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fran_bielar's review against another edition
2.0
I can appreciate the story of Minka, especially as I rewatch Friday Night Lights and truly see that they are all just kids on this show.
Her story is one of incredible circumstances with so much strength and power from her as a child. She had a really tough upbringing and was able to leave the cycle of abuse, violence and poverty that her family had been in for so long.
I’m sure someone is going to say I’m missing the point but I feel like because she worked so very hard to leave the cycle of her parents, specifically her mom, and to find healing elsewhere (ex: by moving to Austin, working to become a surgical nurse, creating her own kind of family) but then the epilogue is her basically being her mom. Yes she is doing it from a place of comfort and feeling close to her mom but to spend so much of her life doing everything to avoid a stripper pole and drugs, to then find the only therapy that works is ketamine and pole dancing classes… it feels like she went on this whole journey to end up exactly where she would have if she hadn’t done all that hard work.
I don’t think that her end result should negate the work and effort she put in to being a better person. And by no means is she a sex worker for the money to be spent on addiction and neglecting her child - i want to make it clear she is different from her mom in those ways. It just feels like fate/destiny is a at play here more than her hard work. Which then begs the question, if life is going to have a predetermined outcome for you anyways, why would you go through the effort of making the hard choices to have a better life?
Her story is one of incredible circumstances with so much strength and power from her as a child. She had a really tough upbringing and was able to leave the cycle of abuse, violence and poverty that her family had been in for so long.
I’m sure someone is going to say I’m missing the point but I feel like because she worked so very hard to leave the cycle of her parents, specifically her mom, and to find healing elsewhere (ex: by moving to Austin, working to become a surgical nurse, creating her own kind of family) but then the epilogue is her basically being her mom. Yes she is doing it from a place of comfort and feeling close to her mom but to spend so much of her life doing everything to avoid a stripper pole and drugs, to then find the only therapy that works is ketamine and pole dancing classes… it feels like she went on this whole journey to end up exactly where she would have if she hadn’t done all that hard work.
I don’t think that her end result should negate the work and effort she put in to being a better person. And by no means is she a sex worker for the money to be spent on addiction and neglecting her child - i want to make it clear she is different from her mom in those ways. It just feels like fate/destiny is a at play here more than her hard work. Which then begs the question, if life is going to have a predetermined outcome for you anyways, why would you go through the effort of making the hard choices to have a better life?
paigea's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
stephbetley's review against another edition
4.0
Rating: 4.5⭐️
Tell Me Everything was a great read! Not knowing much about Minka Kelly, it was fascinating to learn about her difficult childhood and how she persevered to be where she was at today. I listened to this book and thought Minka's storytelling was easy to follow and engaging! This was one of the better biographies I have read!
Tell Me Everything was a great read! Not knowing much about Minka Kelly, it was fascinating to learn about her difficult childhood and how she persevered to be where she was at today. I listened to this book and thought Minka's storytelling was easy to follow and engaging! This was one of the better biographies I have read!
aschiller3792's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
amkozy23's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Minka's story was so sad and emotional. I actually cried twice while listening to this. You can feel her emotions as she reads in the audiobook. I thought the journey to the person she is now was very inspiring and I loved how she talked about what therapies she tried and how they helped her realize the unhealthy habits she has in relationships. This memoir was everything I look for when reading.
randir18's review against another edition
4.0
*Rated on writing/flow/provoked feels, not content!* I decided to read this book only really knowing Minka Kelly from FNL and Parenthood, and like many others I just assumed she was a byproduct of Hollywood stardom and lived a glorious life. Well, I was WRONG. This memoir was beautifully and honestly told, and very hard to read at times (tw: abuse, drugs/alcohol). I had NO idea about Minka’s life. Her story is truly inspirational and literally brought me to tears several times in the book.
Leaving this quote I loved from near the end of her book: “If I can give one piece of advice to young ladies reading this, it would be to always and consistently invest in your friendships with humility, love, and intention.”
Leaving this quote I loved from near the end of her book: “If I can give one piece of advice to young ladies reading this, it would be to always and consistently invest in your friendships with humility, love, and intention.”
bethmara's review against another edition
5.0
From her riveting performances in "Friday Night Lights" to other TV shows, Minka Kelly has always captured my attention. Let's face it, she's shockingly gorgeous and utterly telegenic. But under that is not at all what I had presumed and after hearing her interview on the Armchair Expert podcast, I felt compelled to dig into into her autobiography. I don't typically listen to books that are narrated (there's something I love about pages and reading), but if you have a chance to hear her quiet power reading her own story, it will evoke a sense of a child coming to terms with her mom.
Minka's journey is filled with raw emotions, challenging choices to find family and love, and a relentless struggle to rise from violence and poverty. Her tales, often tinged with sadness, reflect a reality that resonates with women raised by well-meaning but addicted, uneducated, and under-resourced single mothers. While some truths about violence and poverty are hard-hitting, don't expect Hollywood gossip here; she sidesteps those matters, which is a bit disappointing if I'm honest. That was a critical period of her life and the gap is noticable.
What struck me most was Minka's profound self-awareness and complexity. She knows other characters in her life have different understanding of events, acknowledges it and moves forward largely unapologetically. You go girl! She really is the slowly evolving hero of her own story.
In her interview (which would be a great companion to the book) include her decision to have no children and strategy of close female friendships and an unconventional approach with near-daily use of mushrooms to treat despair– all offer a glimpse into the mind of an intriguing and multifaceted woman.
While the book's underlying themes of trauma might make it a challenging read for some, it's an enlightening and enriching experience. Pair it with her interview, and you have a powerful combination that illuminates her life and thoughts. I hope she writes more!
Minka's journey is filled with raw emotions, challenging choices to find family and love, and a relentless struggle to rise from violence and poverty. Her tales, often tinged with sadness, reflect a reality that resonates with women raised by well-meaning but addicted, uneducated, and under-resourced single mothers. While some truths about violence and poverty are hard-hitting, don't expect Hollywood gossip here; she sidesteps those matters, which is a bit disappointing if I'm honest. That was a critical period of her life and the gap is noticable.
What struck me most was Minka's profound self-awareness and complexity. She knows other characters in her life have different understanding of events, acknowledges it and moves forward largely unapologetically. You go girl! She really is the slowly evolving hero of her own story.
In her interview (which would be a great companion to the book) include her decision to have no children and strategy of close female friendships and an unconventional approach with near-daily use of mushrooms to treat despair– all offer a glimpse into the mind of an intriguing and multifaceted woman.
While the book's underlying themes of trauma might make it a challenging read for some, it's an enlightening and enriching experience. Pair it with her interview, and you have a powerful combination that illuminates her life and thoughts. I hope she writes more!
arv5005's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Some people should not be parents.