Once Upon a Time

The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

De: Elizabeth Beller

Narrado por: Emily Tremaine

The inspiration for the FX series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

A NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER

This “intimate and sympathetic portrait of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy that is as enthralling as she was” (Dana Thomas, New York Times bestselling author) reexamines her life and legacy as never before. Perfect for fans of My Travels with Mrs. Kennedy, What Remains, and Fairy Tale Interrupted.

A quarter of a century after the plane crash that claimed the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren, the magnitude of this tragedy remains fresh. Yet, Carolyn is still an enigmatic figure, a woman whose short life in the spotlight was besieged with misogyny and cruelty.

Amidst today’s cultural reckoning about the way our media treats women, Elizabeth Beller “reveals the true woman behind the mystery, and what a woman she turns out to be: fabulous, fierce, fashionable, flawed…formidable” (J. Randy Taraborrelli, New York Times bestselling author). When she began dating America’s prince, Carolyn was thrust into an overwhelming spotlight filled with cruelly relentless paparazzi who reacted to her reserve with a campaign of harassment and vilification.

To this day, she is still depicted as a privileged princess—icy, vapid, and drug-addicted. She has even been accused of being responsible for their untimely death, allegedly delaying take-off until she finished her pedicure. But now, the truth is finally unveiled.

A fiercely independent woman devoted to her adopted city and career, Carolyn relied on her impeccable eye and drive to fly up the ranks at Calvin Klein in the glossy, high-stakes fashion world of the 1990s. When Carolyn met her future husband, John was immediately drawn to her strong-willed personality, effortless charm, and high intelligence. Their relationship would change her life and catapult her to dizzying fame, but it was her vibrant life before their marriage and then hidden afterwards, that is truly fascinating.

Based on in-depth research and exclusive interviews with friends, family members, teachers, roommates, and colleagues, and featuring never-before-seen family photos, this comprehensive biography reveals a multifaceted woman worthy of our attention regardless of her husband and untimely death.

Not what I expected.

Incorrect pronunciation of names was annoying and made me wonder how in depth this was researched.

The real Caroline Bissett Kennedy revealed

I admit to not knowing much about this tragedy and the woman who captured JFK Junior’s heart. It was a very quick listen to it painted a picture of someone who was vilified my the press when alive but who was was the most lovely woman married to a man who could have done incredible things in the political world, and possibly prevented a lot of the tragedies that have happened to us in the choice of our political leaders. We will never know what this duo could have accomplished, but now that I better know who she was it makes this tragedy even more pointless
Narrator was very good and despite my vision, being poor and now listening to books instead of reading them, I was able to follow the story very well will search for more from this author.

Maybe more truth about Carolyn, maybe less.

The author certainly presented Carolyn in a much more positive way than the worst she’s had written and said about her. My feeling is that the author protected Carolyn to the point that she was presented a bit more perfect than was likely the real case. The truth is somewhere in the middle. But that’s fine, overall it’s an interesting story. My biggest takeaway from the book was the question of Why didn’t John move him and Carolyn to a huge building in NYC? Like a Trump Tower type place. They could have left home going out of an underground garage and no one would have been there to photograph them. By staying in the loft they had to leave home by walking right into the street with all the photographers there. John was used to it, but when he saw how it was upsetting Carolyn he should have gone to a guarded building that no one would know where they were. Or when they came or left. Didn’t make sense to me why they continued to live in the line of fire where people could literally knock on their door. Eventually the paparazzi would have given up staking them out. Then they could have snuck down to some of their favorite SOHO restaurants and such. But poor Carolyn was followed from the moment she left home. John should have protected her better.

How amazing Caroline and John were as kind empathetic people Such potential wasted, heartbreaking. Boo hiss to the paparazzi

Disliked hearing how destructive the evil paparazzi were to this spectacular young woman and man
A beautiful well matched couple with their long life ahead. Heartbreaking

Highly enjoyable, frustrating, and saddening

This book was frustrating, enjoyable, and saddening to listen to. She sounded like a lovely person from young up until she died. She loved her personal space, private life and, kept what was important to her close to her heart.

I wonder what her and JFK Jr would've been like now if they hadn't taken that flight that night (there was so much that day that could've been taken as a sign to not take that flight), what she would've done with her career, if she would've moved past her hate of the paparazzi and how she would've done it, if they would've been married, if they would've had kids, their reactions to the things that happened post-2000.

I really enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and would listen to it again.