A well written narrative of this inspiring actor and person. Shapiro gives us a real glimpse into the woman who charmed us in Dick Van Dyke and then became the poster woman for feminism in Mary Tyler Moore show.

Grounding this book in the woman's movement Shapiro does a delightful job of melding Moore's sometimes turbulent in the context of her time. It is a symbiotic relationship between Moore's roles and the political period.

Highly recommend

I love Mary Tyler Moore, so this was a must read. Linking her to important times of the women's movement was an interesting angle. I enjoyed this book a great deal, but the author refers so often to other books that I am intrigued to read all the other books now. Which is not a bad thing!

I received this book "You’re Gonna Make It After All : The Life, Times and Influence of Mary Tyler Moore " from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. I tried two times to actually read this book and both times I had to stop. It's a DNF for me. I really liked Mary Tyler Moore and I thought it would be smooth reading but unfortunately the words did not flow for me.

This is a great overall look into the life of the legendary Mart Tyler Moore! Mary is one of those stars of Hollywood's Golden Age that nearly everyone knows, but who most people know very little about. Mary led a life that was often rocky, but that never stopped her from seeing the good and working toward it. Would definitely recommend this book for anyone who is curious about one of televisions biggest influencers!

Mary Tyler Moore a 60's and 70's icon the woman every little girl wanted to aspire to become. Her accomplishment, as well as her tragedies, are all part of wh she was. A very well written book by someone who truly admired her. A must read for any Laura Petrie or Mary Richards fan.

Thank you to Netgalley and Riverdale Avenue Books for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a pre-teen and teenager when I first watched the reruns of the Mary Tyler Moore show in the mid to late 1970’s. I would come home from school every day and watch an episode Monday to Friday. Mary was probably the first role-model (that wasn’t a teacher) that I had with respect to women working outside of the home, being independent and confident in herself and her abilities. Many women have credited the influence that the Mary Tyler Moore show had on their lives as young women including myself, so when I had an opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance.

I thought that the author, Marc Shapiro, took an interesting and new approach to writing a biography on Mary Tyler Moore. While he covered all the areas of her life, he also recognized (and credited) the fact that she had already written two memoirs prior to her death and so the focus of this book was more how she influenced women, society and the feminist movement.

It is interesting to note that while her character on the MTM show echoed many of the intrinsic values of the feminist movement, Mary herself, did not identify as a feminist and was reluctant to be considered a spokesperson for it despite the fact that her co-star, Valerie Harper, enthusiastically endorsed the movement. I also found it interesting that because Mary moved from her parent’s home at eighteen directly into a marriage and soon after motherhood, it wasn’t until later in life when she was divorced and single that she actually started experiencing some of the same life situations as her character from the MTM show. She seemed to take a certain pride in becoming an independent woman on her own, doing what she wanted, when she wanted and accountable to no one.

As we all know, Mary had many other acting jobs other than the MTM show and the author touches on all areas of Mary’s career including her first big break which was the Dick Van Dyke show. He writes about her difficulties trying to recapture that success again after the MTM show finished but each show that she tried always fell short. It seemed like the world had moved on and the television viewing audience was not interested in seeing her in any other role than MTM. She did have other successes later in life such as her roles in Ordinary People, Stolen Babies and Heartsounds.

Marc also covers the subject of Mary being diagnosed as a diabetic and her struggles with alcoholism which she eventually dealt with later in life by entering the Betty Ford clinic.

Mary lost her only child, Richie, when he was a young man from an accident with a gun and she never really got over his death, not only because of lost future opportunities with him and possibly future grandchildren, but in the feelings of guilt that she had because she knew that she hadn’t in some respects been a good mother to Richie. Mary was candid in examining her guilt with respect to her spending an unequal and unbalanced amount of time and effort on her career versus motherhood.

I think that the author did a good job incorporating the many quotes from Mary that had been captured over the years from her books and various interviews. Because of this, I felt that the book was quite accurate in his portrayal of this woman who touched so many lives.

I gave this book a four star rating on Goodreads and recommend it if you have any interest in this actor.

I have loved Mary Tyler Moore since I was a child. I have read her books and others written about her. I was excited to see this by Marc Shapiro and immediately requested a copy. I did know a lot of history on Mary, but Marc writes very fluidly and clean. I love how respectful this book is and enjoyed revisiting the life of Mary Tyler Moore. Her character and class is truly missed.
Thank you Riverdale Avenue Books and to Mr.Shapiro for the opportunity to enjoy this book.

Having grown up watching the Mary Tyler Moore show I was very excited to read this book. It takes an interesting look at Mary's acting career. He compares the women's right movement with the different characters that MTM plays. As a youngster when I watched the show I didn't realize how much of a trailblazer she was for women even back during the Dick Van Dyke show days. One thing I did find funny was that MTM had to fight to wear pants on the DVD show and advertisers threatened to pull their advertisements from the show. There was actually a written rule about having twin beds in couples bedrooms on TV. Oh how far we have come, not necessarily for the better. I knew about the diabetes that MTM suffered from but not the alcoholism, nor the estrangement from her only son. She worked steadily up until the end. Her last guest appearance on the show Hot in Cleveland with several MTM cast mates. While Mary and a young girl in Alabama thought the MTM show was about a 30 something getting a job in a newsroom many felt that MTM was paving a way for women in the world of work. I'll leave that for you to decide.

A cursory biography of Mary Tyler Moore. The writing became sloppier and the chapters more disjointed as the book went on, and I suspect a lot of the material (much recycled from other books -- including Moore's autobiographies -- and websites) is nothing new to fans. But it was interesting to learn more about the life of the woman who lit up the television in The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the changing times of the '60s and '70s and continued to do so for later generations via syndication.

5 stars for this book written soon after Mary Tyler Moore passed away. This book is full of fun facts and interesting tidbits about her life as well as the last 8 years of her life.
I enjoyed the authors respect toward Mary Tyler Moore and the wide range of topics here about her life. This is a great book for every fan that loved Mary Tyler Moore and would like some behind the scenes facts. Fun information here about the show as well as her personal life and even her end of life. Very respectfully done. A enjoyable read about a great Icon.
Thank you for the ARC which did not influence my review.

You’re Gonna Make It After All by Marc Shapiro from Riverdale Avenue Books is an interesting, fast read. It covers Mary Tyler Moore from childhood to her death at 80 years old. Her well known health issues are discussed as well as her long successful career, her husbands and son. It was nice to know how her many co-stars felt about her and how they stayed in touch with her until the end.
The book was engaging and well written holding my attention from the beginning. As for Mr. Shapiro's connecting Mary Tyler Moore and her TV show to the feminist moves seems to be a far stretch in my opinion. There were other single women staring in sitcoms before Mary Tyler Moore's popular series.
This was a nice interesting read that I would recommend.
Thank you Marc Shapiro, Riverdale Avenue Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

I wasn't sure that the author was able to get to the real MTM. In part this may have been because of an unavoidable reliance on third parties and media coverage. A very interesting lady none the less.

You're Gonna Make It After All is a book about the Life, Times & Influence of Mary Tyler Moore. There were already 2 memoirs written by Mary Tyler Moore herself and she was very up front about her life and her fight for women's rights so the author had to figure out how to tell a story in a way that it hadn't already been told before. I didn't realize how much she did for Women's Rights - she wanted to wear pants on the Dick Van Dyke show and initially they only allowed for her to have pants on in one scene per episode! That's so crazy. Mary Tyler Moore loved the spotlight and after her son was a bit older she dipped her toes back in. She gave up on going to college in order to be a star. I didn't realize that her final resting place is here in CT! At the end of the book there is some trivia and details on the awards that MTM had won which was really cool to look at.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

As a female coming of age in the sixties, I was inspired by such television shows as That Girl and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. I was intrigued by the description of this book because the author was focusing on the woman's movement as it related to Mary Tyler Moore's career. However, I felt like I was reading the script of a documentary rather than a full-fledged biography. I also found the writing style, which included many long rambling sentences, rather difficult to follow at times.

This book is a biography of the late actress Mary Tyler Moore, who is one of my all time favorites. I loved her shows and also saw many of her movies. Unfortunately I have not read her autobiography, but it is on my list to read. This book, however, is mostly a summation of her life and career. It did not seem to have too much new information that was not already known. I suspect her death was the trigger for this book. It is well written, but just not very informative outside of any other that has been written.

I learned quite a bit about Mary Tyler Moore's life while reading this book. I also learned just how much she did for women and their stereotypes on television. Those two reasons are why I gave the book three stars. My issue was with how short the book was, and how some of the discussions of things in MTM's life seemed to be glossed over as unimportant. This would be a good book for someone wanting the basics about Moore's life and acting career, who knew very little about her accomplishments. However, if you grew up watching her, or know what she has attained in her later life I believe that you wouldn't enjoy this book as much.

I am not a celebrity geek, but I admired Mary Tyler Moore. I have great memories of watching both the Dick Van Dyke Show and the Mary Tyler Moore Show with my siblings during the 60s and 70s. I’m glad my daughter discovered her too. I liked learning more about MTM in You’re Gonna Make it After All by Marc Shapiro.

This is one of those “write it quick” after the celebrity death, while people will still want more dirt. Mr. Shapiro writes that this is essentially “two books, equal parts biography and history of a movement that may well have been instrumental in birthing a Mary Tyler Moore. Long story short, it would be different.” He was looking for times when MTM was political, philosophical, or spiritual about the world changing around her. In my opinion, it just didn’t work. The writing was often unoriginal in the Advanced Reader Copy I read. “Moore took her final labored breaths at 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday January 25, and, with Levine and close family and friends at her bedside, went to her final reward.”

I enjoyed reading about the historical aspects of TV at the time – separate twin beds, Moore losing her job as the Hotpoint elf when she was pregnant, the network not wanting MTM to wear pants.

We often idolize a Star’s life. Mary paid her dues at the beginning of her career by taking whatever little bits she could. Being typecast, broken relationships with her children and husbands, diabetes, failed TV shows, alcoholism, declining health. Despite the upbeat title, Shapiro’s book did not make me want to trade places with MTM.

The appendix includes MTM’s awards and nominations, trivia, and sources, info that could be easily found on Wikipedia.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for granting access to an arc of this book for an honest review.

This biography is an entertaining read, but ultimately doesn't reveal much new about Mary Tyler Moore. The author does a commendable job of connecting her to the broader women's movement of the time, though Moore admittedly was not an activist herself.

A real insight into a troubled woman and an incredibly influential actress. A well researched and beautifully written book: a page-turning great read.

I am and always have been a big fan of Mary Tyler Moore. I watched every episode of the MTM show and many of the Dick Van Dyke shows as well growing up. This book is not going to be one of my favorites unfortunately because I felt the author focused more about the women's movement than just telling Mary's story. It isn't a bad book and the author writes well it just wasn't what I was expecting and I did not want a textbook education on what was going on in the women's movement at the time Mary was doing this or that. I understand he wanted to tie that in and how she impacted the movement in her own way but it did not appeal to me.