Cover Image: Rough Draft

Rough Draft

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Member Reviews

MSNBC news anchor Katy Dur recounts a lifetime of chasing news. Her parents Marika Gerard and Bob (now Zoey) Tur gained fame and wealth as helicopter journalists covering such events as O.J. Simpson's car chase before losing it all. At times her childhood was magical, but her abusive father's unpredictable behavior left her with a complicated relationship, even before her father transitioned to a woman. Telling of her own rise from local reporter to foreign correspondent and eventually news anchor, Tur ponders on the roles and responsibilities of journalists.

After writing about her work on Trump's 2016 campaign in Unbreakable, Katy Tur's latest memoir felt more like a rough draft. Rough Draft focuses on three themes: Tur's relationship with her father, her adult life and career, and her thoughts on journalism. Yet the themes didn't intertwine well making the memoir feel rather unresolved on all fronts. I wish that Tur had waited another 5-10 years to add a few more chapters and a little more introspection.

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I found this memoir really interesting and couldn't put it down. She's led a fascinating life- from her upbringing with helicopter news team parents, an abusive father, to her journalism career and covering Trump's 2016 campaign. Along the way she deals with tough family relationships, navigating a career and finding herself. Great writing and storytelling.

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This book gave me such a heartfelt look at the authors life and backstory. It had me hooked to the pages with her words and vivid details. Amazing.

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Rough Draft is Katy Turs second memoir, the first being Unbelievable: My Front Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in History. Katy talks of motherhood, journalism and her fathers transition to a woman. I enjoyed this book.

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I thoroughly enjoyed reading Tur’s memoir. As one would expect, she’s concise, descriptive and humorous at times. To say the least, she’s led a fascinating life—from the time she was a child to now with children of her own.

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This one has been a huge hit with my patrons, I'm not sure if it's a book club pick, but its definitely a first round purchase for libraries across demographics

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DNF. Unfortunately, this was a book I started multiple times but could just not get into. I appreciate having the opportunity to read this book, it was just not a good fit for me as a reader. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.

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Katy Tur is a great MSNBC reporter, who has lived a very interesting life since childhood. Her parents were adventure reporters, providing some of the OJ Simpson white bronco footage among other things. It was an exciting way to grow up, but not very stable. And her relationship with her father became even more fraught when he called to tell her that he was becoming a she. The memoir talks about her family life, as well as her life becoming a reporter, and all the challenges she faced. Interesting read. #roughdraft #katytur #bookstagram #memoir #booklover #bookblogger #lovetoread #booksbooksbooks #bookloversofinstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readallday #readersofinstagram

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This memoir focuses mainly on Katy Tur’s television career, with a fair amount of stories about her parents, their helicopter news service, and her father’s transition from Bob to Zoey. I listened to an audiobook copy read by the author. Her parent’s pioneering news service was fascinating. Her strained relationship with her difficult father does help explain her ability to cope with the Trump campaign, as described in a previous book, Unbelievable. An interesting read for me.

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I have appreciated and enjoyed Katy Tur as a journalist over the past several years. She brings a lot to the table in terms of her analysis, thoughtful questions, and integrity. This book is my first read from her and it did not disappoint. She tells her story here and melds her private life together with the very public aspect of her life. She followed the Rump years closely and endured being singled out by him for doing her job in a way that he didn’t like. The story of what she has seen and lived and reported are within these pages and intriguing for the reader. I would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy politics or biographical reads.

#RoughDraft #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #OneSignalPublishing

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I really enjoy Katy Tur as a journalist and love watching her show. Even though I knew the story of the 2016 campaign and follow politics more closely than the majority of people, I found her book, “Unbelievable”, to be a page turner and couldn’t wait to read whatever she wrote next. I find her writing style to be relatable, serious without being dry, and, at times, humorous. I burned through this book quickly. The stories of her parents and childhood are wild - growing up cruising around in a helicopter while her parents covered breaking news. There were unexpectedly emotional portions as well such as her difficult relationship with her trans parent and the story of her son’s birth. I can’t wait to read another book by Katy; keep them coming!

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Rough Draft, by Katy Tur, is a quilt of many genres from coming of age to political and social commentary. It is notable for the brutal honesty with which she shares her family history, her career beginnings, her conflicts about combining work and parenting, and her fears for journalism and our country. This is a fast read...Tur covers a lot of territory with the same efficiency of language you would expect from a reporter. As a MSNBC viewer, I was well aware of her reporting, including her time covering former President Trump. However, I knew nothing about her background or personal life. Did I wonder? No. Does it matter to me? No. But, I am glad I read her book. It made me think about the influences that shape who we are, and how we impact our children and others. It made me think about how honest we are with ourselves and the important people in our lives.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria/One Signal Publishers for the opportunity to read a digital ARC. Thanks to Katy Tur for your willingness to share so much.

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Thank you to Atria/One Signal for providing an ARC on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

I first heard of Katy Tur in her memoir Unbelievable, so I was excited to read a more personal account of her childhood and relationship with her father, Zoey, after her transition. I enjoyed Katy's account of her parents' news business, her start in journalism and well-known relationship with Keith Olbermann, and how agreeing to cover Trump on a whim made her career. The parallels she drew between Trump and her father were compelling and helped explain her success on that assignment. She's also honest about her relationship with husband Tony, the complexities of balancing two careers, and the difficulties of being a mother and a news anchor.

This is a compelling read, and I recommend it to readers who enjoy memoirs!

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I read Katy Tur's first book "Unbelievable" so I really enjoyed this new book "Rough Draft" . Rough Draft shares Kate's journey as she comes to understand the impact of her family of origin and how she has sometimes lived in reaction to that upbringing. I think many will enjoy this story!
Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

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I loved Katy Tury's memoir Rough Draft.. This chronicle.about her crazy upbringing was fascinating as was how that helped her tolerate and even, at times, understand candidate and president Trump fascinating.

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I’ve admired Katy Tur, since observing how she handled herself when 45 singled her out and did his best to make her life miserable. Somehow, though, I missed a lot of the baby-making years, despite watching MSNBC almost exclusively.

Reading Katy’s writing is like sitting down with a friend, and letting her fill you in on all you missed since you last got together. She seems open and direct, and is quite open about her fears and “imposter syndrome.”

I must add I thought I came from an unusual upbringing, but Katy’s childhood experiences make mine sound almost normal.

Can’t wait to recommend this to several of my friends who read.

So impressed.

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Katy Tur does it again with a fascinating, fun, unique read. I enjoyed the personal sections about her childhood and relationship with her mother & father the most. I could have done without the few chapters related to Trump & her media job in 2016-ish, as this was covered in the first book. Overall. I'd recommend this to anyone, whether interested in media or not, as Katy writes honesty and personally. I read this in one sitting.

Thanks to #netgalley for the copy!

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This second book of Tur is well done. How she and her family dealt with her father transitioning to female was heartfelt and at time maddening. Some of the story overlaps with her book on following Trump during his run for President. This fills in many more details about Katy’s life before and after.

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Wow, Rough Draft was quite a ride! I was only vaguely familiar with Katy Tur prior to reading this, but the description was intriguing. I wasn't let down! She was born into a news family, with her parents pioneering live reporting via helicopter and covered some of the most notorious news events in L.A. in the 1980s and 1990s, including the 1992 riots and OJ Simpson car chase. She documents her exciting but tumultuous childhood and her foray into journalism and eventual spot as MSNBC anchor. I loved being in the backseat for her exciting world-traversing life. The most poignant but frustrating parts of the memoir was her relationship with her father. Her father transitioned to female as adult. She always had a larger than life personality, but was also very hot-tempered, making family relationships increasingly difficult and complicated. I highly recommend Rough Draft if you're looking for a captivating memoir!

Thank you Atria Books and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

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This is the first I have read of Katy Tur- though I was familiar with her from TV. I will have to go back to read her other memoir as I found her fascinating. Her childhood was almost unreal- though working in TV news myself I know how insane it is. I thought she did a fantastic job of telling her story- her truth- while being respectful of her family. I feel like there is so much for her to talk about this book could have been 3x the size it was but it was nicely edited and I feel we got a true glimpse inside her life as a journalist and then mother.
Thank you NetGalley, and Atria Publishing for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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