Love, Jack [Hardcover]

Gunilla von Post (Author), Carl Johnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 1997

He was a dashing young senator pursued by an Italian contessa and the imposing forces of his destiny.  She was a 21-year-old Swedish aristocrat away from home for the first time.  Their accidental meeting at a port in the Riviera changed both their lives forever.

Spanning two continents and the Atlantic Ocean, unfolding over a six-year period beginning in 1953, Love, Jack is the story of a transcendent but heartbreaking love between two people at the peak of their youth and beauty, a love that seemed impossible but could not be denied.  Here is an intimate portrait of John Kennedy never before seen: a gentle, kind, and caring man, intensely passionate and full of life but a man who faces great difficulty adjusting to the demanding role history and his father have assigned him.

Driven by his love for Gunilla von Post, Jack risked the sort of exposure that might have ruined his career and was willing to endure debilitating pain to cross the ocean for her.  For the sake of her passion, Gunilla risked the ostracism of her family and friends, ready to turn her back on the country she loved.

Love, Jack is the heartwarming account of a history-making romance, a "brief, shining moment" before Camelot, before an assassin's bullets shattered the hopes of a nation a moment in time that Gunilla von Post is at last ready to share with the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

While one might question the need for yet another book about John F. Kennedy's love life, readers of this slim memoir probably won't doubt Von Post's genuine feelings for the late president, who seems to have been the great love of her life. They may, however, doubt her wisdom in deciding, upon the death of Jacqueline Onassis, that the time had come to tell her story. This tale of love at first sight, when the then (engaged) senator from Massachusetts met a young Gunilla on the Riviera, adds little to our knowledge of John Kennedy and, even at a mere 160 pages, seems padded. Their brief relationship could have been discussed in a magazine article. Still, given the seemingly insatiable public interest in the Kennedys, most public libraries can expect a demand for this title.
-?Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

It's hard to imagine what possessed von Post, a "Swedish aristocrat," to write this memoir, and it's even more difficult to figure out how it managed to get published. Von Post met Jack Kennedy in 1953; she saw him a total of three times (only during the second visit were they actually together for any length of time); and he wrote letters to her and called her once in a while. Von Post wants us to believe that Kennedy was willing to throw over Jackie for her, but Papa Joe nixed the plan. She also wants to set the record straight about Jack's performance in bed. He was not a Slam-bam, Thank-you Ma'am kind of guy like we've been led to believe but, rather, was a sweet and tender lover--albeit one with a lot of back pain. Since von Post didn't see Kennedy all that much, she's forced to come up with something to fill out even this brief book, and that something turns out to be a description of her family and life in Sweden in the 1950s. Yawn. Von Post has been booked to appear on 20/20, and an author tour is planned, all of which may generate requests for her so-called book. But buy cautiously because von Post's name will be forgotten about two weeks after the media blitz ends. Ilene Cooper

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1 edition (August 5, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609600958
• ISBN-13: 978-0609600955
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,122,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 STARS ...... NOT ENOUGH !, July 2, 2000

By 

Olivia King (FRANCE) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love, Jack (Hardcover)

I was absolutely delighted to read such a wonderful book about a part of John F.Kennedy's life. This book has helped to present to the world the real Jack Kennedy: the sensitive man who, for some but rare, precious and stolen moments, wanted to live his own life, go his own way and not only follow the one created by others for him.

He mighted seem to be a kind of a dreamer to think he could escape the constant pressure on his shoulder and what he was daily ask to be and to present to the world by loving someone from the other side of the Atlantic . But I am sure and convinced that Gunilla Von Post was really someone special to him (and in his heart) and that she helped him a lot during this magic period for both of them.

Why is he someone so misunderstood? Why some persons think he was cold and could not have loved someone? Remember that he was a human being and not a myth. Why is it so difficult for others to believe this story and John Kennedy' feelings toward Gunilla Von Post?

Instead of just collecting books about John Kennedy, some of reviewers should have read them. And if they think that Gunilla Von Post was just another woman in Jack Kennedy's life, they really misunderstood the whole man! Thank you very much Mrs Gunilla " Gorilla" Von Post to have share your story with us and I hope that one day people will understand your decision.

5.0 out of 5 stars A piece of her heart, October 30, 2010

By 

deb edge "eyesparkle" (Frederick MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Love, Jack (Hardcover)

A real fairytale love but sadly one with a very sad ending. It was so easy to imagine one's self as the author. Very real and heartfelt.

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you, Gunilla!, September 7, 2000

By 

James Bourke (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Love, Jack (Hardcover)

This book gives a very rare glimpse into JFK's private life before the White House years. Ms. von Post's viewpoint is truly unique - - JKF fell in love with her during a fortuitous meeting in France which led to a romantic evening together that same day in 1953; this was followed by two years of periodic correspondence and phone calls leading to a week-long reunion in Sweden during the summer of 1955. One gets a first-hand account of the young senator's personality from a woman who loved him (although she knew he was married) that paints a much different picture from those biographers who treat him more as a self-serving womanizer. The book also reveals the extent to which JFK was subservient to his father's demands, although one also gets the sense that at times the young senator truly wished he could break away from his father's intentions and be his own man. This he succeeds in doing, if only for a week, during the magical time he spends with Ms. von Post in 1955. Thank you, Gunilla, for sharing your own personal story of one of history's most fascinating personalities.