CBR16 Bingo: Cult – The Kennedys have rather a cult following, and in this book particularly we learn how many people were so fascinated they swarmed their homes in Hyannis Port.
When the Kennedy family decided to make their summer home in Hyannis Port, MA, they little suspected how strongly associated the place would become with their aspirations and their scandals.
I’m a Massachusetts native, but my family’s roots there don’t go back long enough to have really witnessed the heyday of the Kennedys in politics. On the other hand, I have read (and looked at) plenty of Jackie O media, so I guess I’m not really exempt from the fascination completely. I still don’t get the allure of Cape Cod though!
Storey does a good job of bringing the small and peaceful community of Hyannis Port to life, introducing us to many lesser known residents. It’s clear how much research she’s done and the many people she’s talked to, and the resulting anecdotes about the Kennedys in their private lives made me feel like I’d gotten a glimpse behind that curtain too. I was interested to learn how much Hyannis Port figured in the politician brothers’ campaigns. I also enjoyed that she talked more generally about Hyannis Port itself changed over time because of its residents, and not only the Kennedys – I don’t know if I would have heard of Eugenia Fortes otherwise.
However, I did feel that Storey played softball with her subject matter. She brings up things like Joe Sr.’s predatory behavior toward women, Rosemary’s forced lobotomy, and the death at Chappaquiddick, all of which happened when the family was down at Hyannis Port, but brushes past them without much comment or condemnation. I’m not expecting her to rip into them – it’s not that kind of book – but to breezily ignore darker matters in favor of the umpteenth game of touch football rather wore on me after a while. In my opinion, biographies fail when they refuse to lend equal weight to both the light and dark sides of their subjects’ lives, and this one certainly did.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.