Rough Draft by Katy Tur was just as enjoyable as her first memoir, Unbelievable. Rough Draft, however, is much more personal. This book delves deploying into her childhood, her life as a wife and mother, and her rocky relationship with her parents. Tur is one of my favorite television journalists and she writes one h*ll of a memoir!

Being a semi-junkie of MSNBC, I jumped at the chance for an ARC of Katy Tur’s memoir Rough Draft. This is actually Katy’s 2nd memoir, the first being Unbelievable, her account of her year-long coverage of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. The fact that she survived that mission and all the insults hurled at her by Trump gave me great respect for Katy and put her on my radar.

Having written two memoirs by the age of 38 led Katy to promise no more memoirs this decade. Darn. That’s too bad as these books are very different, very good (at least in the case of Rough Draft, I have not read Unbelievable), and complementary. Rough Draft is about Katy, her family, and her career. I was riveted from the first chapter on. Katy’s life is fascinating, and she lays it all out for us, blemishes and all. Her home life was exciting, loving, and abusive. Her career as a journalist has been challenging. She is married to another well know journalist and has two children and 2 step-children. She hasn’t seen her helicopter journalist father, Bob Tur, now Zoey Tur, for 10 years though they love each other. Her future is uncertain. After all, so far it’s all been a “rough draft.” Everything is still in progress.

Katy knows how to tell a story and how to write. I have not read her first book, Unbelievable, as I haven’t been keen on using my pleasure time to dwell over the antics of The Former Guy. But as long as Katy is with me, I think I would enjoy it and now have it on my TBR.

I really admire Katy for being truthful and for not being afraid to share even her most personal moments. After all, truth matters, right? I would love to read a third Katy memoir written about 20 years from now to see how her story has further unfolded. Thanks, Katy, for giving us the inside look. I’m a big fan now and will try to catch more of your shows. I have such respect for you and know I will be getting the real facts.

I’d like to thank Net Galley, Atria Publishing (via Alaina Mauro) and Ms. Katy Tur for an advanced review copy of Rough Draft. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Tur opens up about her chaotic childhood, being the daughter of helicopter paparazzi parents. I give her credit for revealing private things about her life and her parents.
I have very little respect for any type of media today and reading the voyeur tactics of her parents didn’t help any.
I appreciate her ability To share her story.

I really enjoyed this memoir by Katy Tur. I first became aware of her as a journalist with her coverage of the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, and was fascinated by her book Unbelievable about her time on the campaign trail. This book is more of an overall look at her life, with a big focus on her life reporting the news.
It begins with her early childhood, growing up with parents whose jobs were to chase breaking news in a helicopter, and Katy was along for much of the ride.
The bulk of the early chapters deal with the abuse, violence, and extreme behavior that her father, Zoey Tur, was known for, and how that led to an estranged relationship (note that Tur’s father is Trans, and Katy includes a disclaimer for the use of pronouns throughout the book—he/him up to the moment of Zoey letting her know her decision to transition; she/her after).
Later chapters explore Tur’s own career in TV news, meeting her husband, and the birth of their two children.
It’s all fascinating, as well as undeniable that Tur’s life has given her a unique and interesting insight into journalism’s role in recording the “rough draft of history.”
I’d recommend this book for anyone who likes memoirs and is interested in politics and/or journalism.

Ms. Tur paints an amazingly detailed journey of her life and the challenges she faced as a journalist. With wit, honesty and candor that is refreshing you get to know her as a person and what shaped her journey through life. I couldn’t put the book down and look forward in the future to her adding to her “rough draft” of life and letting us all in to read about it.

Because I enjoyed Tur's first book, "Unbelievable: My Front-Row Seat to the Craziest Campaign in American History", which detailed her 500+ days spent following the Trump campaign, I was happy to be granted an ARC of her newest book.

Much has changed since Tur first covered the 2016 campaign, including her marriage to Tony Dokoupil, and the arrival of their two children.

Most of the book, however, is taken up with Tur's recollections of growing up with a violent and abusive father. Her parents founded the Los Angeles News Service, a groundbreaking company that covered the news with footage gathered during often daring helicopter flights. They are most famous for filming O.J. Simpson's slow-motion Bronco escapade, and the horrifying moments when Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck and beaten senseless during the L.A. riots. But there was a dark side to their fame . . . her father's explosive temper left her mother, and later Katy and her brother, reeling.

Tur also details her dad's more recent, rather tumultuous transitioning into a woman, the fallout over which has left father and daughter barely speaking.

The one plus side over dealing with a parent graced with both a big ego, and shoot from the hip attitude? It left Tur better able to handle another famous narcissist, and led to my favorite line from the book:

"My father is not Donald Trump and Donald Trump is not my father. But if anyone asked me, I'd recommend the same therapist."

In all, an interesting look at journalism, motherhood, and the state of the world today.

There are three main threads in Katy Tur's new memoir.

The first is her family of origin story, which anyone who has followed Tur's life and career knows is somewhat sensational -- both because her Los Angeles parents were pioneers in covering big news stories via helicopter, and because her father, formerly Bob Tur, transitioned nearly a decade ago and is now known as Zoey Tur.

Second is Tur's career trajectory. Following in her parents' journalistic footsteps, Tur outlines her upward mobility in broadcast news, including a London-based stint as a foreign correspondent for NBC. Tur's first memoir, Unbelievable, was an excellent recount of her reporting on the Trump campaign from early days through election night. No question Tur is extremely devoted to her craft, and is honest in wrestling with the balance of a demanding career and a young family, as are so many women.

Third is Tur's romance and marriage to fellow broadcast journalist and author Tony Dokoupil, and their young family.

I suspect Tur may take some heat for going on a tangent to question the legacy of one of TV news' most revered icons. Still, it was a brave choice that gives a good illustration of how the business has changed over the decades.

The three main threads of Tur's story don't seem to weave neatly together. Instead, they run parallel to each other. Although early in the book, Tur indicates her fraught relationship with her father (due to the latter's angry emotional and physical abuse as a parent) is a major conundrum, she largely drops it about halfway through and never really exposes what one would assume is incredible personal angst over their estrangement. Especially once she became a parent herself.

As Tur ultimately returns to the issue at the end of the book, we begin to understand that she is admittedly a compartmentalizer. I get that as self-preservation, but as a reader of memoir, I am seeking more self-reflection and introspection. Because of that, although it is a pleasant read, I'm left with the sense that something is missing, which makes this memoir indeed feel like a bit of a "rough draft."

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to review the ARC.

I'm not familiar with Katy Tur, but I love memoirs of all kinds so I decided to read this. This book follows Katy's life from when her parents were journalists to current day when she's a journalist. Overall, a good life story. But I could have done without the last chapter and the January 6th BS.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

Brought up by parents who pioneered aerial news coverage (via their own helicopter) of Madonna and Sean Penn's wedding, the Reginald Denny beating during the 1992 LA riots, as well as O.J. Simpson's white Bronco run, MSNBC anchor Katy Tur was born to be a journalist. It's in her DNA.

Rough Draft almost feels like two separate memoirs -- one detailing Tur's journalism career from reporter to anchor and the other detailing her relationship with her volatile and often violent father, Bob Tur. It isn't easy to read about her growing up years with a man whose temper could turn on a dime, so I can only imagine how difficult it was for Tur to write about these traumas.

Tur's tenacity and drive regarding her rise to anchor as well as her resilience from an often-abusive childhood make for a quick and fascinating read.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Atria/One Signal Publishers for the opportunity to review this electronic ARC.

It is an interesting experience to read the memoir of someone you know nothing about. However, when an invitation to read this one landed in my inbox, I was intrigued. Y'all, I'm so glad I checked this one out, and I now want to know even more about the author! The story focuses on the author's reflections on a life in journalism. This starts with her parents who captured some of the most memorable news stories of the twentieth century through helicopter reporting. The story then goes into her own beginnings and journey through the news industry from local news to international work to her days following the T***p campaign to being an anchor. Throughout, she is candid and honest about the struggles she encounters as well as the lessons she learns. The story isn't just about her as a professional, but also a person. In particular, she talks about the abuse in her childhood from her father, as well as her father's transition to a woman. In these reflections, she reflects on the emotions and lasting feelings of the experiences. I appreciated that this was truly the author's memoir in that she talked about herself as a professional, but also the human she is. Again, as someone who knew nothing going in, I felt I truly got a window into this woman. Thanks to NetGalley for the early look at this upcoming June 2022 release!

Wow - another great book by Katy Tur. I really liked her first one Unbelievable, and thought she'd have a hard time following that up, but she didn't. She has plenty of interesting life experience to draw from. I really enjoyed the stories about her childhood, and could relate to her conflicting feelings about her father, who has since transitioned to a woman. I'm sure there are people who will find her feelings about the transition wrong in some way, but I found them really thoughtful and heartfelt. Just like in Unbelievable this book really captured me, she has a really strong voice that makes you feel like you're there, even though I can't relate to most of the things she's experienced. Very impressive. I will have to look for the actual book when it's published, because I bet there are some great pictures in it.

A thoughtful memoir that will no doubt resonate with an audience beyond those expect to read about her journalism career alone. Tur's parents Bob/Zoey and Marika were famous, hugely famous journalists in the LA market, but that didn't make them great parents. Her father Bob was troubled, explosive, and abusive. His transition to Zoey didn't change that. Tur's nomadic, driven approach to life came to a halt, much to her surprise, when she married Tony and more importantly, when she got pregnant. Made her think about her childhood and her future. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. It's a good read.

Kay Tur’s first book about following Trump’s campaign trail was a best seller. I will have to read it! Because her second memoir Rough Draft, about her family and starting her career in journalism, was a delight to read. I was surprised by how open and natural Tur comes across, whether talking about the rift between he and her father or life after a C-section.

Tur’s parents were self-made journalists famous for filming a fleeing O. J. Simpson from their helicopter. They often brought Tur with them, so she grew up rather nonplussed about dangerous situations. She discovered that journalism was in her blood, and she thrived on the seat-of-your-pants life of a traveling international reporter who lived out of a suitcase…Until she met her husband and gave birth. She was committed to her career, but discovered that “motherhood had given me an extra length of emotional nerve endings. I reacted to details in a new more visceral way.”

Tur’s father’s violent episodes destroyed his marriage and alienated Tur. After her father transitioned and became a woman she still had anger issues, unable to admit or apologize for her past behavior.

I appreciate Tur’s integrity. When people pressured Tur about “doing more” to get Trump out of office, she replied, “That’s not my job, I’m not on your team. I’m on the side of the facts.” The news should “make you uncomfortable,” she writes, and insists that her role is to “gather for an otherwise sprawling country a common set of facts. What to do with those facts is the stuff of politics and debate.”

This is an easy to read, interesting memoir.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Rough Draft is Katy Tur's follow-up to her runaway best seller Unbelievable. In this book, Katy takes a big picture look at her life and how she became a journalist. Katy's story is a fascinating ride through history and pop culture. Her parents founded the Los Angeles News Service and were pioneers of helicopter video journalism. Their footage of The O.J. Simpson car chase and LA riots are the stuff of legend. For a brief time, LANS was one of the most in-demand news agencies in the nation and Katy had a front-row seat to history. However, her relationship with her father Zoey (Tur's parent is Trans She/Her/Hers) is complicated and she often finds herself estranged from her. Rough Draft is Katy's first public in-depth look at her life and self-exploration of what it means to be our parents' children. Katy sifts through the trauma of her youth offering the reader a candid look at her life story still being written and problems left unresolved. It is a rough draft after all.

For Clarity: In the book, the author uses her parent's previous name and he/him pronouns when talking about her before her transition. I understand that Katy is describing her parent as she understood her at the time she is talking about. It is difficult to tell the story of such a public personality as Zoey without acknowledging who she was known to the world and her family at the time being discussed. I understand Katy's reasoning for writing her book in this manner but my understanding should not be viewed as an endorsement. Other Trans people might take issue with this writing style and that is their own opinion. No one person speaks for our entire community and opinions are sure to vary.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from Atria Books through Netgalley. My review is my honest opinion.

Thanks for the opportunity to read... I've followed Katy since she started in NY and didn't realize what a go getter she was... I knew about her dad but not the backstory but what I really liked was the mutual support and admiration of her husband.

Katy Tur is an amazing journalist, which shines through her second memoir. I loved how she brought her childhood experiences into her career as a journalist as well as described how she was parented as she was pregnant with her second child.

Katy Tur has written an engaging memoir about her early life as well as her career as a journalist. Her parents were helicopter journalists in LosAngeles beginning before she was born. Their family life was a mixture of privilege and abuse. Her dad later transitioned from Bob Tur to Zoey Tur. Her relationship with her dad is still tenuous and volatile. Katy went on to work for The Weather Channel, a European news desk for NBC and several other positions leading up to her present anchoring job at MSNBC. She is perhaps most famous for her coverage of the 2016 Trump campaign. She captures many of these moments in great detail. She makes clear that reporting news is not always glamorous. I.had a few quibbles with this book. Though a reporter, her political bias was always clear. Finally I found her bashing of a famous newsman petty and adding nothing to her story. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Fascinating hearing about her life. I read her previous book and wasn't impressed. This one was fabulous.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
I have always liked Katy Tur and loved hearing the details of her life that made her what she is today. Fascinating story. Well written and engaging.

have a lot of respect for Katy Tur, and I thought her first book, Unbelievable, was fascinating. Her latest, Rough Draft, was just as compelling. I loved how she tackled so many subjects like motherhood, being a working mother, and family trauma. The last 20% felt a little rushed, but overall this was a great read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-copy.