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tortitudereads's review against another edition
5.0
Ever since I read Becoming by Michelle Obama, I find myself judging political/life memoirs by a harsher standing. Becoming was just a helluva book. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s Senator Next Door ranks up among Becoming for me. Why? Senator Klobuchar like Michelle Obama write with such candor and relevance. I feel like Klobuchar let me into her world and communicated effectively who she is and how she governs. Frankly, she’s relatable and share her vulnerabilities. Further, she has a great sense of humor. I laughed out loud numerous times at her quips and musings. I appreciate this since most political memoirs are just elongated stump speeches with a sprinkling of personality. There is no flavor. Senator Next Door is rich in flavor.
She doesn’t represent me in the senate, since I live in CA. I learned of her only recently. She was being interviewed and she peaked my interest so I bought this book. There is talk she may run for president in 2020, and if she is anything like her book, then I think she’d be fabulous. I highly recommend this to learn more about this change maker. She has recruited me as a fan and if she runs, a supporter.
She doesn’t represent me in the senate, since I live in CA. I learned of her only recently. She was being interviewed and she peaked my interest so I bought this book. There is talk she may run for president in 2020, and if she is anything like her book, then I think she’d be fabulous. I highly recommend this to learn more about this change maker. She has recruited me as a fan and if she runs, a supporter.
phloxyloxy's review against another edition
3.0
Since she just announced she's running for President, and she's been my Senator for most of my adult life, I figured I should dust this off and learn more about her. It provides good background into her family life, working as Hennepin County Attorney, and her first term in the Senate, but it was published in 2015, so there's nothing about our current political climate under Trump. Basically, she isn't a liberal wavemaker, but she does get things done quietly through cooperation with anyone who shares a similar interest. She isn't someone who is flashy and in the news a lot as an obstructionist, and she highly dislikes the current way of governing based on urgency/emergency and not planning ahead.
As far as books go, it was fine, and I found it interesting, but not compelling. As far as candidates go....I'm curious to see what happens with the Dems, and she is probably one of the least polarizing candidates in the race so far.
As far as books go, it was fine, and I found it interesting, but not compelling. As far as candidates go....I'm curious to see what happens with the Dems, and she is probably one of the least polarizing candidates in the race so far.
ifoundtheme's review against another edition
2.0
Two stars as a review of the book, not the person. There's not much driving action, and she recounts gruesome details from murder cases she worked on in more titillating detail than is at all useful to her points.
As a politician, based solely on this book, it sounds like she is a solid representative of the values she grew up with– which might be great representation for Minnesota (I don't know). On a national stage, I would not be really upset if she were elected, but I would be disappointed. She'd do fine assuming we wanted to maintain a roughly linear trend of evolving progressivism; not a great choice for making bold changes in the face of real crisis.
As a politician, based solely on this book, it sounds like she is a solid representative of the values she grew up with– which might be great representation for Minnesota (I don't know). On a national stage, I would not be really upset if she were elected, but I would be disappointed. She'd do fine assuming we wanted to maintain a roughly linear trend of evolving progressivism; not a great choice for making bold changes in the face of real crisis.
toni's review against another edition
3.0
I’m starting my 2020 candidate research, and I was impressed with Amy Klobuchar during the Kavanaugh hearings, so I thought I would start with this one.
This was a little dry in parts, like laying out a resume and getting facts on the record. The fun stories are told in a very factual way with little reflection or emotion, and it was quite the contrast from Michelle Obama’s book.
However, I do know a lot more about Amy Klobuchar now, and she seems very practical, low-drama and sincerely interested in legislating rather than power grabbing. And she seems optimistic, but the book was written in 2015 so I wonder what she thinks now.
The section about her alcoholic (newspaper columnist) father was especially interesting in light of Kavanaugh’s treatment of her during his hearing.
This was a little dry in parts, like laying out a resume and getting facts on the record. The fun stories are told in a very factual way with little reflection or emotion, and it was quite the contrast from Michelle Obama’s book.
However, I do know a lot more about Amy Klobuchar now, and she seems very practical, low-drama and sincerely interested in legislating rather than power grabbing. And she seems optimistic, but the book was written in 2015 so I wonder what she thinks now.
The section about her alcoholic (newspaper columnist) father was especially interesting in light of Kavanaugh’s treatment of her during his hearing.