Love, Jack

Love, Jack by Gunilla Von Post 158 pages

I’m just old enough to remember that “’brief, shining moment’ before Camelot, before an assassin's bullets shattered the hopes of a nation.”  Yeah, I’ve read another book about JFK.

This one is a memoir published in 1997. The author, a Swedish aristocrat, waited until after Jackie’s death to share her romance with a handsome, wealthy young Senator from Massachusetts. She was trying to be sensitive to the president’s memory.

In 1953, Jack Kennedy was trying to evade an Italian countess who was hell bent on catching him when he accidentally met Gunilla Von Post on the Rivera. It was love at first sight. But it was a love that was not meant to be…or in better words, a love that was not allowed to blossom. 

Jack hoped to get the nod as vice president in the upcoming election, knew that a bid for the U. S. Presidency was in his future, was engaged to marry Jacqueline Bouvier, and was under the complete control of his father, Joe Kennedy, Sr. Although Jack tried to get Joe, Sr. to let him back out of his engagement, and even his marriage, Joe would have none of it.  If he left Jackie, his change to become the most powerful man in the world was at jeopardy, and he would probably lose. 

Between 1953 and 1959, Jack and Gunilla carried on a love affair. But I’m not sure that I would call it a love affair. They seldom saw each other and rarely spoke. Gunilla had letters that proved his desire and need for her, but I have to wonder. Knowing what a womanizer Jack turned out to be, after reading this book, I’m convinced that, while Jack might have been smitten with Gunilla, he was truly only interested in the chase. But then, maybe I’m wrong. The world will never know. 

“Love, Jack” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

 

A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray

A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis  (Translated from the French by John Cullen) 144 pages

This novella packs a lot into it. It’s brief, moody, spare, completely French and has a other-worldly atmosphere to it.

 Two sisters, Jane and Claire Marie don’t see each other often, even though they live relatively close to each other. Jane lives in the heart of Paris, while Claire Marie lives in the suburban community of Ville-d”Avray. Jane lives with her partner and Claire Marie has a husband and a teenage daughter.

It’s early autumn, and the sisters are enjoying a few glasses of wine in the garden. After the initial and normal conversation exchanges, Claire Marie begins to talk about a man she had known fifteen years prior. It’s a whimsical, whispery, misty description of a man named Marc Hermann. I’m was never sure if the two had an actual affair or danced around one.

Claire Marie would sneak out of the house to meet him, but the meetings took place more around train stations and parks than in hotel rooms or quaint B&Bs. I got the feeling that Marc was more of a stalker, and that Claire Marie was having wispy fantasies about him. The scenes in which Claire Marie tried to see him at his place of business is disturbing, making the reader feel as if there was something else going on altogether.

The pace of the novella ebb and flowed, as a good story does. However, it didn’t reel me in completely. I found myself more mystified than satisfied at the conclusion. Therefore,  A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray received 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. I wanted to give it 2 stars, but the beautiful writing and scenery had me bump it up a star.