980s and 90s. She has a wonderful way with words and although our experiences are vastly different I was quite drawn in by the narrative. Her writing style helped me feel closer to her and the people in her universe. This is exactly what a good memoir should do.
Jean-Pierre's retelling of aspects of her time in government, on various political campaigns and, ultimately, in the White House on the staff of President Obama, offers a clear and concise window into both the inner-workings of a campaign and the funny, sad, heart-wrenching, and joyous things that can happen along the way. It is by no means a comprehensive look at any one campaign, but the details she provided gave me just enough information to hold my continued interest.
I also greatly appreciated the additional information she provided on media awareness and specific news sources, pundits, and reporters that she feels are worthy of a readers time. Jean-Pierre has written this book to be used as somewhat of a manual for future politicos, explaining how she navigated that space through a successful career, but it is still quite a wonderful read for those of us that want to be involved at a more local level or just participate through our votes.
If you are looking for an interesting political memoir, Moving Forward is most definitely the book for you.
Sharing the same birth year I felt at one with Jean-Pierre as she traced her youth and early adulthood in the 1980s and 90s. She has a wonderful way with words and although our experiences are vastly different I was quite drawn in by the narrative. Her writing style helped me feel closer to her and the people in her universe. This is exactly what a good memoir should do.
Jean-Pierre's retelling of aspects of her time in government, on various political campaigns and, ultimately, in the White House on the staff of President Obama, offers a clear and concise window into both the inner-workings of a campaign and the funny, sad, heart-wrenching, and joyous things that can happen along the way. It is by no means a comprehensive look at any one campaign, but the details she provided gave me just enough information to hold my continued interest.
I also greatly appreciated the additional information she provided on media awareness and specific news sources, pundits, and reporters that she feels are worthy of a readers time. Jean-Pierre has written this book to be used as somewhat of a manual for future politicos, explaining how she navigated that space through a successful career, but it is still quite a wonderful read for those of us that want to be involved at a more local level or just participate through our votes.
If you are looking for an interesting political memoir, Moving Forward is most definitely the book for you.
More...