Review: Jackie
‘When they tell the story of a woman, they never get right up against what she might have felt and thought and seen and feared and wondered.’
Jackie by Dawn Tripp is a powerful book - to have boldly taken something that so many are so familiar with and present it in a new and highly engaging way is quite a feat. I think the above quote sums up beautifully what Dawn has tried to do here with the story of one of the most famous females of the twentieth century - what did Jackie feel? Think? See? Fear? Wonder? Through reading this book I now appreciate how Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis projected a myriad of selves to the world but was seemingly a very private person who saw, felt, feared and wondered about a great many things.
‘… the deeper sacrifice, I’ve come to realize, is about power and the accommodations a woman is called on to make. To shrink enough, to be small enough, to fit into the corners of a man’s world, to file down her own edges to be the kind of wife he’ll need, that he and others expect her to be.’
This book takes a look at the courtship, romance and marriage of Jackie to JFK (some time is dedicated to Onassis but only to highlight the impact of that relationship in adding to the incredible life and experiences she witnessed). Dawn Tripp takes everything you think you know about - not only Jackie and Jack, not only American politics of the day and not only that fateful day in Dallas - and reconstructs events in a way that dives deep and, for me, has certainly reshaped my own thoughts and understanding of how things seemingly played out.
‘Why marvel if a woman at a certain point tears off the veils that cover her like a monument - a thirty-nine-year-old monument, still beautiful, extremely alive, obligated to a role that does not belong to her?’
So well researched, this book reads more like a memoir as it takes you through the life that was Jackie. Written in her voice proved a most powerful tool in placing readers front and centre with all the feels of what Jackie experienced. I believe not only will the stunning sepia cover draw you in but the little snippets of Jack’s opinion on a few rare chapters and the overall incredible piece of history will deeply immerse you and make you a part of one woman’s extraordinary life.
‘We imagine time will clarify our intention. Who we were, how we lived, what we achieved. We want to believe we will be treated with integrity, with fairness and compassion. But history is not so forgiving, is it?’
Title: Jackie
Author: Dawn Tripp
Publisher: 26th June 2024 by Hachette Australia
Pages: 496 pages
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction | Literary Fiction
My Rating: 5 cups
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.