I really enjoyed this book. The Kennedy's are actually not a family to be admired. Ethel and Bobby had a grand total of 11 children. While Bobby was alive, it seemed as if he made more of an effort than Ethel later would. Even so, Bobby was rarely home. He was always campaigning or earlier, working as Attorney General. Once he was assassinated, the Kennedy household at their rambling Hickory Hill estate went haywire.
Ethel who had been deeply devoted and in love with her husband was angry at his loss and didn't know how to raise all of the children. The older boys bore the brunt of Ethel's rage. They developed serious problems with drugs and were shuffled from boarding school to boarding school due to their drug use and bad behavior.
Ethel doesn't come across too well here. A very religious Catholic, she frowned on divorce and was also angry that Ted Kennedy wasn't more of an example to her brood. She was especially pissed at Ted after Chappaquiddick. Ethel idolized Rose Kennedy and made it her life's work to have more children that Rose did. She didn't get along well with Jackie, teasing her for her whispery voice and refined manners. Ethel would never speak to the children about their father's murder and it hurt them that she wouldn't allow them to grieve even with her. Ethel herself had come from an immensely wealthy and dysfunctional family, much like the Kennedy's. The book goes into detail about the Skakel's and how Ethel's father was a self made man. The Skakel family also had their fare share of alcoholism, philandering, adultery, plane crashes and the like. Remarkably similar in many respects to the Kennedys.
I found the book incredibly engaging, well written and interesting.
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Christopher Rebandel
a good insight in to the pluses and minuses of life ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 24, 2016