Born With Teeth || Kate Mulgrew [REVIEW REWIND]

If you've been around my blog before, you may know that I'm a massive fan of Kate Mulgrew. I've been a fan of hers since I was 11-years-old, and you may know that I've already read her memoir, Born With Teeth. I read it when it was released back in 2015 and did a subsequent review which you can see here. "Then, what's the point of this blog post?" I hear you ask. Good question. The simple answer is; I wanted to. The long answer is; my Goodreads goal of reading 50 books in 2017 was fast approaching and I wanted to mark the occasion because I'm weird like that. Cue the light-bulb moment of deciding that read #50 of 2017 was going to be a re-read; I was going to read Born With Teeth by Kate Mulgrew again. As a result, I wanted to talk about it. Again.

When I started reading Born With Teeth the first time, I was naturally in a fangirl induced reading daze. I was reading the words and taking everything in but I ultimately wasn't taking anything in at all. I took in bits and pieces but it was insignificant when compared to what I didn't remember. The image of an iceberg comes to mind. That's how much I absorbed because I was just in such a daze. I felt as if I had barely scratched the surface. I finally had a book written by Kate Mulgrew and I was being an idiot by not really absorbing it. I felt terrible. I felt like I had written quite a succinct and articulate review but then what? I felt as if the detail had been lost. 

Reading it for the second time, I knew to expect Kate Mulgrew's usual eloquence. She has always been a gifted speaker and a talented story-teller. I've always loved watching her convention panels on YouTube, telling stories about her family and stories from the set of Voyager. I would laugh until my sides would ache. Mulgrew and my mother share that same kind of story-telling. Irish! As a result, I had always wanted her to put pen to paper. Mulgrew, not my mother. Though we all want her to write too. 

With a second reading, I was greeted into that familiar world and it felt like putting on a pair of warm slippers. It didn't feel like it had been 2 years since I had read it. I noticed things that I had forgotten about from my initial reading. I was saying to myself repeatedly, "I forgot about that bit." Was my memory always that awful? With Kate Mulgrew's mastery with the written word, I found myself having to look up the definition of a number of words just to make sure that I understood them. I'm not as widely read of Kate Mulgrew. I'm slowly getting there. Slowly.

Just like I did with my first reading, I felt something lacking in the ending of Born With Teeth. It still feels sudden and incomplete to me. I'm yearning for more because I know that there is more for Kate Mulgrew to tell. Perhaps that's me being too eager or too nosey or too greedy because Mulgrew did share an unprecedented amount in Born With Teeth. Willingly. Beggers can't be choosers, right? I knew it was coming (and a lot of other things that happened) and yet I still wasn't prepared for it. 

I felt more emotionally attached to Born With Teeth this time around. I don't know why. I don't know whether it's an emotional maturity or empathy or a newer level of understanding. I haven't had an illegitimate child at twenty-two and given them for adoption. I haven't forged a career. I'm not married. I haven't lost the love of my life. I'm not Kate Mulgrew. But I have lost a parent to a debilitating disease. I'm not sure whether it was that or simply because I had read the book before and so understood more the second time around. I don't know but all I do know is that I did get rather emotional when reading it again. If this is what I'm like with reading it, I can only imagine how I'll be when I get further into the audiobook that I'm currently listening to at the time of publication. 

Is it weird that I have a hardback and a paperback version of this book even though the covers are the exact same? No? Good. Because I do. Additionally, I got an Audible account just so I could get the audiobook of Born With Teeth. (Free on the trial, ha!) I decided to listen to it one morning during work (no customers around so it was grand). With being a fan of Kate Mulgrew for as long as I have, I thought that I knew her voice. I thought that I knew every nuance of her voice, every possible timbre, every potential cadence and lull. From the very moment that Kate Mulgrew introduces her book in the audiobook, I was instantly mesmerised by her voice. I felt as if I had just sat down with her in her kitchen when a steaming mug of frothy coffee and she's telling me her life story as rain pelts down outside - In my imagination, it's a rainy, Autumn day, hence the frothy coffee - not PSL! - and we could laugh and cry over the past. Initially, I expected to hear the voice that I recognise from interviews, from conventions panels and from television shows. But I didn't get that voice. I got a much softer voice.

When quoting others, Kate Mulgrew shifts her voice to bring the people from her past to life. We all have our 'Dad' voice that we use when speaking like our fathers; Kate Mulgrew has that voice. She also has a voice for her teacher, her sisters, her brothers, her friends, her lovers, everybody. This was the first time that I had ever listened to an audiobook. When I think of audiobooks, I think of over-acting. I think of over-the-top caricature voices that sound cartoon-ish and awkward. When Kate Mulgrew portrays her friends and family, there is no such caricature. In fact, she has a such a command of her voice that I was quite surprised by the fact that I believed in everything she was saying.

Also, having Kate Mulgrew reading the book herself meant that every line is read the way that she intended it to be read. Especially when it comes to the quotations. As I read, I could've put the wrong tone or emphasis on a word in a way that Mulgrew never intended and not even in the way it actually happened. She's reading it just as it happened in her memory. For me, that really brought her memories to life and truly brought the book to life. It certainly cemented it for me in such a way that reading could not accomplish simply because I wasn't there. She was. She remembers exactly the tone that the person used and the tone that she used. It was wonderful.

As I read the book, I always tried to hear Kate Mulgrew's voice in my head. Alas, my imagination would always revert back to my own voice. When listening to the audiobook, I could hear the agony in her voice when talking about becoming pregnant unexpectantly, giving birth and not being able to see her baby. It heard it. I felt her pain. I also heard her joy and delight and passion in other parts. That made the whole experience all the more visceral and impactful. 

Kate Mulgrew's voice was in a tone I haven't heard before in the 18 years that I have been a fan. I have watched Kate Mulgrew recording voice-overs for characters, for documentaries, for programmes and never have I heard that lilt - that's the only word I can use to describe it and that's odd for me as an Irish person considering that 'lilt' describes the Irish accent. The only way I can describe this voice is from the Star Trek: Voyager episode, 'The Voyager Conspiracy'. Captain Janeway (Mulgrew) is recalling pivotal moments in her friendship with Seven of Nine. Captain Janeway had that soft, nurturing, nostalgic voice that Kate Mulgrew has during Born With Teeth. That's the only way I can describe it and yet it's not like that at all, if that makes any sense whatsoever. If you're a Janeway fan, you may understand what I'm trying to say. 

Whilst listening to the audiobook, I honestly felt as if an old friend was talking to me and that was exactly how I felt when I read Born With Teeth for the first time and again when I read it more recently. Kate Mulgrew invites the reader into her bosom and she is unashamedly and unflinchingly honest. I thought I knew what I was expecting when I hit 'Play' on the audiobook. In true Kate Mulgrew fashion, she turned that on its head and sent it on its merry way. She did the same thing with the book itself. I was simultaneously surprised and unsurprised by Born With Teeth when I first read it. She shows that reader that she loves deeply and quickly, she's strong yet vulnerable, and just like the rest of us. What I gained also from Born With Teeth was how passionate Kate Mulgrew is. Acting truly is her passion. She was born to act. Acting keeps her going. When she suffered, her characters brought her up and when her characters flagged, she propped them up. It's remarkable and it makes me even prouder to be a fan and it makes me appreciate her all the more. 

When I first picked up Born With Teeth, I knew that it was going to be a 5-star read. That was my biased, fangirl side talking. Since that fangirl haze has somewhat dissipated, I still feel that Born With Teeth is a 5-star read. I have subsequently given it that rating on Goodreads. Kate Mulgrew has such a way with words that I could have read a 900-page book written by her without argument. I am eagerly anticipating any news regarding her upcoming fiction novel. I mean, eagerly. I needed it yesterday. I'm not joking. 

Even if you are not a fan of Kate Mulgrew and have never watched a single episode of Star Trek: Voyager or Orange Is The New Black or even heard of her name, I would highly recommend this book. It is beautifully written. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you uncomfortable. It will make you yearn for a happy ending. It will make you appreciate the life that Kate Mulgrew has lived and she's not finished yet. It's no wonder that she has signed it at signings, "To life!"