The Kennedy Curse: The shocking true story of America’s most famous family

I haven't read this book yet, but I am sure I will give it five stars, as I love reading anything about the Kennedy family. A word of warning don't buy this book and the House of Kennedy book by the same author as they are the same book, word for word the only difference is the slightly different picture on the cover. One in colour one in black and white buy one not both.

The house of Kennedy and the Kennedy curseReally disappointed I bought the House of Kennedy and the Kennedy Curse and apart from different titles they are the same book.Down to chapters writing and picturesI didn’t think an author could go that surly that’s not legal?

Well written and informative. An interesting insight into the family who certainly had their share of bad luck, much of it due to their own behaviour unfortunately. The younger generation were certainly, for the most part, spoilt brats but their Uncle Ted was not the ideal role model for anyone!!! You can't help but feel sorry for Joan Kennedy, Ted's long suffering wife. Ethel obviously couldn't control or guide her enormous brood.. Seriously who has 11 children in modern times? Old Man Kennedy, Joe, was an absolute horror, forcing his own daughter to undergo a lobotomy and maybe if Rose had spent a bit more time and compassion on her family and less time God bothering the family might have been less dysfunctional. Well worth a look

This is fascinating subject matter and a book on this famous curse was long over due. Sadly this is not the book to fill that gap.It starts in a promising way with the beginning of the Kennedy dynasty starting with Joseph Patrick Kennedy senior - and is reasonably interesting with the birth of the Kennedy’s born to Joe and Rose Kennedy. But it very quickly loses its way. It has an overlong section on JFK and rolls out the long discredited theory surrounding the death of Marilyn Monroe (surely her curse not theirs?) - and having spent a sizable chunk on the two most famous Kennedy’s, JFK and Robert and a fair bit on Ted. Then it crams most of the other Kennedy’s into the remainder of the book at speed and usually minus photos. So I ended up knowing slightly more than I knew before about the older Kennedy’s and knowing almost nothing about the younger Kennedys (equally affected by the curse).It’s also not that well written. I think it contains a lot of cut and paste from other sources so the style is uneven. I had to re read some sentences several times to work out what was meant. I honestly think if I’d spent half a day on Google I could have found out more information.The ‘curse’ is possibly the most interesting part of this story. Yet not real attempt is made to look at whether this curse is perhaps something real - something the family has somehow invited themselves. Or is it just that the family took far more risks than others and were perhaps very foolhardy? Maybe having taken the cruel decision to have Rosemary Kennedy lobotomized they brought a curse upon themselves? I wish as writers they had attempted to analyze ‘the curse’ - find some logic or questions about it. For two brothers to be shot in high office when so few senators or presidents have been shot since - begs some kind of analysis and educated theory.All in all I learned very little I didn’t already know and a book about the Kennedy curse still needs to be written.

This is an excellent introduction to the Kennedy dynasty, and they are the closest America has yet come, or is perhaps ever likely to come, to a royal house. It is pointless to protest, as some reviews do, that the book is superficial. There is no shortage of lengthy individual studies of all the key protagonists. Particularly outstanding is Evan Thomas’ biography of Robert Kennedy (RFK), the most complex and quite possibly the most influential of the whole family. James Patterson is an accomplished writer, here bringing to his task, a lively, engaging style that yet allows him to pack in a wealth of material. A full and detailed set of notes points the reader towards a wide range of treatments of the Kennedy years and the principal participants. Few, I suspect, will not want to read further. As has been said, from the time when the earliest Kennedys risked the hazardous voyage from Ireland, to the relatively obscure remaining members alive today, the family history is a ‘case of triumph and tragedy, great success and terrible suffering.’ We witness character, charisma, idealism, courage, great determination, frivolity and sheer zest for life. The darker sides of their lives are not hidden from us; the notoriety, evasions, dubious connections, the murders and suicides, the drugs and the drinking, the womanising and so on.Patterson takes us through the key personnel and incidents from the Patriarch, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Snr, the death of his oldest, beloved son, the rise to power of JFK, his defeat of Nixon and his death in Dallas, the rise and subsequent fate of Bobby, the shadow that falls over Ted, and beyond to the third generation, who now boast little more than ‘good teeth, good hair and good PR.’ The women are far from neglected. Rose, Jacqueline, Ethel, and jean Kennedy-Smith are given special prominence, but others from Kick to Saoirse have important parts to play. If the book can be said to end on a positive note, it is Jean Kennedy-Smith’s appointment by President Clinton at the age of 65 to be Ambassador to Ireland. Behind all lies the profound influence of RFK’ s compassion, that lives on most of all in the women.