Customer Reviews

Rose: The Life and Times of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy: Rose: The Life and Times of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

5 star:		(3)
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3 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I thought this was an excellent biography of the Matriarch of an American Dynasty. Charles Higham has done a thorough job of researching Rose Kennedy, her forebears as well as those of Joe Kennedy, Sr. This book takes a daring peek behind the curtain of Rose's outward gentility; one is forced to confront the adulterous Joe through her eyes; one feels sympathy for Rose as she, by many accounts, those of her children included, becomes even more religious and reclusive.

One feels her anguish over Joe's decision to have poor Rosemary lobotomized without at least consulting her; one feels her anguish over the violent, devastating deaths of three of her four sons.

I liked the parts that detailed some of the interactions Rose had with her many grandchildren; I especially loved the parts about her son Robert, the then future Attorney General and Senator.

I found the dynamics of intrafamilial relationships quite interesting. In many accounts, the indomitable matriarch and Jack locked horns and had many personality clashes. In all accounts, she and RFK had a unique bond. The resemblance between Rose and Robert is quite strong; indeed, the matriarch left her stamp on this penultimate son who would later comfort her in her old age and invite her to accompany him on his 1964 senatorial campaign. This pair has been described as being extremely devout and loyal to their children; again, this similarity is emphasized in the bonds the future Attorney General had with his own children.

I felt this was a very well researched and well written biography. For anyone who is seriously interested in Rose Kennedy, I would recommend this book highly.

Okay-which is it? Was Joe Sr. like this book says or not? There are too many contradictions out there that portray him as NOT the nicest guy and his politics on the communism/anti-semetic side. I'm just looking for the real truth and I feel this author goes way!!!! overboard trying to excuse everything Joe Sr. and Rose kennedy ever did that was questionable. Like how everyone makes her out to be the quintessential mother-well that's easy to do when you're always traveling without the kids, shipping them all over the world to boarding school and have no less than 3-5 nannies etc.This author whitewashes the major negatives about Joe and Rose Kennedy to a fault.

ROSE is the definitive biography of Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, matriarch of America's dynastic Kennedy family. Author Charles Higham reveals that, despite being a young woman born during the Victorian era and raised in convents, Rose Kennedy had a sprightly, independent mind and an educated outlook on life--even though her father denied her the formal college experience she greatly had wanted. Still, Rose was not, as many imagine, a subservient wife hovering timidly in the background.

Author Higham has done excellent and thorough research, both on the families of Rose and her husband Joseph, and on the evolution of the strong and independent woman that Rose became. Higham examines several episodes in the history of the family that usually are brushed under the proverbial rug, especially regarding the lobotomy of daughter Rosemary (ordered by Joe without Rose's knowledge) and the way in which Rose dealt with her knowledge of Joe's blatant infidelities.

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy turns out to have been a fascinating woman in her own right, and ROSE is her story.

This book is good for research, but as far as entertainment goes it lacks life.

A rich, wonderful history of the Kennedy matriarch. Rose Kennedy's life will take you through good and bad times, but Rose always knew how to be strong and get throught these ordeals. Highly recommended. FOR QUETIONS AND DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The book should have been titled the life and times of MR. and Mrs. Joe Kennedy. The first five to six chapter are primarly about Joe Kennedy Sr. and how he made his moeny and his many trips and what not...you rarely got much of anything about Rose at this time so they probably should of just done one chapter saying that she stayed home most of the time while joe worked and traveled and when possible she would travel with him, that would have saved a lot of wasteful chapters that weren't about Rose at all. This book was not written very well either which could also be why it runs on about the wrong person for so long at the beginning. This book is not something I would recommend to anyone not even my worse enemy let alone to the general public. Do not waste your time..there are many better books out there that are better written, more acurate and is acutally written about the person that is says its about on the cover.