Friday, January 24, 2020

Awash In Material

That would be me regarding the (apparently) latest book on the Kennedy family.  I could argue that I am vastly outnumbered, having but one (and younger) sister.

The Kennedy Heirs by Randy Taraborelli   $29.99  606 pages   Taraborelli has developed a cottage market in Kennedys unto the third generation.  This is his fourth book about them.

Several things popped out to me not the least of which being Ted Kennedy and his children, his first wife, their mother and himself.  Cancer was the link.  Ted, Jr., childhood bone cancer,   Kara, small cell lung cancer led to a massive heart attack due to the chemo treatments,  Ted himself brain cancer; and a bout with breast cancer for his ex-wife, Joan.  Son Patrick Kennedy and widow Victoria Regge are, so far alive.

Bobby Kennedy's widow Ethel was a notoriously bad mother to their herd (11 children would frazzle most anyone.)  Not until much later in life (her 90s) she was quoted thusly:  "While I've accepted who I was as a mother, it's sometimes harder to accept who I wasn't."

Many mothers might  like to be able to kick their off-spring out of the house - after a rousing couple of slaps on the face to speed the process, few do.   The Kennedy women often slapped their children right across the face - because that's what their mothers had done.

The entire family flatly refused to accept addiction as a disease.  Which goes far to explain some of that family's repeated stays in various rehab centers.

As you can see from just these little tidbits, it is a richly satisfying read to the historical gossip reader.  I am one - join me.

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