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Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy
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Original price was: $29.99.$20.54Current price is: $20.54.
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A NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, USA TODAY BESTSELLER
The life and legacy of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy Jr., are reexamined in this captivating and effervescent biography that is perfect for fans of My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy, What Remains, and Fairy Tale Interrupted.
A quarter of a century after the plane crash that claimed the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren, the magnitude of this tragedy remains fresh. Yet, Carolyn is still an enigmatic figure, a woman whose short life in the spotlight was besieged with misogyny and cruelty.
Amidst today’s cultural reckoning about the way our media treats women, Elizabeth Beller explores the real person behind the tabloid headlines and media frenzy. When she began dating America’s prince, Carolyn was increasingly thrust into an overwhelming spotlight filled with relentless paparazzi who reacted to her reserve with a campaign of harassment and vilification.
To this day, she is still depicted as a privileged princess—icy, vapid, and drug-addicted. She has even been accused of being responsible for their untimely death, allegedly delaying take-off until she finished her pedicure. But now, she is revealed as never before.
A fiercely independent woman devoted to her adopted city and career, Carolyn relied on her impeccable eye and drive to fly up the ranks at Calvin Klein in the glossy, high-stakes fashion world of the 1990s. When Carolyn met her future husband, John was immediately drawn to her strong-willed personality, effortless charm, and high intelligence. Their relationship would change her life and catapult her to dizzying fame, but it was her vibrant life before their marriage and then hidden afterwards, that is truly fascinating.
Based on in-depth research and exclusive interviews with friends, family members, teachers, roommates, and colleagues, and featuring never-before-seen family photos, this comprehensive biography reveals a multi-faceted woman worthy of our attention regardless of her husband and untimely death.
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Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy
Price:
Original price was: $29.99.$20.54Current price is: $20.54.
ELENA –
Despite some reviewers protesting about the book being a bit too benevolent, all the previous accounts about Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, an extremely accomplished trailblazer woman were surrounded by sexist toxicity. It was about time some writer, in this case Eizabeth Beller is unrivaled, expounded another different side of this fashion icon, a young woman who had daddy issues and mood swings, she was a perfectionist and she could be stubborn, she became increasingly paranoid due to her harrassment by a voyeuristic press, but guess what? She was actually a nice woman who in the early 90s stumbled upon the beloved John Kennedy Jr and she fell in love with him (not the public persona, his real self). Beller summes it up best: “The assumptions were from the pictures that she was icy, that she was cold. What I quickly learned was that she was warm and effervescent. She was joyful and loved to laugh.” A splendid biography totally worth your time. Highly recommended.
Buzzin_Opi –
Thank you for this cherished book. I love Carolyn Bessette Kennedy so much and had to have this book. I am looking forward to reading it. Just having this book of Carolyn brings me comfort. Thank you again. She was so beautiful.
Deb –
Really enjoyed this book. Sad how it was for her to go through all the media spite. Sad how she died but shows she good and bad points like we all do. Very good book
Sappia –
I only partially understand the negative reviews of this book. It could use improving. The author does include her own conjecture too often (but she makes it clear when she’s doing this – it’s not like she’s deliberately mixing fact with hidden fictions). There is also repetition among some of the points she makes.
That said, I have no idea why some reviewers say there’s “nothing new” in this book.
I’ve read every book about Jackie, Jackie & JFK, Jackie & Lee, JFK Jr., and JFK Jr. and Carolyn published in the last 35-40 years.
There’s a whole lot of new information in this book. The author left no stone un-turned in tracking down those who knew Carolyn and were willing to talk about her.
She’s amassed input from all kinds of people that none of us have ever heard from before. Further, it’s not the author’s fault that a whole lot of the compliments people give Carolyn are similar (which can make the text seem repetitive).
There were dozens of people who knew Carolyn and remember her with tremendous affection. They agree she was smart, hard working, highly intuitive about and compassionate towards the needs of others, generous, fun, and uniquely beautiful.
When all kinds of people called up from her past are saying the same thing, I tend to believe it.
The author does mention some of Carolyn’s character weaknesses and failings – but she tries to explain them away, which is why some people think it’s a book about “Saint Carolyn.” That’s a mistake on the author’s part. Yet, having read a lot about Carolyn in the past 2.5 decades (much of which is suspect, and seems wildly unfair to her reputation), I can understand the author’s desire to counteract what seem to be false narratives.
Regarding the insights of the overall book, there are 7-8 things this author has tracked down regarding the very beginning and middle of Carolyn and JFK Jr.’s dating relationship that I have NEVER heard before (two in particular left my jaw on the ground).
Carole Radziwill’s book mentions they dated intensely for a bit, broke up (this book tells us why) then got together at a later point.
This book gives way more insights. After parting ways (dramatically!) the first time, they got back together, sort-of, again (interspersed with him returning several times to Daryl Hannah) – then only several years after all that did they become exclusive.
This book also has A LOT of interesting detail, also previously unrevealed, about her career at Calvin Klein (not to mention her childhood, teen, and college years).
It also paints a likeable, and admirable, picture of Carolyn’s mother, Ann.
I’d like to thank the author for the hard work she put into this. No book is perfect, and she’s certainly contributed to Carolyn’s memory in what I think is a truthful, and sorely needed, way.
Bored With Hollywood –
I loved reading about Caroline Bessette’s growing up years and her family, but the rest seemed like stuff we already knew. From all accounts she was a kind and fun person to be around, with a lot of empathy. Then she married JFKJ and lost her way. There was a lot he could’ve done to help her out with the constant frenzy of the paparazzi, including moving out of his stupid bachelor pad and getting into a building with doormen and security. But he really comes off as a dummy in this book, and I believe it. He wasn’t a smart and savvy risk taker, but a reckless risk taker , which is what probably led to his death and that of Caroline and her sister, Lauren. This was a tragedy that could’ve been avoided if he had a shred of self awareness and empathy. This is a story of another charming woman destroyed by a Kennedy.
Wendy S –
I enjoyed reading about Carolyn Bessette’s life
There was so much media attention to her relationship with JFK Jr that the public didn’t really know her as a person
The book has lots of details about her generosity of spirit and fashion sense.
There’s some details about the plane crash and the tragic aftermath
Truly a life cut too short.
Nancy Settle –
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and was left with such sadness for a beautiful light, kind and amazing friend and daughter that was taken much too soon. How sad she was hounded and stalked by the unrelenting press much like Princess Diana. I could hardly put the book down. Great read!!!
rxcald –
Unfortunately I tried to return the book and order it again for 2 times, but always received the same error on pages. It shows that Amazon don’t have concerns about quality since I left a message when I returned the book the first time, considering the error in printing.
a reader –
I didn’t know anything about CBK beyond post mortem tabloid snippets & the famous wedding dress. I’d seen a good looking 20-something JFK Jr roller blading & riding the bus around town, but never gave him much thought. This bio, drawn from significant research and interviews with multiple sources, presents CBK as a smart, vivacious, happy, savvy woman who had a strong career in the fashion business – rapidly rising at Calvin Klein which was no small feat – and many friends long before JFK Jr arrived in her life.
Oddly, the book offers as much of a look at JFK Jr as it does CBK. His friends – many of whom considered CBK to be “non-prep school, non-Ivy” – saw her as a threat to their proximity to John & were the source of many of the vicious, cruel, lies that were spread about her. Really? Did they think he was never going to grow beyond the cool college guy into a 39 yr old whose wife would be more important to him than they were?
The paparazzi hounded her until she became reclusive yet she was criticized for not working after marriage. She couldn’t leave the apt because paps were positioned there 24/7. Her experience w/them is described as something close to trauma & her husband seemed to not understand it even though his mother was notable for getting a restraining order against 1 particular aggressive pap. CBK is pushed against an elevator by a mob of them & her husband does nothing. Much was made of her low dose antidepressants that washed up on a beach after the crash – sounds perfectly natural for someone to seek psych help after years of being hunted.
It’s not until p. 238 that one of John’s friends is quoted as saying what I’d begun to think – why isn’t he at least moving her to a building w/a doorman? hiring security? Why is a couple whose celebrity has become so enormous so quickly without professional management for business & social purposes? John’s magazine was launched just as the internet starting the decline in paper magazines why not push re-set with business management? John seems completely out of touch w/reality when he claims that his mom raised her kids in NYC so why is CBK reluctant to get pregnant w/JFK III? He totally ignores that John’s mother lived in the White House when he was a toddler and then married Onassis to raise her kids on a private island in Greece to get away from the publicity following his father’s assassination. She wasn’t pushing a stroller alone in the narrow streets of Tribeca!
The author gives a balanced account of the marriage to the extent that any outsider could. They died before they’d been married 4 years so there were adjustments to be made & given that they were both Catholic wouldn’t have taken divorce – if it was ever mentioned – lightly.
It’s a good and credible read.
Will Kinsella –
If you like anything related to the Kennedy’s then this is a perfect book. It covers the life of Carolyn Bassett in wonderful detail and goes to lengths to express just how misunderstood she was portrayed by the media. I had read other books and articles that spoke about Carolyn and they all talked about her in such a poor and demeaning way. This book is a living testament and perfect example of how the paparazzi can have such a depressing impact on one’s life. It’s a sad book but does have its fair share of beautiful moments expressed so well by the author.