BOOK REVIEW: Jackie by Dawn Tripp

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

I was not particularly interested in Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. I knew who she was and I knew a little of her life’s timeline. But the era she lived in is recent enough that the thought of a novel centered on her life didn’t quite grab me the way historical fiction set farther in the past does. However, I had read author Dawn Tripp’s wonderful novel of Georgia O’Keefe, Georgia, so when I saw Jackie on Netgalley I thought I’d give it a try.

This fictional biography is told mainly from a first person perspective, and it takes the reader deep into the mind and heart of this extraordinary woman. Occasional chapters are told in the third person from JFK’s perspective. There is a whole lot going on in the world during their courtship, marriage, and Kennedy’s rise to the presidency. The 1950s-1960s were tumultuous, world-changing decades, and the history drew me in more than I expected.

Even so, the novel keeps a tight focus on the relationship, the love story between “Jack” and “Jackie,” while the chaos of the era swirls around them. Jackie is intelligent, witty, charming, and independent—perhaps more so than her husband. He sees everything through the lens of his political ambition, even calculating when and who he should marry. Jackie knows this, just as she knows he is a philanderer. It’s painful to watch her draw back from love to protect herself from his casual cruelty, even while remaining unstinting in her support. The author’s ability to show us Jackie’s strength and vulnerability all at the same time makes this novel compelling. 

Jackie’s commitment to what is right, rather than simply politically expedient, helps guide Jack’s public policy, particularly in civil rights. Her moral courage pulls JFK into taking more daring positions. And then, of course, comes the assassination. Readers watch Jackie come apart. And then, put herself back together again.

The novel is relatively long, reaching about 500 pages, and there were times when it FELT long, because the relationship was static for a time. But enough history is pulled in to keep the narrative interesting. And Jackie’s second marriage takes her and the reader in a whole new direction.

While this is a novel, and novels always require the author’s imagination, the research is meticulous and the writing so beautiful that the story is entirely credible as Jackie’s story. The heartbreak feels real.