Monica's Story

Rating:
Summary: Monica and All Too Human paint a great picture of Washington
Review: The two books, Monica's Story and All Too Human : A Political Education by George Stephanopoulos, make for a great one-two punch on the scandal regardless of how you feel about the events and the people that created them. This scandal, after all is said and done, is about being human. Something Kenneth Starr and the Republicans couldn't figure out.

Rating:
Summary: Quick read for a one day flight if you have nothing else
Review: Obviously rushed into print to capitalize on media hype and name recognition. Nothing new and a pretty mindless story of juvenille justification of a young woman with a plan to capitalize on her one talent.

Rating:
Summary: Emotional,honest,genuine,telling
Review: Not a lurid sexual expose. A emotional, heartfealt well written account of a womens friendship with the President. A detailed account of the how it feels to be ignored by a lover, betrayed by a friend, hunted by the government and exploited by your lawyer. A story of family pain, survival and healing.

Rating:
Summary: The smartest thing to come out of Monica's mouth was ...
Review: The biggest thing about Mamu Monica's book is that it shows she is as self-absorbed as Sick Willie. She doesn't possess a fraction of the integrity that Linda Tripp does. Tripp was tripped up by taking the time to try to befriend such a low-life. It's easy to realize that the smartest thing ever to come out of Monica's mouth was the president's pecker.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting reading from voluntary partner in affair w/Pres.
Review: Certainly worth reading account from probably the most truthful person of the two people involved in an affair that almost brought down the President of the United States in 1999. This is the closest we will ever get to the actual relationship, so worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Monica -- not the psyco that White House has us believe
Review: Monica's Story is a delightful account of a young woman caught up in the wrong affair with an obviously wrong man. It's not so tough to do, if you're young, lonely and inexperienced. I can relate, having been where she is -- being involved with a well-to-do married man, though not famous. It's tough straightening out your life afterward. But this girl, I feel a kinship to, with us being nearly the same age, and I believe she will pull her life together, as I have. The author wrote a fair, unassuming depiction of her life, which I found refreshing. despite the nasty reports that other media have reported. Monica is no bad guy. She just made a mistake, which the author clearly depicts.

Christina Steiner, Queens, NY "[e-mail]"

Rating:
Summary: Money and power did not break the spirit of truth!
Review: Monica's Story defined the greediness of the rich, defined the arrogance of the powerful, defined the sleeziness of the government and brought into perspective the meaning of "honesty is the best policy".

Rating:
Summary: The Rich(?) Are Different
Review: My only question is why did she wait until after the impeachment vote to go public? Maybe she does know that while the vote would probably have been the same, the nature of the debate would have changed.

Rating:
Summary: A Modern Hester Prynne
Review: "Monica's Story" reminded me of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", one of the classics in American literature. Monica is a modern Hester Prynne, whose life was torn between her unquenchable love for a modern Dimmesdale and her agonizing remorse for whata had happened.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent insight into Kenneth Starr's tactics
Review: I highly recommend this book, as I found it to be an excellent read. I wanted to read the book so I could see exactly how the Independent Counsel's office treats people targeted by it. I found out by reading the book that it was much worse than I thought, and I was disappointed that this happens in America. Regarding Monica's personal behavior, people are commonly of the opinion that Monica Lewinsky shouldn't have had an affair with a married man, shouldn't have shown him the top of her thong, shouldn't have done a lot of things. I wonder if the most intimate, secret, private lives of these common critics would stand up to similar scrutiny. She made mistakes, and the book tends to be somewhat apologist, but any woman reading the book who was ever young and in love with the wrong man, and found herself unable and unwilling to extricate herself in a healthy manner, will be nodding her head throughout the book. I think that people who are so quick to judge should step back, take a breath, and think about the mistakes they have made in their lives and be thankful those mistakes were not specified in explicit detail before Congress, and broadcast live on CNN. The greatest thing I took from this book, though, was a true fear at the lack of checks and balances in the Independent Counsel statute, and how Orwellian the system really is.