Review: Too Emotional to be Completely Convincing
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 30, 2014
**Possible Spoilers**I will state up front that I am no fan of Kate Gosselin.  It's my opinion that she is a cold, manipulative, disingenuous woman.The (also 3 star) review from 'Just Another Reader' summed it up very well.  I agree with all of that reviewer's points.The author admits up front that he is not much of a writer and proves it throughout this book.  It is a hard book to navigate.  The timeline is jumbled, there are many spelling and grammar errors, and stories and points are repeated ad nauseam.Mr. Hoffman's obvious disdain of Kate Gosselin comes through loud and clear.  While I can understand that, it does not speak well for his professionalism.  At times it reads like pure vendetta and that weakens his point.I noted in some of the other reviews that this version of the book flows much better than the previous one and I have to wonder what kind of hot mess the first version was.The fact that Mr. Hoffman was obliged to paraphrase much of the 'damning evidence' (Kate's journal entries, certain communications between Kate and Discovery/TLC, etc) didn't do this book any favors.  While he claims he in no way changed the information or the tone of these entries, it begs the question how someone who is so obviously NOT a fan of Ms. Gosselin (to the point of taking digs at her in the midst of these paraphrased passages) could resist doing so.A couple of points that bothered me personally were that Mr. Hoffman (an admitted friend of Jon Gosselin) seems very willing to give Jon a pass on a ton of questionable behavior.  He does state in the beginning that Jon has made a lot of dreadful mistakes.While reading this book, and its lengthy lists of Kate's truly heinous behaviors though, one has to wonder what kind of man sits by and allows his wife to 'browbeat' him to the point where he has no voice, especially when it comes to her mistreatment and exploitation of tiny children.At the same time I was reading this book I took the opportunity to watch quite a bit of the Jon & Kate shows on YouTube to refresh my memory about this couple and their story.  While I see the behavior that made me dislike Kate even way back then, I noted Jon's behavior in light of Mr. Hoffman's revelations.  I even got to see some of the scenes that were highlighted in the book.In Jon Gosselin, I don't see a man who was afraid to speak his own mind or defend his children, but rather a disinterested man, laid back to the point that it just didn't seem to affect him unless it involved being irked at Kate for her b*tchy attitude towards him.  As a matter of fact, I see him appearing to be on board with quite a bit of what was being portrayed on the show.Now I do know how powerful editing is.  A situation can be skewed eight ways from Sunday and I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case with J&K;+8.  However, I simply do not buy into the 'oh shucks/good guy' Jon slant.  I think he holds a lot of responsibility, along with Kate, when it comes to their show's existence, and more importantly, its continuing as long as it did.Why did he eventually pull the plug?  I'd love to believe it was altogether altruistic motives on his part, but I'm not 100% convinced.Another point that stood out to me was Mr. Hoffman's repeated defense of the paparazzi and his detailed accounts of how he, and others, followed Kate Gosselin around and invaded her personal space.  For a brief moment I almost felt sorry for Kate, even while fully believing that she sought out and courted fame by exploiting her children.  The parts that told of high speed chases by the paparazzi, while the children were in Kate's vehicle, made me sick to my stomach.Mr. Hoffman is eager to paint himself as a do-gooder and just wanting to do right by the Gosselin children, but that doesn't wash with me.I agree with 'Just Another Reader' that the damage this book could do to the Gosselin children is not worth it.  It is vengeful and exploitative.The bottom line is that I hope the Gosselin children are okay.  I would love for both their mother and father to put aside their differences and work together to create a safe, unified environment so that their children can grow up feeling loved and secure.Things like this book and Kate's obvious desire to get herself in front of the cameras and using her children as a means to that end, do not promote a healthy, loving atmosphere.I admit to feeling dirty after reading this.  Like I had peeked into a very personal, vulnerable place where I had no business being.