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onmalsshelf 's review for:
Live Your Life: My Story of Loving and Losing Nick Cordero
by Amanda Kloots
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Thank you LibroFM and HarperAudio for this ALC. This is my very honest review.
I hope that Nick's memory is a blessing and wish his family all of the best.
While I understand that having a loved one dying from COVID is heartbreaking and sharing that story is opening yourself up to experience that heartache again, these are my thoughts on this memoir.
This is the first memoir that I have ever read that has made me lose all respect for someone.
That being said, I cannot recommend this memoir to anyone who has lost anyone to COVID as this memoir comes off as tone deaf and privileged. I personally think that the story of Nick Cordero and Nick himself deserves better than the words in the memoir.
I feel mislead. I first learned of Amanda and Nick in 2020, when the Today Show shared their story and the GoFundMe that Amanda had started. I didn't follow their story too closely, and was honestly confused on when she was added to the cast of Dancing with the Stars 2021. I had gained a lot of respect for her after watching her on DWTS and after listening to her share her story on DWTS. However, now I don't think I have any respect for her.
One of my biggest issues with this is the lies. She used her "army" as she called them to call in favors for her and her family. She wasn't honest with her followers and misleading people that look up to around the world? Disgraceful. Amanda had a GoFundMe going all the while she had celebrity friends sending her meal trains, supplying houses for her and her family to use, and PAYING for additional, private doctors even though Nick was already at one of the best hospitals in the country. Celebrities and LA influencers also used their followers to raise more money for her. While the GoFundMe was supposed to be used to renovate her house for Nick were to be released from the hospital, she didn't stop using that money after he died. That to me, just feels wrong.
Not to mention she called a house supplied to her and her family by a celebrity's wife as their "own personal resort" while others around the world were struggling to stay in their homes while losing loved ones really hit me as wrong.
It also seemed that while she tried to explain she knew she was privileged with what she got to do during Nick's time in the hospital, it still screamed entitlement to me. She got to visit him a lot, got to get into bed with him, played music in the ICU, and threw tantrums at not being able to seem him every day. All the while there were people all over the US just hoping to get time on FaceTime with a loved one to say goodbye.
I also don't think she really acknowledged just how much stress the healthcare workers were under during this time and that the doctors working with Nick had other patients. Healthcare workers deserve better.
She briefly mentioned the protests that broke out after George Floyd's death, but didn't fail to make it seem like they were a huge inconvenience to her and that she and her family still expected people to supply meals for them when LA was under a curfew.
She somehow used connections to get family across the Canadian border and my heartaches after hearing the story of Nick's mom and what she has gone through. HOWEVER, I'm sure there are many Americans, and Canadians, that would've loved to be able to cross the border (when it was basically closed) to say goodbye to loved ones.
One thing she said that she told Nick while he was sick was, " I don't know what I'll do without you", well as of January 4, 2022, here is what she has done:
- Published a book within a year of his death (finished it within 6 months of his death)
- Became a talk show host on The Talk
- Joined DWTS for the most recent season
Yes she's making a life for her and Nick's son, but some of her actions just don't sit right with me when millions of other Americans are still picking up the pieces and struggling to get by after losing loved ones to COVID.
I hope that Nick's memory is a blessing and wish his family all of the best.
While I understand that having a loved one dying from COVID is heartbreaking and sharing that story is opening yourself up to experience that heartache again, these are my thoughts on this memoir.
This is the first memoir that I have ever read that has made me lose all respect for someone.
That being said, I cannot recommend this memoir to anyone who has lost anyone to COVID as this memoir comes off as tone deaf and privileged. I personally think that the story of Nick Cordero and Nick himself deserves better than the words in the memoir.
I feel mislead. I first learned of Amanda and Nick in 2020, when the Today Show shared their story and the GoFundMe that Amanda had started. I didn't follow their story too closely, and was honestly confused on when she was added to the cast of Dancing with the Stars 2021. I had gained a lot of respect for her after watching her on DWTS and after listening to her share her story on DWTS. However, now I don't think I have any respect for her.
One of my biggest issues with this is the lies. She used her "army" as she called them to call in favors for her and her family. She wasn't honest with her followers and misleading people that look up to around the world? Disgraceful. Amanda had a GoFundMe going all the while she had celebrity friends sending her meal trains, supplying houses for her and her family to use, and PAYING for additional, private doctors even though Nick was already at one of the best hospitals in the country. Celebrities and LA influencers also used their followers to raise more money for her. While the GoFundMe was supposed to be used to renovate her house for Nick were to be released from the hospital, she didn't stop using that money after he died. That to me, just feels wrong.
Not to mention she called a house supplied to her and her family by a celebrity's wife as their "own personal resort" while others around the world were struggling to stay in their homes while losing loved ones really hit me as wrong.
It also seemed that while she tried to explain she knew she was privileged with what she got to do during Nick's time in the hospital, it still screamed entitlement to me. She got to visit him a lot, got to get into bed with him, played music in the ICU, and threw tantrums at not being able to seem him every day. All the while there were people all over the US just hoping to get time on FaceTime with a loved one to say goodbye.
I also don't think she really acknowledged just how much stress the healthcare workers were under during this time and that the doctors working with Nick had other patients. Healthcare workers deserve better.
She briefly mentioned the protests that broke out after George Floyd's death, but didn't fail to make it seem like they were a huge inconvenience to her and that she and her family still expected people to supply meals for them when LA was under a curfew.
She somehow used connections to get family across the Canadian border and my heartaches after hearing the story of Nick's mom and what she has gone through. HOWEVER, I'm sure there are many Americans, and Canadians, that would've loved to be able to cross the border (when it was basically closed) to say goodbye to loved ones.
One thing she said that she told Nick while he was sick was, " I don't know what I'll do without you", well as of January 4, 2022, here is what she has done:
- Published a book within a year of his death (finished it within 6 months of his death)
- Became a talk show host on The Talk
- Joined DWTS for the most recent season
Yes she's making a life for her and Nick's son, but some of her actions just don't sit right with me when millions of other Americans are still picking up the pieces and struggling to get by after losing loved ones to COVID.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content