Anyone read Ask Not about the Kennedy women?

[Anonymous]

It so eye opening. I’m Gen X and was born about 10 years after jfk was killed.
The Kennedy men were such dogs. Treated women like such dirt.
Also, who took care of the kids? Did any of those kids get raised by their parents? Or just nannies?

[Anonymous]

I’ll have to add this book to my list. All of the current generation of Kennedys are a bit nutty… and I’m not just talking about RFK Jr….

[Anonymous]

I heard about it on here actually, and originally got it because of the RFK, but it goes pretty in depth with many of them including the maths Moxley case, a lot I didn’t know about Jackie, JFK and Carolyn. It’s pretty good, just sickening. All of the women knew about the womanizing and just lived with it.

[Anonymous]

Oooh, thanks for the recommendation- adding it to my list! Let’s all return for DCUM book club meeting haha

[Anonymous]

Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomony is gut wrenching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rosemary Kennedy's lobotomony is gut wrenching.

I just read that part last night. It almost made me sick to my stomach.

[Anonymous]

It's been on my TBR list. Thanks for the reminder.

[Anonymous]

I’m reading it right now. One thing I find sad is how desperately the women wanted to be part of this. (At least Carolyn Bessette and Jackie did.) They both worked really hard to snag their husbands. Jackie had a proposal from a stockbroker… it makes me wonder what her life would have or could have been like if she made a different choice. And if Carolyn hadn’t gotten on that plane.

[Anonymous]

I loved this book! Carolyn was well aware that John shouldn’t be flying solo, yet she and her sister get on the plane. I could not do that. The protection of the Kennedy men was astounding from both the wives and the press. I do commend Jackie for going over JFK’s head to her FIL (Joe Kennedy) when she was diagnosed with a venereal disease. He paid her off. I do suggest reading the book vs an audio version. There was a family tree in the back of the book that I had to reference frequently. So many names to keep track of.

[Anonymous]

My mom lent me this and I read it in two days. Highly recommend.

[Anonymous]

This was a great book! I’ve read many books on the Kennedys and Jackie yet this book covered new territory. It was absolutely fascinating and tragic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m reading it right now. One thing I find sad is how desperately the women wanted to be part of this. (At least Carolyn Bessette and Jackie did.) They both worked really hard to snag their husbands. Jackie had a proposal from a stockbroker… it makes me wonder what her life would have or could have been like if she made a different choice. And if Carolyn hadn’t gotten on that plane.

I just finished the book. Thanks to OP for reminding me I bought it last year on a sale. The book is compulsively readable and fascinating. But I left much more troubled about the wives than the author wanted. I was surprised to learn how they went into these marriages with a lot of knowledge. The author excused this quite a bit. I mean Carolyn’s mother and friends didn't approve of the marriage but we were supposed to take that as a sign of JFK jr’s rottenness rather than that something was amiss with Carolyn. (It’s both obviously).

Also it was strange to give Jackie a pass on sleeping with other women’s husbands given the entire context of the book.

There were countless examples of this discordant thought or minimizing the wives’ agency throughout the book. I posted after this PP because she lists other great examples. Why did Carolyn get on a plane when John was so poorly equipped to fly?

I also wondered what happened to Ethel? Why wasn’t she in the book? The cynical side of me wonders if she was left out because she’s not classically beautiful.

[Anonymous]

I'm almost done! Was JFKJr mentally ill - why was he such a thrill seeker and what makes all of them think they can do whatever they want? why did they get on that plane?

was Ethel still alive when the book was written? Joan is still living? Anyone else?

I think the public had softened on Jackie by the time she died - but we probably think about things differently now. we know her husband wasn't a pure hero, we understand more about what PTSD is...

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed this book and it was eye opening. Jackie was tough. When she got an STD from Jack (via Marilyn Monroe), she went to her FIL Joe and made him pay $$ (a million ?) for her to stay in the marriage. She KNEW a divorce from Jack would ruin his political career.

Then, there stories of the unsupervised kids running wild and unsupervised on the Cape, Moxley murder and all the alcoholics. This book was the gift that kept on giving.

[Anonymous]

I partied with a Kennedy in the 80's but our mom's put a stop to that after the heroin overdose in FLA.

Anyway, yes we went to the house and there was ZERO supervision. Fun times!

Do they talk about Eunice in the book, I'm intrigued with Eunice partly because I volunteered with special olympics for year.

Fully Alive is a good book by Tim Shriver, it talks about Rosemary and Camp Shriver which started in Rockville, md.