Audio Review: I, Rhoda by Valerie Harper

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 Showand 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 (Goodreads)

"We're going to make it after all...."

I really wasn't a Mary Tyler Moore fan. I was a freak and geek about Maude, Golden Girls, One Day at a Time and Alice. But my good friend, Cheryl, LOVES the show. I would have to listen to her love for it when we were living together many years back. I know it's going to be right up my alley so I finally requested the first season of the show from the library. 

Just because I didn't watch Mary Tyler Moore does not, however, mean that I don't love Valerie Harper. I was a huge Valerie (and then The Hogan Family) fan. Remember that show? I had to say yes to reviewing this on audio. I didn't expect reading it would be as fun as listening to Valerie herself narrate her life in her raspy, New York voice.

This was really sweet and fun. She dives into a little bit of her troubles with eating, her cancer scare and her troubles with some network folks over Valerie but overall, it's just a fun listen to her journey through acting. She starts us off with her love of dancing, her early years in theater, to network TV star, to movie star, to mom, and so on and so forth.

For all of the "celebrity" memoirs out there, this one was worth the listen. I liked that it wasn't filled with over the top drama or life lessons. Straight forward, simple with a little sass, just like Ms. Harper.

Thanks for Simon and Schuster Audio for sending me a copy to review. Click here for a listen.

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child