After hearing Zara (Shameless Podcast) talk about her review copy of this novel I was interested to read it too. I'm a historical fiction girlie and there's just something about Jackie Kennedy that I find intriguing.  I spotted it within Hachette's Publicity Magazine and requested a copy. I was a little daunted at the size at first but soon fell into the short, sharp narration and story. I read the novel surprisingly quickly. 

Here's what I liked: 
-Author's note at the start of the book set the scene and the mood for the novel from the get go. The sentiment expressed within the author's note stayed with me as I read. In essence  it was that historical fiction allows you to experience the mutiple dimensions of a story especially the experimental truths and emotional heart. To consider how people felt, not just what happened. 
-Learnt more about Jackie Kennedy's life, especially about her life before meeting Jack, the loss she experienced throughout her life, her (and her sisters relationship) with Aristotle Onassis and career as a book editor. There was a strong focus on Women in history. "A woman has less to start with, so she has less to loose" (pg243). 
-Memory and time was a powerful theme throughout the novel. "We never imagine it. That we will be there someday, centuries from now, skulls ground to unnamed and intimate fragments, trampled by new generations who, in turn can't imagine their lives will also be broken to dust. Jack would understand this, the nuanced implications... how everything marked critical, classified, urgent, eventually turns to this." (pg199). 
-I thought the weaving of other important events in American History, especially Black History to be interesting. I wonder how much was fantasy and fact though. One of the most poignant quotes that still rings true today was "Jack was killed by American violence, he called it that once, the hatred that built this country" (pg 332). 
-The book was ultimately a love story between two of the biggest figures of the 20th century. "The world is alive to me because of you" (pg260). 

Here's what I didn't: 
-Didn't like the inclusion of the poetic ramblings, I really liked it at the start, however, it grated on me by the end of the novel. Frequent shifts between monologue style narration to then thoughts and recollections that were in italics. Hopefully audio listeners don't find this too confusing. 
-I feel like the novel relies on you as the reader to know key events and people. I knew the absolute bare minimum but felt that there was a lot I was expected to know. There were so many characters and it was difficult to know who they were and keep track of their relationship with the Kennedys. I did not have time to Google it all. 
-Some of the story, especially around the time Jack died felt really repetitive especially in the throws of grief. 
-Ultimately I felt like to story was written to reveal a more intimate side to Jackie Kennedy but I felt like it still hit the major plot points and brushed over a lot. 

Overall I enjoyed my read of Jackie, interested to rewatch Jackie the 2016 movie staring Natalie Portman.

Thank you to Hachette Australia for my review copy.