July 13, 2009
Pulitzer-nominated biographer Heymann delivers a gawk-worthy beach read with this fascinating look at Jackie and the Kennedy clan in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Life for JFK and Jackie was less than perfect; one story finds him cheating on Jackie during their 1953 Acapulco honeymoon, leaving the new Mrs. Kennedy "by herself on the verandah." Still, Jackie's devastation was real; afterward, her love for his brother Bobby was equally genuine. Unable to find peace (her Georgetown home had become a stop for all D.C. tour buses), Bobby gladly volunteered to play surrogate father to her kids; before long, an affair began. According to Truman Capote, it was "perhaps the most normal relationship either one ever had." It was not necessarily simple, however; both saw a number of people while together. Promiscuity aside, the Kennedys were also notoriously "chintzy" in their personal lives-they didn't tip and employed undocumented workers at home- though Jackie fares marginally better. It's anyone's guess how the affair would have ended if Bobby hadn't been killed; just four months later, she married Aristotle Onassis. Heymann's research is top notch, with plentiful attributions, making this train-wreck love story a substantial guilty pleasure and a sizzling reminder of how the rich are different.
August 31, 2009
The adulterous action in Heymann's scandal-driven biography moves along at a brisk pace, and Dick Hill serves as an engaging reader but he misses the opportunity to take on the personas of a colorful cast of '60s political and pop culture icons, including Aristotle Onassis, Truman Capote, and Andy Williams. While Hill does convey an ample portion of the raw emotion behind Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' experiences with betrayal, grief, and the celebrity fishbowl in which she found herself, other players in the drama seem relegated to serve as relatively nondescript pawns inside a litany of Camelot misdeeds. An Atria hardcover (Reviews, Jun. 8).