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peaknit's review against another edition
4.0
I had this on my kindle for ages, why didn't I read it sooner? It started out slowly but really was a sad but charming memoir of a child in the 60's. Fantastic!
mbdarwin's review against another edition
4.0
It's a very sweet book about a girl learning to get back to the job of living after her father dies suddenly. I especially loved the relationship that she and her sisters had with their uncle, Father Bob. I did feel, throughout, that I really only had a surface understanding of the characters. Most of the book made me feel as if I was only privy to the child's perspective and none of the interiority that one hopes to receive when an adult writes a memoir mostly set in the very long ago.
groovykathy's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so cool to me. I actually grew up in the town where this is set. And one of the characters was my English and French teacher. It was a very interesting and touching look into a family's struggles in the 60's in my small little mill town. I think their story would resonate with a lot of people. Just really fascinating and poignant.
abbywdan's review against another edition
4.0
Oh, y'all. This book is so clumsy and plodding, but it's such a lovely story, and I was getting really down on it, especially since JFK doesn't die until 70% of the way through--so the whole construct of the Woods being the Kennedys just didn't work for me. I mean I GOT it, it ain't hard to get, but it seemed like a stretch, as a theme.
Then three things happened:
1) Wood flashes forward 10 years and goes on a TEAR through narrating the experiences of her first two months of college.
2) Wood flashes forward 8 years and rehearses "Our Town" in her living room with her mom and friend.
3) Wood has an epilogue where she thanks the grown up versions of all of her childhood friends.
Item #1 was amazing and tantalizing, and I want to read THAT book NOW. Reading all of When We Were the Kennedys is worth it for this section.
Anyone who knows me knows that Item #2 means INSTANT WATERWORKS for yours truly, even when riding the A train to work.
Item #3 is also a real tearjerker, and basically made me forgive all the clunky floweriness and sentimental rehashing that took place in the rest of the memoir.
In other words: FOILED BY FEELINGS. Enjoy this one. It's quick and worth it.
Then three things happened:
1) Wood flashes forward 10 years and goes on a TEAR through narrating the experiences of her first two months of college.
2) Wood flashes forward 8 years and rehearses "Our Town" in her living room with her mom and friend.
3) Wood has an epilogue where she thanks the grown up versions of all of her childhood friends.
Item #1 was amazing and tantalizing, and I want to read THAT book NOW. Reading all of When We Were the Kennedys is worth it for this section.
Anyone who knows me knows that Item #2 means INSTANT WATERWORKS for yours truly, even when riding the A train to work.
Item #3 is also a real tearjerker, and basically made me forgive all the clunky floweriness and sentimental rehashing that took place in the rest of the memoir.
In other words: FOILED BY FEELINGS. Enjoy this one. It's quick and worth it.
amysbrittain's review against another edition
5.0
ICYMI: A book I loved
Wood's memoir is captivating and lovely, poignant, sweet without being overly sentimental, and just all-around wonderful.
In 1963 the Woods were a typical Catholic immigrant family in Mexico, Maine. Dad worked for the local paper mill alongside countless other immigrants, and the family had a steady life. But when Monica's father died suddenly, Monica and her three sisters began to drift. Father Bob, their mother's brother, tried to be the ballast the family needed. Then Monica's mother became inspired after the tragic death of John F. Kennedy, and she insisted on a family road trip to Washington, D.C. The trip was an initial, unexpected step toward the healing Monica and her family desperately needed.
When We Were the Kennedys is about grieving deeply, leaning on family and community in a crisis and in common suffering, and figuring out the impossible: how to move on after devastating tragedy.
Wood gorgeously evokes the many characters and unfathomable events that changed her family's existence--as well as that of her community and the entire country--in 1963.
Oh, how I loved this book! Wood's memoir is heartwarming and funny and tragic and vivid. This memoir is fantastic. I ate it up in a single day.
For my full review of this book on the Bossy Bookworm, please see When We Were the Kennedys.
Wood's memoir is captivating and lovely, poignant, sweet without being overly sentimental, and just all-around wonderful.
In 1963 the Woods were a typical Catholic immigrant family in Mexico, Maine. Dad worked for the local paper mill alongside countless other immigrants, and the family had a steady life. But when Monica's father died suddenly, Monica and her three sisters began to drift. Father Bob, their mother's brother, tried to be the ballast the family needed. Then Monica's mother became inspired after the tragic death of John F. Kennedy, and she insisted on a family road trip to Washington, D.C. The trip was an initial, unexpected step toward the healing Monica and her family desperately needed.
When We Were the Kennedys is about grieving deeply, leaning on family and community in a crisis and in common suffering, and figuring out the impossible: how to move on after devastating tragedy.
Wood gorgeously evokes the many characters and unfathomable events that changed her family's existence--as well as that of her community and the entire country--in 1963.
Oh, how I loved this book! Wood's memoir is heartwarming and funny and tragic and vivid. This memoir is fantastic. I ate it up in a single day.
For my full review of this book on the Bossy Bookworm, please see When We Were the Kennedys.
anniemccormick1025's review against another edition
5.0
There were many parts of this story that made me cry for real. It was a moving tale of losing a father but also losing something much bigger and also trying to hold on to something that is being slowly degraded. The juxtaposition of the paper mill decline with the family's loss is also very well placed. I really enjoyed reading this book.
egould1's review against another edition
3.0
A poignant memoir. Well written, but a little disjointed at times.