Customer Reviews

Jackie Oh!

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book reads much like Gone With the Wind and Jackie Kennedy's character, personality and upbringing is eerily similar to that of Scarlett O'Hara herself. Although the book is dated it is a fascinating and engrossing read. Kelly's an excellent writer and story teller and aside from the speculation about the book's reliability, it is nonetheless, immensely readable. Moreover, there is nothing in this book that is not consistent with facts which have been verified in the years since it was published.

If you are a Kennedy worshiper you will not like this book. It is not flattering to Mrs. Onassis nor should it be. From all accounts Jackie Onassis was a self absorbed, materialistic and psyopathically arrogant bully of a woman. You will not come out of this book liking her. But even under the harsh glare of the truth, Jackie Onasis is fascinating. She was a pivotal figure in this country's history regardless of her shallow, ruthless and self serving ways. You also might come out of this book profoundly resentful of the unconditional genuflecting she enjoyed from American society at large. How someone like this could move through life with absolutely no accountability and with unconditional reverence makes the book even more thought provoking.

With all this hooplah about Kitty's latest book, Oprah, I decided to read one of the more famous ones first, to see if I liked Kitty & to see why she was so scandalous. Folks....no big deal. This book was really good, very informative about the person (not the image) of Jackie. If you love Jackie, get this book. It's one of the few that I found interesting enough to read quickly. And I didn't think it was nasty at all. I thought it had balance, intrique. etc. A real keeper, thank you Kitty.

When Jackie Oh! came out it shot Kitty Kelley to fame. It was considered vicious trash by the critics but the public ate it up. Reading it almost 30 years later I'm struck with the feeling that the hype was more than the book. There have been allegations that Kelly relied on backstairs gossip and a lot of what's in here can't be proven. Then there is the fact that Jackie was alive when the book was published. Kelly's decision to write about Jackie's treatment for depression (The woman lost a son and a husband within months. Who wouldn't be depressed?) seemed simply cruel for the sport of it.

Reading Jackie Oh is kind of like finding your old high school year book and being embarrased by the clothes, the hobbies and the sentiments written therein. You look at it and are chagrined at how important such sillines seemed at the time.

Jackie always reminded me of what Marilyn Monroe would have sounded like if MM had gone to finishing school with that affected little breathy voice (her sister has it too but speaks louder). I always thought that her "historical renovation" as she insisted it be called was simply an interior redecoration of the White House which it realistically was. Other first ladies have done redecorating & no one really cared and the show she had was very nice but no great historical event!
I just love the way Jackie wore a tiara (was she some kind of queen?) & carefully crafted this image (no public smoking, no speaking above an almost whisper etc.).
She did have a lot to bear with her philandering spoiled hsusband & trying to have children. I also think she was a good mother & while Jackie was intelligent, she was no brain surgeon either.
After leaving the White House she made no attempt to help civil rights with even a public statement of support (is that being too political?0 & the only thing she ever did was help keep Grand Central Staion from being demolished. Nice but not very much considering all the wealth & public infuence she still had! Basically shallow as can be as a person. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled!

Kitty Kelley is known for taking a no-holds-barred approach to attacking and researching her subjects, who often are very private and professional people, and this biography of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis is no different. Kelley uses every trick in the book to paint Jackie in real colors, whether it be her handling of her husband's philandering or her subjecting to electroshock therapy. This book is as controversial now as it was when it was published, and for good reason! Kitty's writing is timeless and casual, which was one thing about her writing that attracted me to her writing.
If you are a fan of Kitty, Jackie or just good, solid writing, then read this book!

Trashy, gossipy biography written by an author known for digging up the dirt. I laughed at some of the situations that were described because I couldn't believe all of them. Good for an afternoon's read while lying on the beach or taking a long bath.

I have discovered, by reading all of kitty kellys Books ,anything Kitty is fantastic. From Oprah to Nancy to The Queen of England to the Bushes . WDO

Good book to curious people about Jackie O lifes
Fun, exciting, romantic, original, very, very curious about life and people.
I was new to Jackie, but I'd been curious to read what exactly she was like.

This is readable stuff. I did read that Kelly made some of it up, so....But the big revelations are that John F. Kennedy smoked pot in the White House, and that Jackie had electric shock treatment to treat depression. I thought Kelly's biography of Frank Sinatra much better.

I AM ENJOYING READING THIS BOOK AND LIKE ALL BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR, KITTY KELLEY, I THINK THE RESEARCH IS VERY GOOD
THAT IS WHY IT MAKES THEM ALL INTERESTING AND FUN TO READ.