Get Hold Of The Nine Of Us: Growing Up Kennedy Put Together By Jean Kennedy Smith In Readable Copy

thought this was an excellent first person account of "growing up Kennedy", The story moved fast and it felt like all the characters were right there with me, I've done A LOT of reading on the Kennedy family, so it was interesting to see how the scholarly, historical books compared to Jean's personal recounting of her family.
There were more differences that I expected, which was a surprise, It was clear in many places Jean was glossing over the truth in other places I wondered if she just had a completely different experience than Jack did this would be unsurprising given their sizable age difference.
I'd say you should read this book, but also read the scholarly books so you get a full picture of this talented, interested, imperfect, REAL family.
When I was a kid, the news was always full of the glamourous Kennedys, I grew up in a Catholic household and my Mum adored Jackie Kennedy, I can remember the day that JFK was shot and watching the drama play out on TV, I was only little but it has stayed with me.
years ago we went to the States and I was keen to go to Cape Cod, not just because it is lovely but because it was where lots of famous people from my youth went to holiday, amongst these the Kennedy Family.
As expected it was lovely but the weather was foul and we were shorebound, When I saw this book was available at the public library I leapt upon it, Written by a member of that famous family, about her childhood and early life and including lots of stories of Cape Cod and the family's life there every summer.


It is a lovely book, you can tell that the author is getting on in years and she looks back and remembers the golden times of her youth.
I loved the stories of how the household worked, their exciting lives in various locations as their father Joe Kennedy moved from position to position.
There is a lot of focus on the parents of thesechildren and they must have been quite formidable a force.


If you are interested in finding out about the early life of these famous siblings and you want a light and gentle read this is great.
I really did want a bit more detail of the nittygritty of how they made their money in the first place.
You get the feeling that Joan wanted to tell a particular kind of story about the Kennedy lives, a rosy view that yes, includes a fair amount of tragedy, but that also has lots of love all through it.
Like most people, I have had a curiosity about the Kennedys, JKS was the eighth child of nine born to Joseph P, Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Atshe is the last surviving member of the family,

JKS primarily focuses on her youth and growing up in a large family, She says her childhood was happy and full of laughter, I was most interested in her discussion about her mother, Rose, She said she was the disciplinarian and was extremely organized, Her mother advocated education to the children and included music, art and languages, whereas, her father pushed sports on the children.
Smith says her family played lots of quizzes about what the child would do if confronted bythe parent would present a problem sometimes the problem would be political.
The time frame of the story is the,s, ands, She says Rose was a devout catholic and went to church daily, Smith tells of the visit to their home by Cardinal Eugenio Pucelli who became Pope Pius XII.
Smith was the Ambassador to Ireland fromto,

I read this as an audiobook, but I understand that the book format has photographs.
The book is short but well worth the read and presents a simpler and gentler time in family life.


Loma Raver does a great job narrating the book, Raver is an actress and multiaward winning audiobook narrator, Raver is an older woman which the perfect voice for this book,
In this evocative and affectionate memoir, Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, the last surviving child of Joe and Rose Kennedy, offers an intimate and illuminating look at a time long ago when she and her siblings, guided by their parents, laughed and learned a great deal under one roof.


Prompted by interesting tidbits in the newspaper, Rose and Joe Kennedy would pose questions to their nine children at the dinner table.
"Where could Amelia Earhart have gone" "How would you address this horrible drought" "What would you do about the troop movements in Europe" It was a nightly custom that helped shape the Kennedys into who they would become.


Before Joe and Roses children emerged as leaders on the world stage, they were a loving circle of brothers and sisters who played football, swam, read, and pursued their interests.
They were children inspired by parents who instilled in them a strong work ethic, deep love of country, and intense appreciation for the sacrifices their ancestors made to come to America.
"No whining in this house!" was their fathers regular refrain, It was his way of reminding them not to complain, to be grateful for what they had, and to give back.


In her remarkable memoir, Kennedy Smiththe last surviving siblingrevisits this singular time in their lives.
Filled with fascinating anecdotes and vignettes, and illustrated with dozens of family pictures, The Nine of Us vividly depicts this large, closeknit family during a different time in American history.
Kennedy Smith offers indelible, elegantly rendered portraits of her largerthanlife

siblings and her parents, "They knew how to cure our hurts, bind our wounds, listen to our woes, and help us enjoy life," she writes.
"We were lucky children indeed, " A light, fun glimpse into the lives of the Kennedy children when they were young, I enjoyed reading what stood out to Jean from her childhood, I found a treasure recently at a nearby Little Free Library that I frequent on bike rides: a new copy of The Nine of Us by Jean Kennedy Smith.


I brought it home, and since I liked its historical promise and it was short as wellsmall pages with wide margins and lots of photos, I decided it would be a book I'd read to those at home after dinner.


Jean Kennedy Smith reminds us that she is now the last living member of her immediate family, which must be a very lonely feeling.
She wrote this book last year, when she was,

"Does she talk about Chappaquiddick" asked a family member, Well, NO. Think about it: if you were reminiscing about your early days of growing up with your family, wouldn't you want to remember the good parts Would you want to throw any family member, now departed, under the bus Probably not, and so you won't find any bombshell confessions or salacious gossip in this book.
It's an idyllic look into Jean's memories growing up in the famous Kennedy family,

I also enjoyed the book as a look back to a time past, The Kennedys were definitely welltodo: Jean mentions delicious meals prepared by cooks, an audience with the Pope, a mother who had a driver to take her here and there.
And sometimes the prose is a bit cloying she says of Teddy, "He preferred loving to hating and laughing to crying.
". But I blinked back tears when she described some of her siblings' deaths, and when she described sister Rosemary's struggles.
I absolutely loved the many vintage photos most of which I'd never seen before,

If you're an admirer of the Kennedys, or if you enjoy history, I think you'd like The Nine of Us.
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