Thank you Goodreads /Random House #partner, for the advanced copy of Jackie in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library.
Publisher: Random House
Published: June 18, 2024
Summary:
In this mesmerizing novel about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, acclaimed author Dawn Tripp has crafted an intimate story of love and power, family and tragedy, loss and reinvention.
The world has divided my life into three:
Life with Jack
Life with Onassis
Life as a woman who goes to work because she wants to.
My life is all of these things, and it is none of these things. They continue to miss what’s right in front of them. I love books. I love the sea. I love horses. Children. Art. Ideas. History. Beauty. Because beauty blows us open to wonder.
Even the beauty that breaks your heart.
Jackie is the story of a woman—deeply private with a nuanced, formidable intellect—who forged a legacy out of grief and shaped history even as she was living it. It is the story of a love affair, a complicated marriage, and the fracturing of identity that comes in the wake of unthinkable violence.
When Jackie meets the charismatic congressman Jack Kennedy in Georgetown, she is twenty-one and dreaming of France. She has won an internship at Vogue. Kennedy, she thinks, is not her kind of adventure: “Too American. Too good-looking. Too boy.” Yet she is drawn to his mind, his humor, his drive. The chemistry between them ignites. During the White House years, the love between two independent people deepens. Then, a motorcade in Dallas: “Three and a half seconds—that’s all it was—a slivered instant between the first shot, which missed the car, and the second, which did not. . . . A hypnotic burst of sunlight off her bracelet as she waved.”
This vivid, exquisitely written novel is at once a captivating work of the imagination and a window into the world of a woman who led many lives: Jackie, Jacks, Jacqueline, Miss Bouvier, Mrs. Kennedy, Jackie O.
My thoughts:
It’s no secret that I am a fan of Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis and I was thrilled to win this book via a Goodreads giveaway! I loved that the author’s note was right in the front and that she clearly states this book is a work of fiction and that it is inspired by her life. It actually all started from the picture on the cover.
I found this book so engaging & insightful. It’s such an intimate look at a marriage but the focus is on the woman herself. We see how she carried on in the days after JFK’s death, we see what she decided to do with her life afterwards as she navigated widowhood with two young children. It was both an emotional read and an inspiring one.
While this book is thick – the book is just about 500 pages and the audio is over 14 hours – I never felt it drag at any point. It is well-researched and has me yearning to read more about this strong woman…perhaps it’s time I finally read these other books I have sitting on my shelf! I told you I am a fan of this woman!
Audio thoughts:
I alternated between the print and audio amd found this to be the perfect way to take this book in. The narrators, Linda Jones and Karissa Vacker, both did amazing jobs in bringing this story to life.
Purchasing from the link below supports independent bookstores and my blog!
