Rating: 
Summary: Regurgitated slop
Review: "The Kennedy Curse: Why America's First Family Has Been Haunted by Tragedy for 150 Years" is a mewling, drippy tome of regurgitated material, alternately leering and worshiping the Kennedy family. It's hard to read this excruciating little book without feeling queasy.The book traces the Kennedy family back to the immigrants escaping impoverished Ireland (a protracted and very dull chapter) to the assassination of JFK, to the death of JFK Jr. and his wife Carolyn. The genuinely tragic material (David Kennedy's psychological breakdown and drug OD, for example) is buried below more sentimental slop, the type of writing that perpetuated the Camelot myth in the first place. New material isn't really to be found in this book; most of it can be found elsewhere. The only possible new material is his continuous negative coverage of Carolyn Bessette, whom Klein pours venom on continuously (even to the point of saying presumptuously what Jackie would have thought of her). The Kennedys themselves get off lightly; even Teddy and Joe are carefully whitewashed. Most of them aren't even dealt with; the book is surprisingly skinny, and most of the supposed tragedies Klein mentions are never really elaborated on. Perhaps most absurd is Klein's desperate clinging to the myth of the "Kennedy Curse." Despite saying that they're narcissistic and thrillseeking, he claims that a supernatural curse is the only reason why the extended family could possibly have all these problems. Choosing to use cocaine, avoid basic safety measures, leave a girl in a submerged car, seduce the babysitter and ski backwards are not signs of a curse -- it's just recklessness, based on free choice. Why should I sympathize? Many of the other deaths and problems are hardly unique -- alcoholism, cancer, strokes and various other problems. Sad, to be sure, but I doubt that if you counted all the relatives of ANY large family, that you would find anything different. He even claims the early death of immigrant Patrick Kennedy from tuberculosis must be the start of the "Kennedy curse." Again, far from unique. Fans and foes of "America's first family" will find nothing new here, unless they happen to hate Carolyn Bessette. A literary bow-and-scrape, a drooling love letter to the Kennedy family in general, this book would serve a better existance as a paperweight.
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Summary: kenndy 40
Review: a pathetic badly written book national enquirer standard.
Rating: 
Summary: Karma, fate & fascination
Review: As the saying goes: With "friends" like this, who needs enemies? I'm tired of these books exposing every single flaw and piece of gossip about the Kennedy family. I wonder when the books detailing every flaw and dirty dealing of the Bushes will come out? (Joe Kennedy's friendliness towards the Nazis is legendary but let's hear more about the amount of blood money Prescott Bush made with the Nazis at the height of the Second and how the government shut down a bank he was an officer of). Every high profile family is greedy, adulterous, and dirty dealing? Why are the Kennedys constantly singled out?
Rating:
Summary: A "friendly" hatchet job
Review: As the saying goes: With "friends" like this, who needs enemies? I'm tired of these books exposing every single flaw and piece of gossip about the Kennedy family. I wonder when the books detailing every flaw and dirty dealing of the Bushes will come out? (Joe Kennedy's friendliness towards the Nazis is legendary but let's hear more about the amount of blood money Prescott Bush made with the Nazis at the height of the Second and how the government shut down a bank he was an officer of). Every high profile family is greedy, adulterous, and dirty dealing? Why are the Kennedys constantly singled out?
Rating: 
Summary: CURSE? Blame it on genetics: the DRD4 7 R gene to be exact!
Review: Blame it on the mommy, but somehow those rambunctious Kennedy kids inherited a recessive gene that is responsible for taking big risks. Scientists isolated and identified the gene found in most of the dead Kennedy's....the DRD4 7 R gene. That is the concept that this book is based on.
Supposedly, people who have this trait inherit the urge to perform high risk operations like driving while drunk,
piloting expensive aircraft with novice level skills, and
skiing into tree trunks while playing foozball in the snow.
Ugh....I do feel sorry for those rich Kennedy's....all the money and fame in the world cannot buy them longevity.
But their lives are superbly filled with every imaginable adventure, and they are wealthy folks.
The author, Edward Klein offers up some gossip that I have not read before. Or maybe I did read it before somewhere, but I just forgot about it.
He takes an exhaustive look from the late 1850's on how the bad luck of the Kennedy clan first started.
On page 24, the sorrowful journey of 'the curse' begins.
In the forty years that have passed since the public assasination of JFK in Dallas, the author notes that every 2 years ---somebody in the Kennedy family (or somebody closely associated with the Kennedy's) has a terrible accident.
Usually they die.
This list tallied 23 such incidents since that dark and greivace November 22nd of 1963, when the shots from the Texas School Book Depository... forever changed the course of mankind. What kind of person would fire off a shot at our beautiful, charismatic president?
I was only 3 years old when the assasination occured, but I remember it like it was yesterday....oh, the sorrow.
Oh, the pain.
The nation and the world sobbed nonstop for weeks.... Oh, the injustice of it all.
Still, the killer is not known for sure....was it really Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone? I've read too many books to believe that lie...when will the truth be told?
The book rattles and prattles on about alleged affairs that JFK had with various women. But I don't think he bedded so many women, because he was not a healthy man.
A bad back, Addison's disease and all too frequent visitations with Dr. Feelgood would not have boosted his libido to the degree that this book claims.
Anyhow, most people need to understand the truth surrounding this famous family. Yes, the Kennedy family has lost it's lusture and brightness of years gone by....but it still makes for some compelling reading.
I especially found it moving reading on pages 24 - 30 --- when the author lists in chronological order the actual tragic incidents of the Kennedy's.....so much tragedy and so much pain.
How they still survive is a mystery to me, but I wish them only happiness and blessings forever more.
Whomever conjured up the curse against this family needs to end it now, so much suffering has been felt in this family and they don't deserve it. If you are a person who believes in spells and magic --- I can tell you that no curse goes on forever.
Sooner or later, neutral forces can influence these curses and make them benign....PEACE to the Kennedy Family and long may your lives be.
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Summary: Jon Jon
Review: Can't figure it out-first my dad gets shot then my brother and then my grandfather is a vegatable then my other uncle kills a chick and gets drunk 24/7 all the time. Then my mom marries a fat guy in Greece and then I die in a plane crash. Life sucks when you're Jon Jon
Rating: 
Summary: The Kennedy Curse: Why Tragedy Has Haunted America's First F
Review: Death was merciful to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, for it spared her a parent's worst nightmare: the loss of a child. But if Jackie had lived to see her son, JFK Jr., perish in a plane crash on his way to his cousin's wedding, she would have been doubly horrified by the familiar pattern in the tragedy. Once again, on a day that should have been full of joy and celebration, America's first family was struck by the Kennedy Curse.
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Summary: A Stellar Work! I Can't Wait for the Author's Next Book....
Review: Except that the author isn't Edward Klein. During the media frenzy preceding the publication of "The Kennedy Curse", one of the book's most vociferous critics was Laurence Leamer, author of "The Kennedy Women" (1994) and "The Kennedy Men" (2001). Both of these majestic, exhaustive tomes are firmly housed in my collection, despite my complicated emotions regarding America's royal family. I have returned to these works again and again, largely due to the following unavoidable fact: Mr. Leamer is an excellent writer, eminently capable of enthralling the reader with vivid, evocative prose and memorable phrasing. Conversely, Edward Klein doesn't pull off a similar feat - not with this latest work. First of all, the book is paltry: 225 pages. (Leamer's books are three times as voluminous - with a comparable list price.) Moreover, most of the so-called revelations are rehashings from earlier books. If you've read Doris Kearns Goodwin's "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedy's" and/or "The Kennedys: An American Drama" by Peter Collier and David Horowitz, you won't find much of significance here. Leamer's works, however, remain my overwhelming favorite - and Klein's writings suffer dramatically by comparison. Forgive me, but you cannot compare "'You're a cokehead!' John said to Carolyn" with this treasure by Leamer in "The Kennedy Women": "Half a century later, the mere mention of Kathleen's name brought tears to the eyes of elderly men who once danced her across gleaming ballrooms, and wistful melancholic silences to women who so long ago shared evenings of laughter." Leamer was referring, of course, to the brilliant, tragic Kathleen Kennedy, who perished at age 28 in a plane crash in 1948. Klein's writings of the doomed and charismatic Kennedy sister reveal nothing memorable except for the fact that she may not have loved her late husband, Billy Hartington, but may have been using him to advance her social standing. This lamentable possibility may indeed be based in truth, but Leamer does a far better job of presenting the famous family in all its faults and storied accomplishments, its crushing foibles and its stunning triumphs. There's a reason why I've relegated "The Kennedy Curse" to the nether regions of my bookcase, while Leamer's works remain prominent - to be visited again and again through the years. Significantly, Klein has whetted my appetite for Leamer's next book - "The Kennedy Sons". I am eagerly awaiting its publication, and I'll likely be first in line to purchase it. In conclusion, here's two lessons to Klein and other authors: 1) Don't ever leave the reader feeling ripped off. 2) If you've diverted your public's fervid attention to another writer, you haven't done your job.
Rating:
Summary: The Kennedy Curse
Review: I enjoyed the book, I found it interesting and informative.
Rating:
Summary: Leaves you wanting more...
Review: I enjoyed the book, particularly the first chapters which are on the patriarchs of the [Fitzgerald/Kennedy] family. However, take it as you will, the book leaves you wanting more. Well, at least for me it did. That's probably a good thing to say about this book, how Klien was able to spark my interest to learn more about the Kennedys. And by the way, the book is NOT all about JFK Jr. as mentioned earlier. If that's what you're seeking, try instead The Day John Died by C. Anderson. The Kennedy Curse instead simply touches upon some (not all) of the notorious Kennedy's &/or their notorious behavior & events.
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