I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a signed copy of Connie Chung’s memoir last year while attending a talk she gave, but of course, I didn’t get around to reading the book when I got home, so with my newfound foray into audiobooks, it made sense to put her memoir near the top of my list. Thinking about it now, I’m so glad I waited to listen to this one on audio, as hearing Connie narrate her memoir in her own voice made this a much more intimate and immersive experience.
While Connie may not think of herself as extraordinary, many of us who looked up to her would probably beg to differ. As one of the first (and, even to this day, very few) Asian women to break into mainstream news journalism, Connie is absolutely a trailblazer and an icon. As a Chinese girl growing up in Los Angeles back in the 1980s and 1990s, I was thrilled to see a Chinese woman on TV who did not fit into any of the “Asian female” stereotypes that we were expected to abide by. The Connie I remember onscreen was beautiful, fashionable (in my humble opinion, her “Connie hairstyle” set the stage for the “Rachel hairstyle” that came later), outspoken, confident, spoke perfect English, and most importantly, was able to hold her own day-in and day-out in a cutthroat industry dominated by powerful men.
Reading Connie’s memoir was truly enlightening, not only because I knew so little about her outside of what I saw on TV, but also because I was finally able to “meet” (albeit through the pages of a book) a woman I so admired growing up. There were so many things I learned about Connie that I never would have guessed (for example – her incisive wit and self-deprecating humor were things I didn’t know about), yet at the same time, so much of her experience coming up the ranks was also familiar to me because of our shared attributes of being both Chinese and a woman. Reading about Connie’s many instances of having to deal with both overt and covert sexism as well as racism was heartbreaking but of course, not surprising; by contrast, reading about the unwavering love and support that Connie has gotten from the two “rocks” in her life (husband Maury Povich and son Matthew) was heartwarming – it definitely made me happy to see Connie’s life turn out so well.
Unsurprisingly, my favorite parts of the book were when Connie talked about her background (her parents’ and sisters’ journeys from China to the U.S.), her family, her career path, etc. I was of course less keen on the parts involving the political stories she covered (i.e. Watergate and the interviews with various presidents and political leaders) due to my aversion to American politics in general (another advantage of audiobooks is that I could zone out or forward through those bits), but luckily, those parts weren’t too overwhelming.
Overall, Connie’s memoir was an inspiring read and one that I greatly enjoyed, especially on audio. Since I started getting into audiobooks in December, I’ve read 4 memoirs already, 3 of which were narrated by the authors themselves and have been pleasant experiences so far. Based on this, I think I’ve found my “audiobook niche” in the form of memoirs narrated by their respective authors, which I’m definitely excited to continue pursuing. While I intend to read both celebrity and non-celebrity memoirs alike via audiobooks, I’m especially happy about this newfound niche as it pertains to celebrity memoirs, which, traditionally, I very rarely read in print because of the whole ghostwriting thing (a topic that I have strong thoughts about, but that’s for another day). Essentially, a celebrity narrating their own memoir via audiobook makes the book feel more personal and, for me at least, lessens my feeling of being “duped” reading a book that the celebrity may not have actually written.
Looking forward to the memoirs I’ve got lined up over the next couple of months, though I will probably be spacing them out more going forward, since I’ve got a stack of upcoming spring releases that I’m super excited about and definitely need to get to soon!
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