Informed Voter? Think Again

I struggled to finish this book, not because it was boring or deficient in some way. I struggled because the 2016 election results are still painful, particularly with each fresh new horror coming from The White House every other day.

I thought I was informed during the 2016 election cycle, but in listening to this book it's abundantly clear that I was not. This lesson alone made listening to this book a worthy endeavor. There were large portions of her platform that I was completely unaware of, and although I was aware that the media coverage leading into the election was sensational and playing into 45's hands, I didn't sense what was missing: actual discussion of how to solve America's many problems.

Good listen. I suggest it.

17 people found this helpful

Clarity in the middle of the storm

I, like many, woke up to the news of Trump as President and was dumbfounded. I don't claim to be a devout Hillary fan, far from it, but I saw her as a qualified candidate for President, something I couldn't even consider saying about Trump. I have spent the last couple of years scratching my head at how he became President and how he continues to have support. I appreciated the way Hillary laid out the facts and her truths about what happened on the campaign trail. I have several blockers specifically for Facebook and for my general internet usage that blocked all ads, political posts, campaigns, etc.. The only news I got was from what I percieved as credible news sources and only on topics that I cared about, guess what, I never cared about Hillary's e-mails, so I managed to miss the whole scandal. It's amazing how having adequate skills at blocking garbage allowed me to live in a cave during campaigning. In many ways I'm glad I only heard what happened after the fact from Hillary herself. And thank you Hillary for running, for "coming back out of the woods", and for helping to lead the way through this mess. We continue to need strong leaders like Hillary. I hope this inspires many people. I know it has inspired me.

5 people found this helpful

I don't really love it..........

I was filling in the rating on the book, I really don't love it,I don't love what happened and I don't love the story. But I appreciate the author actually telling the story in her voice, explaining what happened in such detail and confirming many things that I was aware of and making me all the wiser. I am embarrassed as a citizen that we have a president who is trying to lead our country and can't ! Thank you Hillary for explaining to us what happened!
Carol

5 people found this helpful

What Happened?

I started reading the book but decided to listen on Audible for the remaining half. Enjoyed hearing Clinton’s words from her. Despite what some have said this isn’t a novel about it being “everyone else’s fault but her own.” Sec. Clinton takes a lot of the blame and shoulders much of the responsibility of how the campaign was laid out. She discusses how she campaigned and who her team members were. I like her voice in this novel because she isn’t holding back, afraid of making people angry. She tells it like she saw it. Sec. Clinton did discuss funny things like breakfast because as she states people would ask her those types of questions all the time. She wrote of her concerns about the present administration, Russia and Comey’s influence. When I listened to this and knowing what’s happening currently it served to make me more concerned with our present government. She ends the book with how to get involved and how to stay the course. Overall, great read/listen.

54 people found this helpful

Thank you for sharing your story

Often hard to listen to or read a long book. However, the information is so important! It is helpful to understand what happened. Like studying a history lesson, the only way not to repeat history is to understand it, and make different choices. I applaud her candor. Thank you for sharing your story.

13 people found this helpful

Great Listen

This book is really intriguing. Though I often found myself questioning Rodham Clinton's analyses and lessons from the 2016 election, she offers a fascinating accounting of events that is equal parts enlightening and infuriating. Ultimately, I walked away from this book better informed about her, the elections, and these challenging times in which we live. For that, I'm thankful to her for writing this book.

13 people found this helpful

Her own world.

This book has 3 parts

My great life and family

the blame game.

thank you & I will always be here to make your life hell.

I picked up this book to find out what she really thinks from her point of view. I will just say she is to deep in her own world no one will ever change her mind.

160 people found this helpful

Self-help memoir

This book is brutal. I was expecting explanations of how she should have ran a better campaign or how it could have been done better. Nope. Its endless talking about how she was coping with the loss of the election, how her and Bill watched CSI and some other TV shows, with some clever favorite character commentaries.

Then explains what was said to people we saw her talk to during the inauguration, how she ended up taking a photo with trump, etc... It's dullsville,

141 people found this helpful

Expected more than just a blame game

What disappointed you about What Happened?

It was disappointing to hear someone blame the entire world for everything in her life. There was blame placed on Trump, Bernie Sanders, Republicans, the media (definitely living in denial on that one), NYT, Comey, Russia, vast right wing conspiracies, misogyny, email "conspiracy", Fox News, Roger Ailes, and on and on it goes.

I was eventually expecting to hear she could walk on water, or had parted the Red Sea. There was a strong sense of paranoia in her words. There seemed to be no true introspection.

It did not ring true when she attempted to paint herself as a normal person then states she and Bill Clinton havent had to go to a store for a milk and bread run in DECADES! How can she even pretend she knows what life is like for the common man when she has lived her adult life surrounded by secret service and her life has only existed in a privileged protective bubble for decades?

The scandals that have surrounded the Clintons were addressed and, as expected, others were always to blame and none of them had a grain of truth to them, according to her. That's a hard pill to swallow considering that there exists some indisputable facts. If memory serves me right, there is no disputing Bill Clinton's affair with a WH intern or that they paid out money in at least one other sex scandal.

Having listened to the book "Shattered", I'd hoped there would be some honest reflection in this book on the mistakes made in her campaign. It was only mentioned as a way to cast blame on others.

Would you ever listen to anything by Hillary Rodham Clinton again?

Probably not

Which character – as performed by Hillary Rodham Clinton – was your favorite?

Author narrated her own book and I thought it was well done.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I did believe the parts when she talked about her relationships with her daughter and her mother. To me, it was a part of the book that had an honest ring of truth to it and seemed very sincere.

Any additional comments?

I'm glad I listened to this book but really wished it contained some introspection that could be believable and wasn't so full of blame and finger pointing.

238 people found this helpful

"Capitalizing on My Failure"

After long unbearable hours of listening to Hillary Clinton talk about what she believed happened before, during, and after the election, I have finally finished the book. I give this book 1 out of 5 stars for several reasons.

First, Hillary claims to not have had a whiff of entitlement during the campaign, but from what I observed, that is pretty far from the truth.

Second, while she says that she takes responsibility for her loss, she spends the entire book blaming everyone from Russians to Comey to Sanders to even Obama, not to mention Republicans in general.

Third, she adds a lot of irrelevant information about her life that had nothing to do with "What Happened," which made the book seem so much longer and aided in identifying her narcissism.

Fourth, she repeatedly mentions that the majority of Americans supported her, but that isnt true. There are over 200 million voting age Americans. There are over 153 million registered voters in America. And she only got a little over 60 million to vote for her. Of the people that did vote, she didnt even break 50% of those.

Fifth, she completely disregards 3rd party candidates except for when they nice things about her. She completely manipulates their words to make her look good. And she thinks that 3rd party voters, had they not voted for Trump, would have voted for her, which is far from the truth.

Hillary Clinton had the opportunity to redeem herself, admit her faults in a convincing way, and accept some actual responsibility. She didn't, and that makes all the more satisfied in not having voted for her.

217 people found this helpful