BOOK REVIEW: And They Called it Camelot: A Novel of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis by Stephanie Marie Thornton @berkleypub #andtheycalleditcamelot #bookreview

I go through phases with historical fiction and right now I’m absolutely loving them. I’d read Stephanie Marie Thornton’s prior book American Princess which was a fictionalized narrative non-fiction (honestly not sure how to label this specific sub-genre!) about Alice Roosevelt, which I loved. So when I saw And They Called it Camelot: A Novel of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, I grabbed it right away. I love the way Thornton takes stories about real people grounded in real events and uses her imagination to fill in the other pieces. It feels like reading a memoir, but with the flair of a fiction book.

About the Book

An intimate portrait of the life of Jackie O…

Few of us can claim to be the authors of our fate. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy knows no other choice. With the eyes of the world watching, Jackie uses her effortless charm and keen intelligence to carve a place for herself among the men of history and weave a fairy tale for the American people, embodying a senator’s wife, a devoted mother, a First Lady—a queen in her own right.

But all reigns must come to an end. Once JFK travels to Dallas and the clock ticks down those thousand days of magic in Camelot, Jackie is forced to pick up the ruined fragments of her life and forge herself into a new identity that is all her own, that of an American legend.

Reflection

Jackie Kennedy is truly an icon. She is everything glamour, class, and chic. I went to an exhibit once of just preserved outfits she wore and was photographed in for notable events in history and I felt quite humbled by the experience. Afterall, the thing about Jackie is that she wasn’t only a style icon, she also is an important historical figure.

Wen I was reading this, I guess I didn’t really put together how young she was in her time as the first lady. Only 31 years old! At a time when men were the changemakers, Jackie O truly carved her own place in history. Her life may seem like a fairy tale, but the more I learned about her and saw the woman behind the legend, I realized how much tragedy she had in her life. Beyond just the assassination of JFK (which was indeed heart breaking), Jackie’s life wasn’t all magic and glamour. I loved reading this because I felt I learned so much more about her and I see her through different eyes.

The novel begins just before Jackie met JFK, which is a period of her life I knew almost nothing about. As we watch the two fall in love and get married, Jackie is dealing with all of the complications that come with marrying into a family like the Kennedys.

And of course, the part we are all ashamed to be curious about—the book touches on JFK’s infidelities. I thought these were handled with a careful hand. We don’t only see what JFK did to Jackie with is affairs (one of which was quite famous—I kept thinking about how humiliating that would be), we also see Jackie as much more than the docile 50s housewife that many assume her to be when it came to the infidelity. Jackie is in love, but more than that, Jackie knows that JFK’s career is bigger than their marriage. The impact he can have on the world is more important than her struggles as his wife.

One thing I also learned about Jackie during this time is how important family is to her. She is a mother to her core, and that’s something I really respected about her.

And yes, Marilyn Monroe is included. But I’ll save that to let you see how Jackie felt about her in the book.

The book also converse JFK’s assassination and Jackie’s retreat from the spotlight after it occurs. One thing I thought interesting is how Thornton portrayed Jackie’s marriage to Aristotle Onassis, a Greek magnate. Thornton makes the case that this was part of Jackie’s desire to remove herself and her family from the public eye and towards a sense of security and privacy.

And of course, the book touches on Jackie’s relationship with Bobby Kennedy. This was interesting—I had always heard rumors of an affair between the two. The book is inconclusive (as is, I believe, historical record). But I do think the book highlights why the two became close through their grief over the loss of Jack.

I could go on and on about this book. If I left it with anything, it was an appreciation for Jackie’s intellect, class, feminism, and strength as a woman and a mother.

Thank you to Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.