Think Jacqueline Kennedy. What do you see in your mind's eye? Someone somehow distant but cool, calm, and always in control? Soft-spoken? A cultural icon of the news photos? Someone, oh, so stylish and classy? A woman who could graciously rub shoulders with the movers and shakers of the world, speak French to Charles de Gaulle, effortlessly jump horses across tall fences, wrangle her children without losing patience, pose for countless photos, and give us a televised tour of the White House ... all without a hair being out of place? A woman with the inner strength to stand beside the new president being sworn in while still clad in the pink outfit stained with her assassinated husband's blood?
Jacqueline Kennedy was all that and more. As noted as the book begins, people often forget she was her own person, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, before she was Mrs. Kennedy or Mrs. Onassis. This book is the story of Jackie Bouvier. Far from being soft-spoken, she was, well, probably considered troublesome by many. Although born to money, the family lost huge amounts of its fortune during the Stock Market Crash and while able to hobnob in upper society, the money wasn't always there for idle expenses, like the Leica camera young Jackie so desperately wanted for her year of study in Paris. It was interesting to see the calculating side of her as she worked both parents to eventually get that camera. Frequently at odds with her mother, Janet, who was often volatile, which Jackie seems to have given right back at her, she adored her father. Interestingly enough, his comment to her that all men, including himself, are rats, prone to stray, may have both prepared and colored her own expectations of love and fidelity. Black Jack, as her father was called, also blamed Joseph P. Kennedy for much of their financial problems. We know the Kennedy family's connection, but it's interesting to read names like Nixon, Eisenhower, not to mention events such as Jackie's own first tour of the White House in 1941 with her mother. Her impression that it lacked the proper historical furnishings obviously stuck, huh?
This book, while revealing much of the both youthful hope and dreams of Jackie, also shows an ability to be calculating. Extremely intelligent, in the top of her class most years even while frequently having clashes with administrators, often for smoking, she pretty much developed her own style for her first job as Camera Girl", coming up with her own questions and approaching different classes of people for answers. As many know, one of her subjects was a young Jack Kennedy. You'll also learn how Jackie, who became such a protective mother, crossed the line a few times with political types, including the likes of the then very young Nixon children.
This brief mentions only touch the surface of the real Jackie Bouvier, not to mention takes us along her not-so-smooth-road to becoming Jackie Kennedy. It's a fascinating journey. Her interest in being a writer is explored, a sign of her post-Onassis career. I highly recommend it to anyone with not just an interest in Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy herself but history and politics. Heavily researched and referenced, the author has done an excellent job of showing us not just the human involved in the events but their place in history. Although I feared it might be a dry read, it was easy reading as we watched Jackie Bouvier come of age and step into the history books.
Thank you #NetGallery and #GalleryBooks for allowing me this sneak peek into a woman I've often admired, albeit occasionally through bewildered eyes. This book goes a long way toward expelling my bewilderment.
Thank you! I’m really looking forward to reading this!
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