Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait Of Her Final Days

by Edward Klein, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Contribution by)

A New York Times Bestseller
A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Doubleday Book Club, and Literary Guild In November 1993, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis took a tumble from her horse during a hunt in Virginia. A scarce six months later this revered, fascinating woman of substance, style, and steely will passed away in her Park Avenue home. Now bestselling author Edward Klein - who knew Jackie for more than a dozen years - pens a moving account of those last months and a celebration of the life of an American icon who faced death as she faced life.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, American History

285 pages, Hardcover

First published January 7, 2004

About the author

Edward J. Klein (born 1937) is an American author, tabloid writer and gossip columnist who is a former foreign editor of Newsweek, and former editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine (1977-1987). He has written about the Kennedys, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Donald Trump.

Klein is the former foreign editor of Newsweek and served as the editor-in-chief of The New York Times Magazine from 1977 to 1987. He frequently contributes to Vanity Fair and Parade and writes a weekly celebrity gossip column in Parade called "Personality Parade" under the pseudonym "Walter Scott." (The Walter Scott pseudonym had originally been used by Lloyd Shearer, who wrote the column from 1958 to 1991.[3]) He also writes books, many of which have been on the New York Times Bestseller list.

Edward Klein

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

If it is related to Jackie, I will read it, watch it, visit it, etc. That fact is precisely why I picked up this book. Before reading, I knew a bit about Edward Klein as an author. I know he is known for bending truths, telling full on lies, and basically bringing yellow journalism back to the forefront. This was not a great start. One could argue that I knew trouble was coming so I should not have read the book. I would now agree with that sentiment.

I could go on and on about all of the things that annoy me about this book but I will do my best to narrow it down. The first issue is that there is a mistake on the inside of the book jacket. It refers to Jackie's Park Avenue home - which is a lie. Jackie lived on Park Avenue as a small child but as an adult, she lived on 5th Avenue. If this simple fact was written incorrectly, how can a reader believe the more far fetched stories that Klein placed in this book?

My next issue was Klein's incessant swelling of his relationship with Jackie. Even JFK Jr. referenced Edward Klein as a man that Jackie had lunch with once and then made a career out of writing about her. Klein insists that his information came straight from the source but I have my doubts.

I also despised the salacious and gossipy nature of this book. Klein did everything he could to make the story read like a telenovela instead of a respectful account of someone's final years. Many details he included were just plain invasive and probably not even true.

In addition to all of that, I hated how Klein always tried to speak for Jackie. She was an incredibly private person. She did not come out and say very much about anything related to her personal life. How could he know what she was thinking or how she was processing the news of her cancer? According to various other sources, Jackie was private about her life even with her friends. If her close friends cannot even speak to how she felt, how can he? He also references times she went to church alone - how does he know this if she was alone? I highly doubt Jackie gave him a call each night to offer a play by play of her day.

Finally, I was very disappointed in his sources. Klein used Jackie Oh! by Kitty Kelly as well as A Woman Named Jackie by C. David Heymann to help him write his book. When I read that, I was even more disgusted than I was while reading the actual book. Both of those authors are known for yellow journalism and lying as well. How can a reader take an author seriously who gets his information from other authors who are known to lie?

The reason I even gave this book two stars is because it was a fast read and I love Jackie. If you are like me and feel compelled to read it all, by all means, go ahead. Just keep in mind that this man is known for spreading lies. Please read the book with a discerning eye.

[Rachel Swords · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was little when Jackie died, so I only remember a small amount of the media frenzy that was outside her apartment. Jackie Kennedy is one of my heroes, so along with the fact I didn't know much about her death, of course I read this book. And while it was insightful to what kind of woman she was in her later years, I felt dirty reading it. Jackie Kennedy managed to remain private whilst in the public eye, so for the book to say how she felt, and what she was thinking, just seemed wrong. But there will always be books like this, and people will always be hypocritical like me and read them, so what do I know?

[Mark Gaulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sobbed my way through this book. For me, part of the world died when Jackie O left us (same as Princess Diana). A friend, knowing my perspective, insisted I read this book. Klein is a great writer and the dignity of Jackie's final days is moving.

[Mary Fusoni · Rating 2 out of 5]

While reading a review of a new biography about John F. Kennedy, Jr., I realized that I know so little about his mother, especially about her unexpected death in 1994, even though she was a prominent figure for over 30 years of my teen and adult life. So I scanned the library shelves and came up with this book as a quick read that would give me more information. So now I know why Jackie's death came as such a tragic surprise, and I guess I know other bits about her life, her marriages, etc. But the writing is lazy and sometimes sensational, the author seems to imply more than he actually knows, and I truly do not understand why in one of the final pages he would go out of his way to trash Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, who by the time this book was published had died in a plane crash along with her sister and her husband.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on the Foreward and the Notes, it appears that Klein attempted to capitalize on the tenth anniversary of Jackie's death by publishing this book which appears to be a slim compilation of excerpts from his own and other's previously published works. I hadn't read most of those, so it was new to me, but anyone who reads a lot about JBKO (I like that) won't find anything new here.

[Suzette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather a gossipy book, but I haven't read that sort of thing for years. I always was fascinated by Jackie, and so when a "Time" magazine from 1994 with her on the cover surfaced in my house recently, I read it and then got interested in reading more. Enough gossip now!

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Donna Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read about a subject matter I knew very little about ---- the final days of Jackie Kennedy. The book does what it promises and takes her from the horse accident in November 1993 which gave the doctors reasons to check out her health and diagnose her with non-Hodgkins disease, until her death May 19. It does give a few details on her private funeral service, as well. No big surprises here, except a couple of comments on some trysts she had while she was in the white house, and a very nice story about a picture Bob McNamara had given to her of JFK and her giving it back to him because it was so lifelike that she couldn't bear to see the kids kissing it when it was on the floor ready to be hung. Wonderful story there that I hadn't heard. There were some revelations on John Jr and how much he was under the thumb of his mom, and once she went, he felt "free" --- so the book suggests, he might still be living if she were living. This will be the last of the Kennedy books I read for a while, but it was great to revisit the subject, and I plan to do it again some time in the future.

[Soozblooz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually almost bumped into Ms. Onassis as she ran from Doubleday to a waiting yellow cab. I mention this because that's about as much interaction as Mr. Klein seems to have had with her, even though he says they knew each other twelve years. Odd. He never says he telephoned her, never says they met. He didn't go to her funeral, nor did he stand outside the church.

A profusion of end notes make it abundantly clear (too late) that this is an intellectually lazy book that cribs almost all of its material and quotes from other books concerning Jackie or the Kennedy family. Another irritation is that the author pads the book with incidents that say "30 years ago" and are written in the present tense.

This is tabloid fodder masquerading as a book.

[Lise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new here. The author tries to promote his cred by stating in the foreword that he actually HAD DINNER once with JBKO. I think that meant that he was at a dinner and she was also at the dinner .... reads like an extended Vanity Fair profile ... minus the pics.

[Cynthia Kane · Rating 2 out of 5]

oh I will gobble up anything re: JBKO - and this was obviously written by a close friend - not a great book or particularly well-written, but a fast read and great to go to sleep by -

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy the choppy, gossipy writing style and I couldn't help but think the author betrayed Jackie by writing about such personal things.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alot of info on not alot of pages in this heartfelt book. Very basic and to the point. This book really does help go inside the life of a woman who will always be one of the most strongest women in the world. Going to check out another book about her written many years ago so, more to come!
This book I would recommend to anyone who is curious about the woman who every woman wanted to be like - clothes, fashion, taste and elegance.

[James Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days by Edward Klein. It is an emotionally moving account of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's last months on earth. She was truly an American icon who faced death as she faced life - with bravery and grace. I didn't realize she died so young at 64. The rapid pace of the cancer and the treatments she endured to no avail are highlighted as is her decision to die on her own terms. Those terms are inspirational.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read many books about Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis but none that have focused (purportedly) on her final days. While there were some new insights to be gleaned, as well as a few poignant moments, I couldn't help wondering how the author was privy to so many fairly intimate conversations and feelings by and about JBKO.

[Wendy W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in a sense that it is an entry level read to learn about the person and the family, also its phrasing and writing by a decent wordsmith. Not very good in terms of historical accuracy and suspicion of yellow journalism.

A tragic yet luxurious life. Wish to learn her usual understatements of herself and her tough qualities, but not her fatalistic outlook to life.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story of the end of Jackie Kennedy Onassis' life. Learned a few new things.

[Dena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting account of Jackie's last months; however, I didn't like how the author jumped around from the 60's, to the 90's, to the present, etc. all through the book.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

2004 - HB - Had It - Read It

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for March Book Group- Biographies
Interesting fast, read covering Jackie's life from her hunting fall to her death of an aggressive form of anaplastic non-Hodgekin's lymphomia. But Jackie was all about privacy, and control, and she orchestrated her own treatment and the way in which she wanted to go out of this world, privately and at home. Her closest friends said their goodbyes and then just her fchildren, Caroline and John, Maurice Tempelsman, and Bunny Mellon were at her side in her final hours on May 19, 1994.
Raised a proper, if not ultra-wealthy debutante of divorced Catholic parents, she married Jack Kennedy, bore him Caroline, John, Jr. And premeature Patrick who died at two days old, suffered a stillbirth and a miscarriage, and years of Jack's philandering. She married Ari Onasis to escape into a cocoon of protection and wealth. After his death she moved back to New York and worked as an editor at Doubleday. SHe maintained her privacy, worked hard and enjoyed a twelve year friendship with kind, wealthy, married, diamond merchant, Maurice Templesman who quietly moved in with her. That surprised me! She is buried next to JFK and their two dead infant children at Arlington National Cemetery.

She worried about JFK, Jr.s aimlessness and distractability, deplored his excursions into journalism and his dating actress Hannah Darryl. She made him promise not to take flying lessons and become a pilot, which he did despite his promise to her. His marriage to CT socialite Carolyn Bessette and their deaths due his piloting errors in a foggy flight to Nantucket might not have happened had Jackie lived. Her children had been safe from the "Kennedy Curse" under her care.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in a day - like the Diana obsession, we love to know about the "real Jackie." This gave the chronology of her last 6 months, from the time she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to her death, plus a lot of background material that anyone who had not followed her life closely would not have known. A good read.

[April Coker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. I enjoyed the details about Jackie's lymphoma diagnosis and how she handled her illness, but sometimes the book was a bit gossipy-sounding. The author does give a good bibliography of sources at the end. I wish he had added captions to the photos throughout the book. They were given in the appendix at the end.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have already read quite a few books about this intriguing woman so this just added to what I already knew. If this is the only book you have ever read about her I think you would be disappointed in the amount of information it provides.

[Tama Fontes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Account of the last 6 months of Jackie Kennedy's life as she battles non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with flashbacks and pictures of her life, her hopes, and her accomplishments. Pretty interesting.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A touching look at Jackie, the person--as opposed to Jackie, the icon--leading up to the end of her life. Beautiful.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a brief encounter with the life of Jackie Kennedy Onassis before her death in May 20, 1994. She was like royality, well liked and she had class. I loved reading about her.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book in a different perspective of Jackie. Finished in a couple of hours as I didn't want to put it down

[Gail · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing much new here. A few things but an awful lot of rehashing old info.