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manguar's review against another edition
informative
lighthearted
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
hayleybeale's review
4.0
A lovely and wistful fictionalized account of the friendship of Jackie Bouvier and Lem Billings, covering the period between Jackie’s first meeting with Jack Kennedy and their wedding.
I realized when I started this book that I was pretty vague about Jackie Bouvier and Jack Kennedy during this period, and not much better informed about the subsequent period. I also thought Lem Billings was a fictional character until I read the author’s note at the end but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book and subsequent reading of Wikipedia told me little that I hadn't learned through Jackie and Me.
Lem has been friends with Jack Kennedy since school and was virtually part of the Kennedy clan. However, this novel puts Jack somewhat in the background and focuses much more on the relationship between Lem and Jackie. Though Lem narrates from 1981 when he is in poor health and has been left behind by both the Kennedys and Jackie, it is a sunny and joyful depiction of a deep friendship between two people who have more in common with each other than with the charismatic Jack, but who nonetheless feel that relationship is more important.
Jack asks Lem to keep Jackie company, and while Jack isn’t really courting her, he also wants Lem to keep his name in play. Lem, in this telling, plays a pivotal role in their relationship when Jack asks him to talk to her about what marriage with him would be like.
Jack himself is not a particularly sympathetic character: he is steered by his father, is a perpetual philanderer, and uses Lem as both a messenger and a stooge. The Kennedy clan are presented as cruel, insular, and self-absorbed without the glamor that reflects and is reflected off them.
Jackie is a woman of her times (and I do seem to be spending a lot of my reading time with American women in the 1950s) and her class. Though she spent some time in France and has an actual job - Inquiring Photografer with the Washington Times-Herald in which she asks people in the street increasingly loaded questions like “Should engaged people reveal their past?” - she still understands her purpose is to get married and have children. The disparity between how she (and other women) approach the idea of marriage versus how Jack sees it is brutal. Lem, who is so closeted he doesn’t appear to realize it, functions perfectly as the sexless companion to Jackie, though there are a few vignettes of his later, slightly more out life.
Though I learnt a little history, I would recommend this novel as a rich story of a deep friendship of two outsiders who are not sure if they want in but don’t know of any other option.
Thanks to Algonquin Books and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
I realized when I started this book that I was pretty vague about Jackie Bouvier and Jack Kennedy during this period, and not much better informed about the subsequent period. I also thought Lem Billings was a fictional character until I read the author’s note at the end but it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book and subsequent reading of Wikipedia told me little that I hadn't learned through Jackie and Me.
Lem has been friends with Jack Kennedy since school and was virtually part of the Kennedy clan. However, this novel puts Jack somewhat in the background and focuses much more on the relationship between Lem and Jackie. Though Lem narrates from 1981 when he is in poor health and has been left behind by both the Kennedys and Jackie, it is a sunny and joyful depiction of a deep friendship between two people who have more in common with each other than with the charismatic Jack, but who nonetheless feel that relationship is more important.
Jack asks Lem to keep Jackie company, and while Jack isn’t really courting her, he also wants Lem to keep his name in play. Lem, in this telling, plays a pivotal role in their relationship when Jack asks him to talk to her about what marriage with him would be like.
Jack himself is not a particularly sympathetic character: he is steered by his father, is a perpetual philanderer, and uses Lem as both a messenger and a stooge. The Kennedy clan are presented as cruel, insular, and self-absorbed without the glamor that reflects and is reflected off them.
Jackie is a woman of her times (and I do seem to be spending a lot of my reading time with American women in the 1950s) and her class. Though she spent some time in France and has an actual job - Inquiring Photografer with the Washington Times-Herald in which she asks people in the street increasingly loaded questions like “Should engaged people reveal their past?” - she still understands her purpose is to get married and have children. The disparity between how she (and other women) approach the idea of marriage versus how Jack sees it is brutal. Lem, who is so closeted he doesn’t appear to realize it, functions perfectly as the sexless companion to Jackie, though there are a few vignettes of his later, slightly more out life.
Though I learnt a little history, I would recommend this novel as a rich story of a deep friendship of two outsiders who are not sure if they want in but don’t know of any other option.
Thanks to Algonquin Books and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
susiegorden's review
4.0
This one is hard to rate. I liked, but didn't love it (a 3.5 if that were an option). Each of the two main characters -- Jackie and me (real world Kennedy friend Lem) -- was presented at such a remove that it was hard to fully embrace. In a way, that seems completely appropriate. We are, after all, talking about the WASPs famously known for their chilliness. This contrasted well with the actual Kennedy crew. Boisterous and fun ... but also bullies.
I grew up with Boomer parents still obsessed with the Kennedy mystique. That's been shattered by reality and time. This hints at that, while coldly confronting what the reality was.
I grew up with Boomer parents still obsessed with the Kennedy mystique. That's been shattered by reality and time. This hints at that, while coldly confronting what the reality was.
shesbecomingbookish's review
3.0
Quick and Dirty
-reads like a memoir at times
-Jack and Jackie's origin story
-inside look behind the glitz and glamour
-ideal for Jackie O lovers
Thoughts
I have a thing for Jackie, so I've been eager to read this one since it first came out. And having just read
-reads like a memoir at times
-Jack and Jackie's origin story
-inside look behind the glitz and glamour
-ideal for Jackie O lovers
Thoughts
I have a thing for Jackie, so I've been eager to read this one since it first came out. And having just read
brooke_review's review
3.0
Imagine being the wingman of JFK, the womanizer who would marry Jacqueline Bouvier and become the 35th President of the United States only to be assassinated 2 years into office. Such is the life of Lem Billings, a closeted gay man who happened to be John F. Kennedy’s best friend and closest confidante. But in Louis Bayard’s Jackie & Me, we also learn that Lem had a close relationship with Jackie, serving as the go-between for JFK and Jackie as they courted and eventually married.
Told through the eyes of an older Lem Billings some 30 years after the events, we learn about Jackie and JFK’s early days, and how their relationship might have been quite possibly arranged to give JFK greater political power. After all, what’s a future President without a wife, especially one as enchanting as Jackie?
Jackie & Me is narrated in an old-fashioned, distant kind of way. You can almost envision this novel playing out as a movie with Lem narrating the story off-screen. To be honest, I had a difficult time connecting with the story in the first half because the writing style was so vague and unusual, but I became quite hooked once the tale traveled into more familiar territory and I could fill in the gaps with the history with which I am already well-acquainted. It is quite an engaging, banter-filled novel; albeit one that is difficult to follow at times.
Told through the eyes of an older Lem Billings some 30 years after the events, we learn about Jackie and JFK’s early days, and how their relationship might have been quite possibly arranged to give JFK greater political power. After all, what’s a future President without a wife, especially one as enchanting as Jackie?
Jackie & Me is narrated in an old-fashioned, distant kind of way. You can almost envision this novel playing out as a movie with Lem narrating the story off-screen. To be honest, I had a difficult time connecting with the story in the first half because the writing style was so vague and unusual, but I became quite hooked once the tale traveled into more familiar territory and I could fill in the gaps with the history with which I am already well-acquainted. It is quite an engaging, banter-filled novel; albeit one that is difficult to follow at times.
lesliemcandrews's review
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
lisagray68's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
olivegirl's review
5.0
WOW ok this book was exactly what I needed!! It was a fictional version of the courting of Jackie by Jack told through the eyes of their friend Lem and I adored it. It was so juicy and got into just enough detail to keep me entertained. I will say I didn’t really enjoy the parts of Lem’s life and I would have liked it better if he had stayed out of it. I was also super surprised when I finished it and it didn’t go into more detail about their married life.
gypsynyx91's review
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5