Writing about the Kennedys
Janet Maslin reviews the new memoir by Christopher Lawford, the son of Peter Lawford and JFK sister Patricia Kennedy, this morning. It's called Symptoms of Withdrawal, and it actually sounds pretty good.
I read the review with particular interest, and perhaps self-interest, because, having written a book about a Kennedy, I follow the genre. Next out is Carole Radziwill's "What Remains: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss." Carole is the widow of Anthony Radziwill, who was one of John Kennedy's closest friends and died of cancer just a few weeks after John, his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren died in a plane crash in July, 1999. My heart goes out to her; she has had a rough time.
Having gone through a trial by fire to publish my book, and receiving some pretty tough and personal criticism for doing so, I'm slightly bemused by the fact that these books—which are much closer to "tell-alls" than American Son was—aren't raising an ethical eyebrow. Where are the media ethics police now?
But more than bemused, I'm supportive of these books. This idea that writing about the Kennedys is somehow morally wrong is just silly. (Well, not always.) If people have a legitimate story to tell, they should tell it, and in the best, most honest, most serious way they can. I was even supportive of Robert Littell, whose book, The Men We Became: My Friendship with John F. Kennedy, Jr., came out not long after Littell publicly criticized me for writing American Son.
Anyone who's had close contact with the Kennedys knows that it's a wild ride; we need to be understanding that people process that experience in different ways. For some, that means spewing bile; for others, that means trying to make sense of the experience through a book. I happen to think that one way is preferable to the other, but I understand that both are aftershocks of grief.
So good for Christopher Lawford and Carole Radziwill; I wish them luck with their books. I don't know if I'll be able to read Carole's—that's a little close to a still-painful memory for comfort—but I hope that the act of writing gave the authors some much-needed peace of mind. I know it did for me.
