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rebeccakriz's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.0
lizjames's review
emotional
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
chanthaboune's review
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
cheryl70's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
slcreemer's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
komet2020's review
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
As someone who has had a longstanding fascination with the lives and times of the generation of Kennedys that gave to the nation a President of the United States and 2 Senators, I found that Jackie & Me made for compulsive reading.
The novel is largely focused on the role Lem Billings, one of JFK's closest friends (so much so that Lem was adopted by the Kennedy family virtually as an additional son), played during the time of JFK's and Jackie Bouvier's courtship. This was a time in which JFK was largely preoccupied with his 1952 Senate campaign in Massachusetts against the Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge. Consequently, JFK had little time that year for Jackie. Hence, the vital role Lem played in spending time with Jackie, taking her out for lunch and various social and fun outings in and around Washington. At this time, Jackie was working as a photojournalist for the Washington Times-Herald, in which capacity she would go out on the streets of Washington, camera in hand, to ask passersby questions about various subjects of human interest. Their responses she would write about in a brief excerpt which would be printed (with photo) in the newspaper.
I enjoyed the way the author brought both Jackie and Lem vividly to life. Jackie & Me was largely told in Lem's voice, both as he was in the early 1950s (when he was in his mid-30s) and in 1981 (near the end of his life). He helped Jackie to better understand the manner of man JFK was, as well as his family. He was the type of friend who put up with a lot - and earned the respect of both JFK and the Kennedy family.
There was one passage in Jackie & Me that clearly illustrated the type of relationship JFK and Lem had, and it is as follows ---
"... four years had since elapsed [i.e. between 1949 and 1953, the year JFK married Jackie}, and now, traveling back to Baltimore, I wondered for the first time what had become of that girl [with whom JFK had had a brief fling]. I couldn't imagine her hurling herself from the Fourteenth Street Bridge --- the congressional staffers I knew in those days were terrestrial. Perhaps she'd found some nice Chamber of Commerce lobbyist and was already on her way to having four unthinkingly healthy children. But as I thought back on her, sitting alone in that foyer, I realized I'd never said a single reproachful word to Jack --- I suppose for the very reason he was now suggesting. Friends accept each other as is, with no returns. So why, I wondered, should Jackie have any different standing than that girl whose name I never learned?"
Should the reader of this review be intrigued with the story of Jackie and Lem, by all means, read Jackie & Me.
The novel is largely focused on the role Lem Billings, one of JFK's closest friends (so much so that Lem was adopted by the Kennedy family virtually as an additional son), played during the time of JFK's and Jackie Bouvier's courtship. This was a time in which JFK was largely preoccupied with his 1952 Senate campaign in Massachusetts against the Republican incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge. Consequently, JFK had little time that year for Jackie. Hence, the vital role Lem played in spending time with Jackie, taking her out for lunch and various social and fun outings in and around Washington. At this time, Jackie was working as a photojournalist for the Washington Times-Herald, in which capacity she would go out on the streets of Washington, camera in hand, to ask passersby questions about various subjects of human interest. Their responses she would write about in a brief excerpt which would be printed (with photo) in the newspaper.
I enjoyed the way the author brought both Jackie and Lem vividly to life. Jackie & Me was largely told in Lem's voice, both as he was in the early 1950s (when he was in his mid-30s) and in 1981 (near the end of his life). He helped Jackie to better understand the manner of man JFK was, as well as his family. He was the type of friend who put up with a lot - and earned the respect of both JFK and the Kennedy family.
There was one passage in Jackie & Me that clearly illustrated the type of relationship JFK and Lem had, and it is as follows ---
"... four years had since elapsed [i.e. between 1949 and 1953, the year JFK married Jackie}, and now, traveling back to Baltimore, I wondered for the first time what had become of that girl [with whom JFK had had a brief fling]. I couldn't imagine her hurling herself from the Fourteenth Street Bridge --- the congressional staffers I knew in those days were terrestrial. Perhaps she'd found some nice Chamber of Commerce lobbyist and was already on her way to having four unthinkingly healthy children. But as I thought back on her, sitting alone in that foyer, I realized I'd never said a single reproachful word to Jack --- I suppose for the very reason he was now suggesting. Friends accept each other as is, with no returns. So why, I wondered, should Jackie have any different standing than that girl whose name I never learned?"
Should the reader of this review be intrigued with the story of Jackie and Lem, by all means, read Jackie & Me.
barrowp's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
2.0
Narrator ruined it for me.
vlaniganfoffimreading's review
4.0
This is an interesting take on Jackie Kennedy and Lem Billings relationship. I have been fascinated with Kennedy history since I was little so I immediately jumped at the chance to read this historical fiction.
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This is a fresh take on Jackie before she was Jackie Kennedy seen through the eyes of her husband’s best friend.
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Thank you @algonquinbooks for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.