Rating: 
Summary: A Book About the Kennedy Family
Review: Andersen misleads the reader when he markets this book as a book about Caroline Kennedy. In fact this author does nothing more than re-hash everything that has already been written about the family. He sells it as a book about Caroline simply because he constantly uses the possessive form of her name to refer to the actual main characters in this book (Caroline's mother, Caroline's brother, Caroline's father etc.).After reading this book, I realized that this is because Caroline has lived a rather simple and scandel free life. The only remarkable thing about Caroline's life is that it's not that remarkable. Like so many Americans, she cooks her children breakfast every morning, video tapes their school pageants, and considers being their mom her most rewarding job in life. Caroline is to be commended for her stellar academic record and her accomplishments as an author. However, without the last name "Kennedy" no one would find her life particularly compelling reading. There simply isn't enough provacative information out there to fill up an entire book about Caroline alone. Unlike her mother, she wasn't first lady of the United States, married to one of the most beloved presidents, she didn't hold up an entire nation during three of the darkest days in our nation's history, she didn't marry a wealthy shipping magnate from whom she inherited 26 million dollars and then went on to parlay that money into 200 million. I could go on and on about Jackie but in the interest of brevity, I think you've got the picture.
That said, I believe Mr. Andersen has done a great disservice to his reader when he sold them a book complete with the tacit implication that we were to really learn who Caroline Kennedy was as a person. The information may well be out there but Mr. Andersen has yet to find it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Best Kennedy Book Ever Written
Review: Caroline's my favorite Kennedy and I think this book did her some justice. There has never been a book written solely on Caroline and I thought it was about time that one was done on her. I don't think any Caroline Kennedy fan could ask for a better one.Some people thought Caroline was a snob for apparently snubbing First Lady Laura Bush at the April 2001 Jackie costume exhibit at the Met. What they don't realize is that this "snub" was played up in the media. After all, Laura Bush had only been First Lady at the time for 3 months whereas Hillary Clinton had 8 years under her belt. This is just an example of how sometimes Caroline's actions get misinterpreted by the press. I think how well she handles the onslaught of attention and being in the public eye is another reason to admire the woman, along with the fact that she has endured so many personal tragedies and has risen above them to carry on the legacies of her parents and brother.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Redundant
Review: I am a fan of Christopher Andersen's writing, and this book is a well crafted example of what he does biographically. He chronicles Caroline's life with clarity, insight, and compassion. With that said, I took off one star for something beyond his control. The scope of this book embodies so much already-traveled ground as to render it somewhat redundant. Caroline Kennedy is a compelling figure more as the daughter of Jack and Jackie than any significant personal merit. Obviously, she's an intelligent, self-disciplined, and accomplished woman in her own right, but no more so than hundreds if not thousands of equally accomplished legal and literary American minds. Therefore, the fact remains that had she been the child of any other set of parents in any other family, the world at large would bear no interest in her personal story. She herself never entered public life politically and has avoided courtship of the press on most levels, unlike the other members of her immediate family. Caroline has lived a life quite successfully below the radar of Jack, Jackie, and John, and her willingness to wave the Kennedy flag in recent years is quite am understandable move for the sole remaining member -- and current standard-bearer -- of Camelot. I guess, basically, this is a well-written account of a regular person whose most remarkable accomplishment has been retaining her Regular Person status among some truly iconic figures with whom she shared a last name. The fact that she's so good at being "regular" despite the considerable losses she's borne is remarkable itself, but Caroline is a banner-waver, not a trailblazer, and reading the story of her life is akin to reading the stories of myriad other more signficiantly powerful Kennedy lives. It's a tale retold, but it's retold well enough.
Rating:
Summary: Somewhat Redundant
Review: I am a fan of Christopher Andersen's writing, and this book is a well crafted example of what he does biographically. He chronicles Caroline's life with clarity, insight, and compassion. With that said, I took off one star for something beyond his control. The scope of this book embodies so much already-traveled ground as to render it somewhat redundant. Caroline Kennedy is a compelling figure more as the daughter of Jack and Jackie than any significant personal merit. Obviously, she's an intelligent, self-disciplined, and accomplished woman in her own right, but no more so than hundreds if not thousands of equally accomplished legal and literary American minds. Therefore, the fact remains that had she been the child of any other set of parents in any other family, the world at large would bear no interest in her personal story. She herself never entered public life politically and has avoided courtship of the press on most levels, unlike the other members of her immediate family. Caroline has lived a life quite successfully below the radar of Jack, Jackie, and John, and her willingness to wave the Kennedy flag in recent years is quite am understandable move for the sole remaining member -- and current standard-bearer -- of Camelot. I guess, basically, this is a well-written account of a regular person whose most remarkable accomplishment has been retaining her Regular Person status among some truly iconic figures with whom she shared a last name. The fact that she's so good at being "regular" despite the considerable losses she's borne is remarkable itself, but Caroline is a banner-waver, not a trailblazer, and reading the story of her life is akin to reading the stories of myriad other more signficiantly powerful Kennedy lives. It's a tale retold, but it's retold well enough.
Rating:
Summary: Another JFK Book
Review: I felt this book re-hashed everything that has happened with the Kennedy family over the last 40 years. I felt sorry for Caroline because of all the tragedies and heartbreak that she has gone through though. One thing that made me dislike the book was the fact that at the opening of the "Jacqueline Kennedy: The Camelot Years" reception, she snubbed off Laura Bush (The First Lady) and didn't even speak to her, but put Hillary Clinton on the pedestal and praised her. That seemed pretty rude since through the whole book everyone talked about how down-to-earth and friendly Caroline was. Overall, the book was just a repeat of everything we pretty much know about the Kennedy's.
Rating:
Summary: Not only "same old, same old"... but inaccurate
Review: I have read all of the Kennedy biographies and there is very little new information in this biography. The first part has been covered in all of the others, and the second part has been covered in the tabloids, which makes we question the accuracy of anything here that has not been lifted from another source. I noted two parts of this book that do not appear to be in keeping with what has been well documented. 1. The books states, that on April 4, 1968, Caroline was in her classroom when a teacher came in and whispered to her teacher that Martin Luther King had been shot. Quick research on the Web states this happened at about 4:30PM EST..Are 11 year olds in class at that time? 2. The books states that when visiting the White House JFK Jr. told then President Nixon, that he used to play under his desk. Everyone knows that the famous Kennedy desk was removed when he died, and not used again until it was brought back by President Clinton.
Rating:
Summary: A Touching Tribute
Review: I just finished reading "Sweet Caroline". Even if you're familiar with the Kennedy family saga, Christopher Andersen's gracefully written and meticulously researched book provides new and often heartbreaking insights into the life of Camelot's soul survivor. From the book's opening scene when Caroline is told that her brother John's plane is missing ("I should feel him, but I can't," she says when someone suggets that hemay turn up alive) you're reminded that Caroline has suffered one devastating loss after another, always with courage and dignity. I found "Sweet Caroline" to be a touching and fitting tribute to its subject.
Rating:
Summary: A Touching Tribute
Review: I just finished reading "Sweet Caroline". Even if you're familiar with the Kennedy family saga, Christopher Andersen's gracefully written and meticulously researched book provides new and often heartbreaking insights into the life of Camelot's soul survivor. From the book's opening scene when Caroline is told that her brother John's plane is missing ("I should feel him, but I can't," she says when someone suggets that hemay turn up alive) you're reminded that Caroline has suffered one devastating loss after another, always with courage and dignity. I found "Sweet Caroline" to be a touching and fitting tribute to its subject.
Rating:
Summary: For biography-philes
Review: I love biographies! I must have read a dozen about Elizabeth the First, and several about Abraham Lincoln. I always expect to find the same basic information, but there is usually another perspective or additional information in each of them. And so I genuinely appreciate Christopher Andersen's work on today's icons. The information is obviously fresh, and from direct sources. And all the Kennedy books seem to complete a picture of this family of which some of us may never get our fill.
The Caroline book was a surprise and a delight to me: I actually never expected to find out so much about the life of this secret princess. I'll keep this one, along with all the others, for my grandchildren.
Rating:
Summary: To be admired: the survivor daughter
Review: I was entranced by Andersen's account of Caroline Kennedy and realize that as a former editor of People Magazine that he has had access to mountains of information/misinformation on the Kennedy family. I found his treatment of Caroline's story to be sweet, as in the title, but not saccharine. And the admiration I already had for her has been upped by this biography. I feel sure that this is purely unauthorized. But it does not scandalize Caroline. And, although I am certain it further violates her privacy, I feel that Andersen's work ennobles Caroline as the lone survivor of the Camelot family. Perhaps it is because I am an inveterate reader of People that I found Andersen's style so readable. But I really did want to keep reading. And not all biographies are so enticing. Of course, there is the lure of trying find out another scoop on one of the chosen Kennedy clan. But I honestly find this volume on Caroline to be uplifting, although I know that there are things yet to be known about her. Time will tell about the rest of her life, yet a young life in the scheme of things. One just hopes that she not only survives her family's tragedies, but that she and her spouse and children and their progeny prosper and continue to use their wealth to enrich not only themselves, but this nation. Brava!
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