Customer Reviews

Hoda: How I Survived War Zones, Bad Hair, Cancer, and Kathie Lee

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The year 2007 was one of the worst for Today Show co-host Hoda Kotb. Not only did she discover her husband's infidelity, but she was also diagnosed with breast cancer. A real nightmare. However, those hard times gave her a confidence she'd never known she'd had before. Her mantra became "you can't scare me!" and she took life by the horns. Her memoir not only details that difficult part of her life, but also her upbringing by her loving Egyptian immigrant parents, covering big stories like Hurricane Katrina, and playfully duking it out every morning with her co-host Kathie Lee. You'll guffaw (she's REALLY FUNNY!), tear up, and smile. Keep on goin', Hoda!

I have always admired Hoda Kotb, ever since she was a reporter in our city of New Orleans -- everyone loved Hoda. Her voice and her smile are always genuine whether on air, on the sidewalk, and now in her book.

It was interesting to learn about the education and leadership of Hoda's family in Eqypt and in the USA. The reader really gets to know her and enjoy her family relationships, especially her Mom who is quite a character and generously shares her recipes too. Hoda's crisis with cancer is inspirational and educational, while further deepening the support and relationship with her family.

Everyone can identify at some time with Hoda. For example, being an African American woman, I sure could identify with her hair woes as an Egyptian woman. Sibling relationships, typical sneaky teen episodes, and cultural clashes were insightful as well as fun.

Despite some of the lightheartedness, her strong character is clearly revealed. She was appropriately forthcoming about her failed marriage, but with the decency not to reveal her ex-husband's name which says a lot about her character and civility. Her crisis with breast cancer is inspirational and educational. On the subject of Katrina, I greatly appreciated her unbiased reporting while expressing her love for the City and its citizens.

There were episodes so down right hilarious that I had to laugh out loud. This is a good read, and I learned a great deal about the media and reporting from inside the profession. Through HOda's generosity and insight, I even got to like Kathy Lee Gifford!

I have had many opportunities to be in the same room, at the same function, and to speak with Hoda Kotb throughout the last seventeen years or so. She has been the guest at many club functions and the guest speaker at others.

I can still remember my first encounter with Hoda. I met up with her to escort her to an event that I was chairing where she had agreed to be the guest speaker. She was so bubbly and friendly, and was never quiet! If she wasn't talking, she was humming. She immediately captivated me. She has the ability to draw an audience in and hold them captive, no one wants to miss a word of what she is saying.

So, when she mentioned her book on the Today Show, I knew there was no way I was not going to read it. When I picked up the book to read it, before I even opened the cover, I was hoping that it would be like having a conversation with her. I was not disappointed. Her humor comes through ten-fold. It was like catching up with an old friend. So, Hoda, if you ever come across my review, I am a friend of Laura's (in South Louisiana because I'm sure you will not remember me!)

I hope you enjoyed the quotes (I wanted to quote the entire book) and it makes you want to pick up the book and read it. If you enjoy watching Hoda on the Today Show, you will enjoy reading this book.

The best autobiographies are ones that combine good writing with great candor and insight. If the writer cannot manage all three, best to go for candor. Unfortunately Hoda fails on all accounts. The writing is not bad but doesn't feel very candid. She doesn't write very much about her ethnicity even though she says this is the question she is asked the most. "I sometimes offend people by accidentally betraying 'our' ethnic group. One that I didn't realize I was in -- huh?" She doesn't appear to identify with either African-Americans or White Americans, which is her right but I wished she delved more into how that played out in her work and social life in this very race-conscious country.

Also the man she says she dated for 12 years and married for 2 gets all of 2 pages in the book. He cheated on her which ended the marriage but she has very little to say about what happened; did she try to work it out; how did she handle this while going through breast cancer?

The parts of the book she does spend time on are her breast cancer treatment and various stories she covered for Dateline. I enjoyed reading the behind the scenes anecdotes of her journalistic career but didn't learn much about her colleagues except Kathie Lee. I guess she didn't want to spill the beans on folks she is still working with. She mentions in passing that she sacrificed her personal life for her career (to explain why she did not get married until age 41) but doesn't expand on it. After she has her breast removed she has to take a pill for 5 years to ensure that cancer doesnt come back which has a side effect of making the body uninhabitable for a baby. Here's all she says about that: "By choosing to take it, I also lost a choice about my future. Cruel but I'm alive so I can't complain. I'll bet you've had to make some crappy decisions in your life too." The end.

Can't say I recommend it highly but it will kill a few hours harmlessly on a airplane.

Hoda has written a 3 and 1/2 star book with stories that will make her dedicated fans happy but it lacks the depth necessary to make an outstanding autobiography. She dislikes having the spotlight on her and gives the reader little insight into anything beyond the surface.

The structure of the book is good--she opens by introducing the players in her life and ends by telling what happened to some of the people. In between she tells you a little about her growing up years, where her family moved a lot and she fought with her siblings. But she fails to give any insightful, detailed stories about herself (preferring to focus on her parents and her hair). She also says nothing about religion in the book--was she raised in a religious faith? Possibly Muslim? It's odd that she would never address the issue since she is so passionate about her Egyptian background.

She goes into detail about some of her jobs over the years, but completely skips some places of employment. There is not one story in the book from her two years in Moline, even though she gives lots of space to her eight months in Mississippi. She seems to go out of her way to not mention some jobs--did she hate the places or what? She does talk about a couple "reporting from the war" foreign Dateline stories but even there sounds like a wimp who complains a lot and turns down a chance to take a big war correspondent position.

It is completely unclear why she was chosen for her network jobs since her talent or background don't seem to support the positions she was given. She doesn't address the issue, but could her ethnic background be part of it?

She spends about 45 pages on her breast cancer, which is plenty because her approach is very old fashioned. In this day and age it seems odd that she would be so fearful of telling the public that she had cancer, but that is her theme. Her health story is nothing special, except for the fact that she decided to split from her new husband the same week she found out she had breast cancer (she found text messages from another woman to him).

Hoda says almost nothing else about her marriage--very odd since they were together as a couple for 16 years (only married for two of those). After reading this book it's obvious that she has some serious issues that she can't seem to see in herself or acknowledge, so she doesn't accept blame in the divorce.

There is also a weird detour where she consults an astrologer. And she wants us to take her seriously as a journalist?

She surprisingly says little about Kathie Lee (which Kathie Lee pointed out after reading the book!). You would think with KL's name on the cover that there would be more behind-the-scenes stories about her co-host. Hoda also says little about some of the Today players, most notably Matt Lauer. She doesn't seem that excited about her job--continually saying that she feels she is compromising her journalistic standards by focusing on the entertainment portion of the show. Most everything she talks about is either something we've already heard on the show or "I love my co-workers" cheerleading.

Overall, I personally found the book lacking because doesn't contain enough new personal insights to make it a success. BUT fans of Hoda will ignore the weaknesses and love every page of it (see all the five-star reviews) because she shares familiar stories and they will feel sorry for her (bad marriage, breast cancer, getting dirty in the war zone, can't have kids, etc.). Since I'm not a "super fan" but an interested media observer, after reading it I don't feel sorry for her--instead I wonder what her problem is because she has a big wall up that doesn't get let down in this book and she still doesn't seem happy with her life.

Hoda woman ... you did good ... one minute I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to be incontinent. But then I went on to discover another chapter that caused tears of pain. Reconciling the two emotional reactions was made less difficult by your admontion ... you can't scare me! Great read ... cleverly honet.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Hoda's account of her journey in life. Her stories are honest and heartfelt. She has overcome so many obstacles and is an inspiration to us all. Thanks for sharing, Hoda! Sharon Brooks, author of "If Your Parents Divorced, Will You Too?"

I love this book. Hoda is so much fun and is every women's girlfriend. I read this book while in the hospital, caring for my mom who has liver cancer. This made me laugh and gasp with shock. It also made me feel for others and get me out of my own pity party for my mother. I highly recommend it for women to read...not so much for men.

The item was great. I received it within a week of ordering. The problem that I have is that,I brought it with a gift card and I had a lot of problems paying and currently have money leftover that I can not spend. It took 45 mins. to and 1 hour to get the system to accept my items. I finally had to just cut down my order and get one item.

My mother wanted this for Christmas, so I purchased it for her. She is really pleased with it and enjoyed the read.