How to Save a Life

The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy

By: Lynette Rice

Narrated by: Kate Mulligan

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

The first inside story of one of TV’s most popular and beloved dramas, Grey’s Anatomy.

More than 15 years after its premiere, Grey’s Anatomy remains one of the most beloved dramas on television and ABC’s most important property. It typically wins its time slot and has ranked in the top 20 most watched shows in primetime for most of its 17-season run. It currently averages more than nine million viewers each week.

Beyond that, it’s been a cultural touchstone. It introduced the unique voice and vision of Shonda Rhimes; it made Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, and T. R. Knight household names; and injected words and phrases into the cultural lexicon, such as “McDreamy", “seriously", and “you’re my person". And the behind-the-scenes drama has always been just as juicy as what was happening in front of the camera, from the controversial departure of Isaiah Washington to Katherine Heigl’s fall from grace and Patrick Dempsey’s shocking death episode. The show continued to hemorrhage key players, but the beloved hospital series never skipped a beat.

Lynette Rice's How to Save a Life takes a totally unauthorized deep dive into the show’s humble start, while offering exclusive intel on the behind-the-scenes culture, the most heartbreaking departures, and the more polarizing plotlines. This exhaustively enthusiastic audiobook is one that no Grey’s Anatomy fan should be without.

©2021 Lynette Rice (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Interesting for Fans

Love Grey's, so something to do while I can't watch. Nothing crazy new but well compiled and entertaining.

Loved it!

Super fan girl loves hearing the behind the scenes stories. Less drama than I would have thought.

Super Fan!!

Loved hearing all the behind the story “stories”!!! Also loved hearing about how some of the music became part of the series!

Best For Die Hard Fans

The title may sound obvious for a book like this but I've read a good number of behind the scenes histories and more than others I've read this one really felt like it would be tough to enjoy unless you truly love the show. It's a well written book but there doesn't feel like there's much here that couldn't be read elsewhere, which makes some sense as the writer wrote a number of articles about the show for EW. The book also suffers from the odd fact that Grey's is still on the air and from the attempt at keeping the book on the short/breezy side while still being about one of the longest running hits of the last 20 years. In summary it's a well written book that probably would have been better if it had waited until the show had aired a finale and if more people would have been willing to speak more candidly about the writer's room.

A great book

This was a great book for any fan of the show, even if you have missed a few seasons or are a diehard fan it’s a fun listen.

All That I Hoped It Would Be

Grey's has been my passion since S1E1. When Scandal was born TGIT was a commitment I kept.

Hearing all the "voices" involved speak of the episodes of Grey's on set and off brought me back to the beginning of falling in love with the show. I hope S18 becomes the final season, says Covid. I want to be left satisfied and with more Meredith than S17 or the beginning of S18 have offered. As Pompeo has said on talk shows, it would be wonderful if all the characters could come back to say goodbye. Those that have passed did so on the beach S17, my hope is the rest do so S18.

This book is well written and as an Audible, well read. Don't hesitate to get it and enjoy it.

Perfect for fans

I’m not just a Grey’s Anatomy fan, I’m a super fan. I own every episode of the show on iTunes, own a playlist of over 300 of the show’s most iconic songs, I’ve seen the entire series over a dozen times, probably closer to twenty times.

Grabbing HOW TO SAVE A LIFE was a no brainer, anatomy pun intended (though no reference to Amelia’s son who was born without a brain and lives for only minutes). I was a bit concerned Lynette Rice might do a hatchet job on the show, but found the account to be fair to the show and the cast.

I loved the inside stories and tidbits of information that I didn’t know. The only character/actress I disliked showed me my thoughts were warranted although I think I’d I liked the person I could have found reasons to confirm that as well. The reasons I dislike her are the same reasons others like her. One actor was redeemed in my mind.

My only criticism is that the narrator mispronounces Sara Ramirez’s first name. Kate Mulligan uses the American, not the Latina pronunciation which someone should have caught before the audiobook was released.

If you’re a GREY’S ANATOMY or tv fan, you’ll love HOW TO SAVE A LIFE, though if you aren’t, skip it.

Good over view

Enjoyed hearing about the back story of the show. Hard to believe some the characters acted the way they did. Still my favorite show.

How to Save a Life

I truly enjoyed this book but, it was obvious the author recycled some of her stories for different sections of the book. I had moments when I had to think: “did I already listen to this?” That said, it was an enjoyable dish on one of my all-time favorite shows!

Narrarator........

I may be wrong but it seemed to me the narrorator pronounced some names and some words wrong. It seemed like the author was just mostly quoting old magazine articles. Maybe on print it's better. I was a fan at one time of the show but not a huge fan. Maybe super fans would appreciate it more.