The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters

Starred review from July 9, 2018
Authors Kashner (Sinatraland) and Schoenberger (Furious Love) examine the tangled lives of Jackie Kennedy Onassis and her younger sister Lee B. Radziwill in this fascinating biography. The story of the two famous sisters begins with their idyllic childhood at the Bouvier summer home in East Hampton, N.Y. At times, they are close conspirators (as seen on a sojourn in France when they were young), and at others jealous, competitive, and nearly estranged (Kennedy Onassis left not even “a trinket” to Radziwill in her will). The authors recreate the turbulent years when the elder sister was First Lady, bringing readers back to the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of JFK (and, later, Sen. Robert Kennedy). While Jackie struggled to rebuild her life, eventually marrying Aristotle Onassis and later becoming an editor at Doubleday, Radziwill fell for offbeat photographer Peter Beard, divorced her second husband, opened an interior design business, and married (and divorced) a film director. Readers drawn to the Kennedy mystique will savor this intricate chronicle rife with romance, tragedy, and surprising details, such as that Jackie may have helped choose JFK’s paramours. The authors provide an intimate view of two sisters, both famous in their own rights.

Starred review from August 1, 2018

Kashner (When I Was Cool) and Schoenberger (Dangerous Muse) take a close look into the lives of the Bouvier sisters, better known as First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929-94) and Princess Lee Radizwill (b. 1933). Born four years apart, the sisters seemed to be as similar as they were different. The authors share details about the women's lives that make it easy to understand the tension between them despite their closeness. Interviews with Lee present a well-informed look at both women's early lives that may also account for some bias within this dual biography. That said, readers now gain new insights into the golden age of Camelot, Hollywood, and beyond. VERDICT Fans of the Kennedys will enjoy this deep dive into another side of the dynasty, while all readers will appreciate the nice dose of fame and glamour from the 1930s onward.--Rebecca Kluberdanz, New York P.L.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2018
A story of sisterhood that reveals how all the fortune and fame in the world can't assuage sibling rivalry.With the exception of their parent' divorce, it's hard to imagine a more charmed youth than that of young Jacqueline and Lee Bouvier. These two remarkable women, who would go on to become first lady to President John F. Kennedy and princess to Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill, had seemingly every possible advantage. However, Vanity Fair vets Kashner and Shoenberger (co-authors: Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century, 2010, etc.) write, the sisters' relationship was a lifelong balance of love and envy. Case in point: Jackie would go on to marry Aristotle Onassis, Lee's former lover. With entirely opposite personalities--Lee was outgoing and dramatic, Jackie demur and shy--each seemingly wound up with what would have been the other's ideal life. In this well-researched dual biography, the authors describe how that fate would both haunt and help them. But while the story is essentially about the sisters, the narrative favors Lee's perspective, showcasing the often misunderstood socialite's battle with wanting to be more than just a pretty face. Of course, it was hard to shake that label given the philosophy the girls' father--failed Wall Street stock broker and alcoholic John Vernou Bouvier III--ingrained in them: "Style...is not a function of how rich you are or even who you are. Style is more a habit of mind that puts quality before quantity, noble struggle before mere achievement, honor before opulence. It's what you are....It's what makes you a Bouvier." Living up to such an ideal would become Lee's Achilles heel, and her illustrious love life often overshadowed her attempts at self-actualization. Not surprisingly, the supporting casts--Truman Capote, Peter Beard et al.--in the lives of the Bouvier sisters were just as flawed and fascinating.Suffice it to say, more than 50 years on, explorations of the truths and fictions of Camelot continue to mesmerize.

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