Review of Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung

*Connie: A Memoir* by Connie Chung (2024). Published by Grand Central Publishing.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

This blog post is interesting to me because lately, I’ve been struggling to get in my reading time. I was working for the longest time as a freelancer and contractor, but recently pivoted to an 8-5 job where I’m in an office. It’s not hybrid, so I’m always at home trying to put the puzzle pieces together of how I’ll get my reading done. I also continue working on this blog when I’m not at work, so the Instagram reels I’m fed about a 5-9 feel too real right now.

Anyways, I am trying to find that time to read here and there. Somehow I’m still on track for my Goodreads goal, even though I’ve been slowly giving up on the notion of reading goals in life. I think they can be a little too much pressure and takes the fun off of reading at the end of the day, and I want to read because I want to stay in touch with literature while also pursuing my side career as a writer.

Today’s book was an audiobook I specifically listened to while I was driving to and from work. Audiobooks can be something I often turn to in these times—and yes, I do consider them to be reading. I remember most of what I listen to in an audiobook, even when I’m doing laundry or cooking, and I’m able to break down the language as needed.

For context: Connie Chung isn’t exactly someone my generation knows well. I’m an older Gen Z, and while I remember Connie’s influence and know of it quite well, I can see how someone younger than me might scratch their head and ask who Chung is. Which is fine, but we should acknowledge her legacy in terms of representation and what she did for the community in that sense.

So when her memoir came out, I knew I wanted to read it. I didn’t know what to listen to during my next round of audiobooks for work, but when I saw her memoir was available, I jumped on it. I ended up finishing the book in two weeks, which is about average for audiobooks for me.

Let’s get into the review!

Connie Chung reflects on her prolific career as a journalist, as well as her personal life and how she broke boundaries.

For those who are unfamiliar with Chung and her past, she certainly goes into the details you need to know where she’s coming from. Her siblings were born in China, but her father, stationed as a diplomat in Washington D.C., relocated the family to the suburbs of the DMV to raise his family there while working. Connie was the first in her family to be a citizen, as she was born in the United States.

She was a shy girl growing up, and no one expected her to become a journalist, let alone such a famous one. She describes her college years, then how she fell into the career at age twenty-three when she got a job at the local DC station. There, she eventually made a name for herself chasing after politicians and important people to get the scoop, putting out breaking news in a very dedicated manner.

This made her one of the first women in the industry, and the first Asian woman to successfully get into television broadcasting. She was offered a job in New York City, and, feeling stifled by the fact she had to support herself and her parents, she took the job and got an apartment in the city.

Chung describes this moment of her life quite tenderly, especially considering she was becoming a household name at such a young age. She eventually because the first woman to co-anchor the evening news at CBS (and the first Asian person in general!), which elevated her status and fame even more.

Beyond the recognition though, Chung does a really good job of showing us who she was as a person (at least from her perspective) and what went on behind the scenes from these jobs. From men she was dating to the lack of furniture in her apartment at the beginning of her career, I found these smaller details really tightened the story she was telling about her career and how she ended up where she was.

She’s fairly candid and honest as well. Good journalism requires a characteristic where you have to be impartial towards either side, and I think that Connie does tread that line throughout this memoir. I felt like she was fairly honest about the events she was describing, even if it did not depict her in a flattering manner, which felt like true journalism and an excavation in itself. Granted, I could be proven wrong, but we’ll see about that!

Overall Thoughts

As I wrote before, I honestly did not know a ton about Connie Chung before starting this memoir. I knew about her and her legacy, which is why I wanted to pick this memoir up, but I feel fairly comfortable about her history, personal and professional, after reading this memoir. It would be interesting to read a history-based book on the news during this period as well, but I don’t know if we’ll get that any time soon.

All in all, I really enjoyed this memoir. Sometimes I find memoirs to be too dry and fail on the element of storytelling, but this one does a good job of balancing all of the moving parts that make a story good. It helps that Chung was a journalist, as she knows how to tell and sell a story to a broader audience.

I say pick this one up if you’re interested! Pick up a copy from your local library or indie bookstore and take your time with it. Memoirs are something you should read fairly slowly, as they can be a little dense at times, especially when the author really immerses you into their world.

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