This book is a memoir of the lives of Anthony and Carole Radziwill and his cousin and his wife, John and Carolyn Kennedy by Carole Radziwill. I have often empathized with those in the constant media stream and spotlight, how they cope, how they adjust. Carole Radziwill gives us a glimpse into Camelot and trials by fire. It is complicated, detailed, poignant, and complete.

See, Carole and Anthony, just weeks before his death from testicular cancer, were on the waiting end of that last flight of John, his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren.

There is a meandering and loyal telling of both facts and story. There is an interwoven direct and determined loyalty in the relation of the slow, agonizing loss of her husband, as she watched, and the devastating sudden loss of her best friend. I once compared the sudden loss of my brother to the slow agony of watching a friend die from cancer as a limb being ripped from the body or slowly, methodically removed by a dull knife. Both are here, confirming what I know to be true.

This is a book of love story, tremendous despair, and agony in a must read, can't-put-it-down form. I read an adaptation of the book in the September O magazine and had to buy the book to read the entirety of the narrative. If one hesitates to feel sorrow, one might avoid this book.

Carole Radziwill nee DiFalco married a Polish prince, the cousin (on his mother's side) to John F. Kennedy, Jr. She and Anthony met when she was a journalist for ABC and he was working for Primetime Live, a news magazine while both were covering the Menendez Murder trial in Los Angeles. It was not a whirlwind courtship but one easily founded on friendship and shared ideals. To quote the book jacket, "She explores the complexities of marriage, the importance of friendship, and the challenges of self-invention with unflinching honesty. This is a compelling story of love, loss, and ultimately, resilience."

This book is an excellent read. I was enthralled from the beginning until the end. I remember what I was doing and where I was on Friday, July 16, 1999 just as I remember where I was and what I was doing on November 22, 1963 but this book gives a glimpse into the heartache of the ones who were expecting that plane as a panacea to their own private pain. It is, as they say, the rest of the story.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of What Remains : A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love   from Amazon.Com!

Created Nov 17, 2005 at 4:08pm • Submit your own review...