Love, Jack [Anglais] [Relié]

While one might question the need for yet another book about John F. Kennedy's love life, readers of this slim memoir probably won't doubt Von Post's genuine feelings for the late president, who seems to have been the great love of her life. They may, however, doubt her wisdom in deciding, upon the death of Jacqueline Onassis, that the time had come to tell her story. This tale of love at first sight, when the then (engaged) senator from Massachusetts met a young Gunilla on the Riviera, adds little to our knowledge of John Kennedy and, even at a mere 160 pages, seems padded. Their brief relationship could have been discussed in a magazine article. Still, given the seemingly insatiable public interest in the Kennedys, most public libraries can expect a demand for this title.
-?Elizabeth Mellett, Brookline P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

It's hard to imagine what possessed von Post, a "Swedish aristocrat," to write this memoir, and it's even more difficult to figure out how it managed to get published. Von Post met Jack Kennedy in 1953; she saw him a total of three times (only during the second visit were they actually together for any length of time); and he wrote letters to her and called her once in a while. Von Post wants us to believe that Kennedy was willing to throw over Jackie for her, but Papa Joe nixed the plan. She also wants to set the record straight about Jack's performance in bed. He was not a Slam-bam, Thank-you Ma'am kind of guy like we've been led to believe but, rather, was a sweet and tender lover--albeit one with a lot of back pain. Since von Post didn't see Kennedy all that much, she's forced to come up with something to fill out even this brief book, and that something turns out to be a description of her family and life in Sweden in the 1950s. Yawn. Von Post has been booked to appear on 20/20, and an author tour is planned, all of which may generate requests for her so-called book. But buy cautiously because von Post's name will be forgotten about two weeks after the media blitz ends. Ilene Cooper

Yet another JFK paramour! Is there no mercy? This is a lover with a difference, however, a woman whom Kennedy first wooed before he was president and even before he was married (though he was engaged) to Jackie. The author was a lissome, 21-year-old, upper-class Swede on vacation at the French Riviera when she had a chance encounter with then Senator Kennedy. They dined and danced and sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean, where he confessed that he was to be married the next week but added, ``if I had met you one week before . . . I would have cancelled the whole thing.'' As we know, he did not cancel, but a half-year later was writing to Gunilla that he would be returning to Europe and would like to meet. The rendezvous was in Sweden and according to von Post, they fell into bed where his ``tenderness was a revelation.'' The romance went on for another few years, mostly long-distance, says von Post, while Kennedy struggled with his father's dominance and his own ambition. Father Joseph and the prospect of the presidency won, although JFK suggested at one point that Gunilla establish herself in New York City's Carlyle Hotel, later infamous as a presidential playground. Gunilla wisely refused, going on to marry a Swedish notable, bear children, be tragically widowed, remarry, divorce, and lose a child through leukemia. She identified with Jacqueline's similar experiences. But she kept the letters from and the memories of the riveting young Jack Kennedy and is sharing them with us now (aided by Johnes, the author of two biographies). A good portion of this book is also devoted to establishing her credentials as a ``good girl,'' one of JFK's true loves. A sweet but unconvincing effort to depict JFK as an only somewhat unwilling victim of his father's dreams. (8 pages b&w photos) (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

He was a dashing young senator pursued by an Italian contessa and the imposing forces of his destiny. She was a 21-year-old Swedish aristocrat away from home for the first time. Their accidental meeting at a port in the Riviera changed both their lives forever.

Spanning two continents and the Atlantic Ocean, unfolding over a six-year period beginning in 1953, Love, Jack is the story of a transcendent but heartbreaking love between two people at the peak of their youth and beauty, a love that seemed impossible but could not be denied. Here is an intimate portrait of John Kennedy never before seen: a gentle, kind, and caring man, intensely passionate and full of life but a man who faces great difficulty adjusting to the demanding role history and his father have assigned him.

Driven by his love for Gunilla von Post, Jack risked the sort of exposure that might have ruined his career and was willing to endure debilitating pain to cross the ocean for her. For the sake of her passion, Gunilla risked the ostracism of her family and friends, ready to turn her back on the country she loved.

Love, Jack is the heartwarming account of a history-making romance, a "brief, shining moment" before Camelot, before an assassin's bullets shattered the hopes of a nation a moment in time that Gunilla von Post is at last ready to share with the world.

The author describes her five-year love affair with Jack Kennedy, from 1953 to 1958, detailing Kennedy's constant battle with debilitating back pain, their efforts to avoid public exposure, and the demands of Kennedy's ambitious father. 150,000 first printing. Tour."

Gunilla Von Post was born into the Swedish aristocracy in 1932. Today she divides her time between Palm Beach, Florida, and a villa in Switzerland. She has two daughters, a son, and several grandchildren.

Carl Jones is the author of two previous biographies and lives in New York City.