Like the best cocktail party small talk, this book has many opinions, but reveals little of substance. As an employee—he was executive editor of George
magazine—
but not a close friend of Kennedy, Blow has assembled his firsthand observations into this credible, not overly revealing reminiscence of J.F.K. Jr.'s tenure as founder and editor of George,
from 1995 to his death in a plane crash in July 1999. Initially, Blow says, he was skeptical about Kennedy and suspicious of his charms, but eventually came to respect him both personally and professionally. Few will be surprised to learn that Kennedy fought with his wife, Carolyn Bessette, or that she, a former Calvin Klein publicist, worked hard at her looks and struggled with the stresses of being a Kennedy wife. At its most revealing, this account provides glimpses of Kennedy's sometimes volatile moods, which, Blow says, were largely the by-product of a thyroid condition, for which he took medication. Much is made of moments when George's mostly adoring staff were beneficiaries of Kennedy's generosity—such as when he and Bessette unexpectedly spent thousands of dollars on Christmas gifts. The big question—whether Kennedy was ever going to run for political office—remains unanswered, and, frankly, Blow was in no position to know. What he was in a position to do is write a breezy, entertaining profile of Kennedy as an entrepreneur, a tyro magazine editor, a young husband and a novice and tragically overconfident pilot.
FYI:An excerpt in
Vanity Fair and big buzz should propel this onto bestseller lists. But once its rather insubstantial revelations are broadcast through the media, interest may wane.
