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Mediaman's Reviews > The Third Gilmore Girl

The Third Gilmore Girl by Kelly  Bishop
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bookshelves: memoir, autobiography, abortion, non-fiction, broadway, tv, television, sitcoms, acting, actress, hollywood

Breezy outline of a memoir, not deep storytelling, as Bishop skips through life and avoids dealing in detail about many significant situations. It's the CliffsNotes version of Carole (Kelly) Bishop's story.

Much of this (probably too much) is about her dancing and theatrical career. Barely enough is about her Gilmore work to make fans somewhat happy but still she never really goes deep. It seems like she's always putting on airs, trying to avoid stopping long enough to really focus on anything that may make her look bad or take down an emotional wall she has built up.

Her private life is a mess. She constantly picks losers to shack up with and keeps her thoughts to herself until she explodes and ends things. This pattern happens often, and despite her claims of being bluntly direct when dealing with strangers, she has some very deep inabilities to communicate in personal relationships that she doesn't seem to worry about. Like everything else in her life, she just quickly moves on and gives little thought to her selfishness or who she hurts along the way.

Then in the middle of the book this seemingly intelligent but undereducated actress, who sleeps at will with men and invites a few to live with her at various times of life, gets pregnant and indignantly spends over two pages telling us why she had zero emotional or mental guilt about her abortion. She even unnecessarily says, "I was very grateful that abortions were legal when my need for one came along in 1978, but to be perfectly honest, I'm sure I would have found an illegal way to terminate this pregnancy if it had come to that, since as far as I was concerned, it was my only responsible option." Responsible? Killing a life? Responsible to whom?? Certainly not the separate DNA that was a human being inside her. That's idiotic justification, claiming to be righteous when doing something morally wrong. She wouldn't think of killing an animal or litters inside pregnant animals, but she has no problem pretending that baby isn't a real life so she destroys it?

This may feel like I'm going off on a tangent, but her lack of logic and need to defend her bad choice sticks out in this book.

She claims, after already saying she "never felt any religious or spiritual guilt," that she did feel "sadness because I'd be ending a potential life." Um, Carole/Kelly, you weren't ending a POTENTIAL life, you were ending a LIFE. You killed a child that was housed inside you. If you had wanted the baby your perspective on what to call it would have been the opposite.

Then she flippantly adds the twist, "My body, my responsibility." She accepts the blame for failing to use birth control, calling herself stupid for letting her bed partner go ahead inside her without a condom. So she'll feel guilt and "anger at myself" for being stupid when having sex but feel no remorse about ending a life? Correct, because "It was a nonnegotiable statement of fact. I wasn't going to have this child, or any other child, ever." From childhood she hated the idea of having kids and even her wild mother had supported her anti-child stance early in life.

Doesn't that make her as evil as her famous TV character? What little respect I had for her up until that point stopped and I realized that she was as cold, mean, and distant as Emily Gilmore. I'm sure many feminist Gilmore fans will applaud Bishop for what they'd call her "brave" retelling of killing her unwanted child or failing to talk her lover about her decision, because it fits right into the truly irresponsible storyline of all three Gilmore Girls that they can make their own selfish decisions without considering how they impact others.

But at least in the fictional TV world, teen Lorelai chose to raise her unplanned baby. So next time you watch the show, ask yourself, if you're so pro-abortion, why are you so happy that Lorelai Gilmore kept her daughter's life going outside the womb instead of doing what Kelly Bishop would call the "responsible option"? And how much more happiness there could be in the world if others made that truly responsible decision in real life to raise more Rory Gilmores.
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Reading Progress

Started Reading
September 24, 2024 – Shelved
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: memoir
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: autobiography
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: abortion
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: non-fiction
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: broadway
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: tv
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: television
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: sitcoms
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: acting
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: actress
September 24, 2024 – Shelved as: hollywood
September 24, 2024 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-9 of 9 (9 new)

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message 1: by Lukas (new)

Lukas Miller Dear Mediaman,

I have read several of your reviews since last year. You are very good in your analysis of what makes for good and bad writing and calling out historical inaccuracies and the need for good research before publishing. I do agree the entertainment industry is a playground for ungodly people--self-serving narcissists who brag on their bad behavior, play the professional victim and never take responsibility for themselves. However, if this is all you read, you will become a very depressed and cynical person with a black outlook for the future of humanity. I would advise you to look at some books about truly inspiring people who have a talent for writing and actually have something uplifting and important to say, so that all your one and two star reviews don't give others the impression of being a self-righteous little pharisee. "Always so perceptive about everyone except yourself." (Quote of Freya to Loki in Thor 2) Here are my suggestions. I would really like to hear your take on these.

1. Beverly Sills 2. Nicolai Gedda 3. Lynn Wilder 4. Nicole C. Millen 5. Roma Downey 6. Joshua Wilder 7. Whittaker Chambers 8. Gracia Burnham 9. Leslie Wagner-Wilson

If you only have time for two, I would suggest Nos. 1 and 3.


message 2: by Adriana (new) - added it

Adriana Good thing YOU will never need an abortion and that’s all you have to say about her. 🙄


Stormie 😂😂😂


message 4: by Meg (new) - rated it 5 stars

Meg Why would you read her memoir if you went into it with little respect for her?


message 5: by Anna (new) - added it

Anna Preheim this is HER life. HER decisions, HER reasons, HER story. this memoir was for her to tell about her life, if you don’t agree with her choices then that’s your problem. this isn’t just a fictional story, it’s a real person with real feelings. if you’re choosing to criticize one situation out of the entire book then you clearly didn’t get the message.


Angie Derk Couldn’t have said it better myself. Agree with your review 100%.


message 7: by Courtney (new) - added it

Courtney Botti Her body. Her choice. Abortion isn’t murder, she got rid of a bundle of cells that did not form a human. You think she’s this evil person when she was honest and real about her feelings and how she dealt with her life. You don’t share the same views as her that’s fine but to consider her evil is laughable when you don’t even understand how abortion works or how it is done. Educate yourself


Tara Fredericks Wow your opinion is entirely different than how I perceived the book. Harsh


Jennifer ~ PlanAgainJen This review seems unnecessary skewed based on your values. Not a fair review of the book.


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