Customer Reviews

Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I agree with the other reviewers who say there is nothing new here. Not only is this all rehash,it's not even good rehash.
Save your money, but if you must own it...buy it used...I am sure you'll have no trouble finding them.

While I understand that author's sentiment in wanting to detail a very important and courageous aspect of Jacqueline's life, I am disappointed with his attempt to do so. I was expceting to be enthralled and engaged from the moment I picked up the book until I put it down. That was clearly not the case. I found the book to be dull and to only repeat details that have been mentioned previously in other novels. The flashbacks were often distracting and served no real purpose.I learned nothing new from this novel. All details of her sickness that were found between the pages of this book were merely repeats and could be found in any Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis book worth its salt. As a collector of Kennedy books, I feel confident enough in my discerning taste to recommend that all interested parties refrain from buying this book. Go sit and read it at your local bookstore. (Trust me, it certainly won't take long!)

Edward Klein needs to find a new family to write recycled books about. After peddling such ghastly books as "The Kennedy Curse" and "Just Jackie," Klein engages in literary graverobbing with the putrid "Farewell Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days."

His primary focus is the final illness and death of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, of non-lymphoma cancer that seemed easily treatable. By this time, Ms. Onassis had transcended her tabloid-speckled former lives and had a good job, a man she loved, and grandchildren she adored. But when her cancer spread, Onassis tried to die with the illusion of dignity she had maintained in her life.

Reading "Farewell Jackie" is a bit like watching someone break open a grave to frisk the bones of the dead. Padding the story of Jackie's illness and death are stories of her earlier life -- primarily her second marriage, and various love affairs she had (one of which has been denied by the man involved). Dirt-dishing, anyone?

Jackie Kennedy Onassis is portrayed as downright saintly in this book; Klein glosses over the hypocrises and flaws in her personality, such as being "religious" yet ignoring tenets of that religion. Even the volatile nature of her relationship with her second husband. Oddly enough, this adoration doesn't extend far enough, especially at the end. Any semblance of dignity is shredded when Klein goes into grotesque detail about Onassis's final mental and physical deterioration.

What's more, Klein's writing is deplorable. He transcribes private conversations and moments when Onassis was alone -- all obviously faked. Not to mention that Klein is in desperate need of an editor for this book's many errors. On one page, Klein informs us, "Jackie a wreck." Verbs? We don't need no stinkin' verbs.

Farewell, Jackie. Too bad Klein had to write this book and peddle it as a memorial volume for you. "Farewell Jackie," thankfully, is clearly destined to sink into the mire of obsequious, poorly-written Kennedy books.

Usually a "slim volume" is a term applied to a book of poetry. Alas there is nothing poetic about this book but it is slim on just about everything that goes into a good biography.Simply put it is just another "smash and grab" attempt by Ed Klein to make money from the Kennedy/Onassis name.
If Mrs Onassis had been Mr Klein's editor she would have returned the manuscript and asked for a rewrite but unfortunately Mr Klein's editor lacked even the most basic skills which set Mrs Onassis apart in this field.This book is nothing more than a cut and paste of his previous books.Not much depth or preparation went into this ...even the photographs are not relevant...only one of those published refers to a period in the last six months of her life.
Also a lot of personal conversations between Mrs Onassis and her Doctor's/Priests are quoted verbatim so unless the author had these parties wire-tapped I don't see how he could have access to this sort of intimate exchange.
It's a pity on the tenth anniversary of the death of Jackie Onassis we could not have had a book published that celebrated her grace and beauty...a photographic book in the manner of "Marilyn in the camera's eye" would have been appropriate...but instead we have America's answer to Andrew Morton peddling his same old reworked wares.
Honestly Ed Klein go back to writing for magazines's . Maybe then you won't have to so shamelessly pad your subject matter and you may regain some of your credibility.

I enjoy reading books about the Kennedys and Jackie Onassis, but this book, which was supposed to give a chronicle of sorts of the last 10-11 years of Jackie's life, did not do a very good job of that. It was a cut-and-paste biography from previous books and interviews. I didn't learn anything new from this book, and that's the biggest disappointment. It will be a nice addition to my extensive library, but it won't be the first one I pull off the shelf for anyone who wants a good narrative of her life and on who Jackie really was. This is an "okay to read if you're lonely" kind of book.

My husband claims that I've never met a book I didn't like. But two Edward Klein books that I've recently read have to be the exceptions. The Kennedy Curse was bad enough, but Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days is a true dog.

Klein gives us the details of the diagnosis of Jackie's fatal illness and follows through to her death. In between, he regales us with short stories about her childhood, her lovers, her husbands, her children, her friends and her job. Jackie was fiercely protective of her privacy, and one thing that she demanded of her friends was complete loyalty. Edward Klein used to be a friend, until he wrote an article about her. After that, she cut him off completely. As a result, we're not really getting his "inside" story, but the story of dozens and dozens of Jackie's "anonymous" friends. I question how many would willingly provide him with intimate details of Jackie's deathbed scene (one that he called "her masterpiece").

Farewell, Jackie isn't much of a book. Weighing in about just a little over 200 pages, the chapters are short, the pages are small, and there are often two or three blank pages between each chapter. I read Farewell in a little over two hours, and I'm not a speed reader. At least with The Kennedy Curse, Klein provided us with some interesting information about the little-known Kennedy-Fitzgerald patriarchs. Unfortunately, Farewell, Jackie has little to redeem it. I think Klein has milked this cash cow (the Kennedy's) to the extent that the cow has run dry. It's time for him to find some new material.

Edward Klein, a well-known Kennedy biographer, has marked the 10th Anniversary of the death of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis with a new biography, FAREWELL, JACKIE, which details the final six months of her extraordinary life.

FAREWELL, JACKIE begins with her fateful fall from a horse during a hunting trip that led doctors to discover that Jackie had developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a form of cancer. Klein uses stories and anecdotes from many of Jackie's personal friends and coworkers to detail life after her diagnosis. Interspersed throughout the book are flashbacks revealing pieces of Jackie's life that helped define the independent woman she had become. The reader is given snapshots of her early life, including her powerful relationship with her father, her education and training that allowed her to flourish into a graceful and glamorous woman, and her passionate and tumultuous relationship with John F. Kennedy and the days of Camelot. Many of the stories found within the pages of Klein's book are familiar and have been noted in many Kennedy biographies. What this book does well is delve into Jackie's own personal exploration into the tragic fate of facing her own imminent death and how she handled it with grace, spirituality and hope.

Although Jackie was a woman who fiercely guarded her privacy, Klein uses quotes and stories from close friends of Jackie's who open up about their perception of this secretive woman. There are also interviews with many of Jackie's coworkers from her days as an acquiring editor at Doubleday. She was a dedicated editor who would devote herself to her writers, going so far as to call them at all hours of the night to
give advice, insight and offer help. Jackie was also very intent on keeping up her correspondence with friends and loved ones, often sending personal notes of hope and love.

The book explores Jackie's powerful relationship with her children, John Jr. and Caroline. Klein goes into great detail about the wishes, fears and undying love that she had for the "children of Camelot." Jackie was a doting grandmother who had an unbreakable bond with Caroline's children. In a note that Jackie left to Caroline, she wrote, "The children have been a wonderful gift to me and I'm thankful to have once again seen our world through their eyes. They restore my faith in the family's future."

The reader is also introduced to Jackie's relationship with Maurice Tempelsman and some of the private romantic details of their love affair. Tempelsman was a man who greatly loved Jackie and gave her strength and support in her final days. The enduring legacy of the Kennedys is a sentiment that has been expressed in numerous biographies, but it is handled with beautiful poignancy and intricate detail in FAREWELL, JACKIE.

Klein depicts Jackie as a woman with eternal hope and a triumphant spirit. He has written a wonderful portrait of a strong and confident woman who faced the numerous tragedies of her life with grace and dignity. FAREWELL, JACKIE is a simple biography, but what makes it special is that it is about an extraordinary woman.

--- Reviewed by Jocelyn Kelley

This slim volume left me very ambivalent. I enjoyed reading how JBKO met her death head on, and how she turned to her spirituality for strength and comfort. However, the parts of the story that are credible are things that I've read elsewhere -- sometimes even by Mr. Klein. And many other observations seemed intrusive -- if they are even true. (And considering how private some of these recollections are, it's impossible to know if they happened the way they are recounted here.) So while in some ways I'm not sorry I read it, I did feel as though as I trampling on Mrs. Onassis' privacy.

This book is a repeat of the author's 1998 - "Jackie: Her Private Years". Word by word, paragraph by paragraph, you are reading the same book - just with a new cover. Of course, no tribute to Jackie on the 10th anniversary of her death would be complete without at least a sentence about JFK's philandering, Caroline Kennedy's aloofness, Carolyn Bessette's alleged drug use, JFK,Jr.'s love/hate relationship with his mother, and, naturally, Jackie's own alleged affairs. For a poignant reminder of who the Kennedys were I like "Camelot at Dawn".

Edward Klein has created a fantastic piece of fiction. If you have read his other books, then you've read this one. His bibliography is rather short. Every source was "Anonymous." Also, he and his fact checkers must have been out to lunch during most of the writing of this book. There are many inaccuracies and omissions.

In one chapter he recalls the bedside apology of Edward M. Kennedy and quotes a source in the room at the time. Those in the room at the time were Mrs. Onassis, Senator Kennedy, Mrs. Mellon, and a nurse. Something tells me that none of them would break faith and talk to Mr. Klein.

I feel that I owe Mrs. Onassis' family an apology for buying and reading this tripe. I believe he has committed the ultimate sin for disregarding an occasion that should be the ultimate private time.