Growing Up Again: Life, Love and Oh Yeah, Diabetes
by Mary Tyler Moore
2009
St. Martin's
4.0 / 5.0

I grew up watching the Mary Tyler Moore Show. I just loved her sense of humor, her humble spirit and her many facial expressions. I looked forward to watching her, every week.
In this memoir she shares her marriages and her divorces, her acting career but this book is focused on Mary's challenges and experiences with Type 1 Diabetes. Her loss of eye sight, and other struggles are so inspiring, how she handled them and the changes they made inevitable in her life. Her fight with alcoholism, smoking (3 packs a day, at one time), and poor eating habits all lead to her health problems. Visiting Betty Ford and changing her lifestyle saved her life and has inspired her to become a spokesperson, campaigner and fund raiser for Juvenile Diabetes.
This heartfelt story is told with honesty and humor but also as an inspiration to others who are also diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. This will definitely inspire them.
I love that it includes a list of Diabetes Resources and a guide to Diabetes, although it is dated now.
Recommended! ( )

Growing Up Again:
Life, Love and Oh Yeah, Diabetes
Mary Tyler Moore

MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️▫️
PUBLISHER St. Martin's Press
PUBLISHED March 31, 2009

SUMMARY
This is Mary Tyler Moore's story of her life with Diabetes. She freely admits that her story is not a model for anyone else. She struggled through rebellion, and denial only to eventually arrive at acknowledgment and commitment. It took many years for her to overcome the struggles and challenges of diabetes. But, her story is her gift to us.

In addition to her story, GROWING UP AGAIN contains an lengthy Appendix with a wealth of information and on diabetes.

REVIEW
Mary Tyler Moore, a cultural icon, passed away on January 25, 2017. I wanted to read this book in remembrance of her and her fight with diabetes. I have a son who has had Type 1 diabetes for over 15 years. I thought it might be interestingly to compare our experiences. She had served as the international chairman of JDRF, which an organization which has done so much to advance the cure for Type 1.

While I really appreciate her honesty in writing this book, it really made me sad to realize that she struggled with life as much as she did. She struggled not just with her diabetes, but also with her insecurities, her marriages, her alcoholism and her health.

Mary Tyler Moore's voice in GROWING UP AGAIN was typical of her girl next-door persona. She was able to laugh at herself, despite her many challenges. Having diabetes very rarely slowed this iconic woman down. Thank you Mary, for your gift! ( )

A celebrity recounts her diabetes diagnosis in the early 60's and how it forced her to "grow up" and take control of her life. The book is written in an overly-chatty and almost too casual style, I felt. Yet, there is some valuable information here, especially as MTM recounts how she deals with some the complications she suffers from ( )

Despite her frank openness about her experience with diabetes, I found the book to be remarkably flat and unengaging. I love MTM, so I was disappointed. But I also didn't finish the book, so...

Mary Tyler Moore is candid about her struggles with Type 1 diabetes which was very much appreciated by this reader with Type 1. She describes her diagnosis and the ways she has coped with or ignored the daily tasks of diabetes management (and the consequences of both), and how she "came out" of the "diabetes closet" to become the public face of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. The book also includes a set of appendices of basic diabetes information and resources. ( )