i listened to the audiobook * this was more brokaw name dropping and reminiscing on important dinners and events he attended in 1973-1974 than it was reporting in nixon's last year in office and the watergate scandal. was a quick listen and brokaw narrates the audiobook but i think it might've benefited from a different narrator.

writing was easy to get through but i just did not give a fuck about anyone or anything in this book. i guess i'm just not a girl that gets it.

this is an enormous book, and a long audiobook. the first half was very interesting and informative, but i found myself getting bogged down and confused after that. there were so many people and threads being pulled and spun together that i sadly found myself not caring and thinking of skipping sections altogether. while i think this entire book is important, i don't know if every single minute detail - from the personal lives of individual pro-life protestors, pro-life pastors and their own families/coworkers, every single time one of the lawyers didn't pay her membership dues to the state bar - needed to be included. and, i'm sorry, but i have to say it: norma was infuriating to learn about. i understand that her background and life is incredibly complex and who she is as a person is jane roe. i understand why she makes the decisions and choices she does, but goddamn i just. really could not care to listen to another explanation for her lies, her making false rape claims, her coldness towards the children she claims she wants to know. maybe another day i'll come back to this one.