I, Rhoda by Valerie Harper Audio Book Review

I, Rhoda by Valerie Harper

from Good Reads:
 The heartwarming memoir from beloved, award-winning television actress Valerie Harper.Valerie Harper is finally ready to tell her story. In this, her first memoir, the beloved and award-winning television actress reflects on the role that made her famous—Rhoda Morgenstern on the groundbreaking series The Mary Tyler Moore Show and on the spin-off show Rhoda—and the pressures of helming her own sitcom, Valerie. From her childhood in New Jersey and upstate New York to the beginnings of her acting career as a dancer and chorus girl on Broadway—performing alongside stars like Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason—to her recent battle with lung cancer, Valerie shares the story of her life, both the highs and the lows, in this heartwarming memoir, filled with charming anecdotes about Betty, Lucy, and Mary, to name a few.

My Take:  I like to listen to a good memoir every once in a while so when I got the chance to review this audio book by Valerie Harper I jumped at the chance.  I grew up watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda and I enjoyed her show Valerie so I wanted to learn a little bit more about her.  Let me start off by saying that if you are looking for a smear campaign then this is not the book for you.  According to Valerie Harper everyone that she has worked with was wonderful and talented and gorgeous, even the people that she had the problems with when she lost her own show she really didn't say anything bad about.  She read this book also which I think it might have been better if someone else had read it.  There was just something off to me while I was listening to it, maybe I expected to hear Rhoda's New York accent.  I'm not sure but it didn't quite work for me.  
She did lead a very interesting life and got to meet and work with alot of interesting people (which at times it felt like she was name dropping a bit much).  I thought that it was interesting that her mother would move away and leave her to live in New York by herself when she was still quite young. As a mother I am not sure I would have made the same choice but I don't know the entire situation.  I learned that she had gotten her start on Broadway which I was quite impressed with. I was interested in her journey to adopt her daughter.  I would highly recommend this book if you like Valerie Harper and liked the shows that she was in.  

I received a review copy of this audio book from Simon and Schuster in exchange for my honest opinion.