Reviewing Kim’s book was a bit hard for me, because I had personal interactions with Kim De Paola before. We’ve even spoken on the phone for over an hour, and we have each other’s numbers — and while a lot of people have an unconscious bias towards someone because of personal feelings, we’re supposed to be able to put personal feelings aside for professionalism. After all, that’s what’s expected from professions product reviewers or entertainment critics, right?
Kudos to Kim for doing what many aren’t able to do; what I, myself, wasn’t able to do. Yes, there are a lot of editorial and publications errors in the book, but she did this on her own, without the backing of a publisher and all the perks that comes with having a book deal. It’s a learning curve and she can always issue a revised edition. These critiques are mostly editorial mishaps because she did not have a literary agent or editor to proof-read her drafts or guide her, and that is the biggest downside of self-publishing versus having the backings of a major publisher.
In the book, Kim switches from semi-memoir, to a kind-of self-help, motivational/inspiration book — to a semi tell-all about RHONJ. There’s a lot going on, and if she does decide to revise it, I’d recommend her making her book a complete memoir instead. There’s so much that she drops little mentions of, that I definitely want to know more about. I want to know more about her childhood and upbringing, more about her young adult life before she got married. She does talk briefly about being in an abusive marriage, but even on that I wish she had been more descriptive and detailed. She also skims through her second marriage, barely mentioning the man at all.
I felt that Kim held back a lot. That she was not yet ready to share her complete story, and that she was very reserved when telling bits and parts of her life that she did want to share.
That’s why it doesn’t feel like an actual memoir, because an actual memoir would require her to talk about all the humiliation, shame, embarrassing moments of her life — those are the universal things that resonate with others, human suffering. Everyone understands human suffering. It’s why people can relate to someone like Paris Hilton writing in her book that she was sexually abused in a facility for troubled teens — it happens even to the rich and famous.
Some RHONJ highlights that Kim shares in her book is Melissa Gorga making her grand introduction to Kim, by introducing herself and saying she’s the new “younger, hot Housewife” at Kim’s boutique. There was also an interesting story about Joe and Teresa’s dad, Mr. Gorga, slapping him across the face during the infamous christening event of season 3, when the overly dramatic Gorga was carrying on and screaming like a toddler for the cameras, airing his family’s dirty laundry for the world to see.
The book is a fun read for fans of Kim D. and/or RHONJ; you’ll get little tidbits of behind-the-scenes of RHONJ during her time on the show, as well as a peek into her personal life.
It’s available on Amazon, as well as directly from Kim’s website (which cost more, but gets shipped directly by Kim and autographed by her). There are forewords from Teresa Giudice, Jacqueline Laurita, Dolores Catania, and Siggy Flicker — as well as afterwords from Margaret Josephs and John Fuda.
NYC GAL OUT ♡ Pod 
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