Beautifully remarkes the life of 2 great divas .
Rating:
5 / 5
From the first to the last site of this notable book the pressure and allure held me caught. Through the whole book I was torn between the real information and details which I are noted from their two really different lifes and the fact that this novel and the story is just fictitious. Everything seems to fit so perfectly that the reader has the impression that these letters have been written and sent by Jackie and Marilyn. Many little details from biographies and people who have known Marilyn or Jackie for years make the whole story authentic.
Through the years, marriages & divorces, pregnancies and acquaintances these letters arrange a grasp for their actions and for the eventful time these great divas lived in. A feeling for this era, the fears both of them had, their hopes and wishes are easy to understand when they talk frankly to each other. I also liked how visionary Wendy Leigh gave both of them an own style of writing, Jackie's mostly spiritual style of writing, the lyric way she could talk about her desires and wishes, but also the knowledge how to avoid unmeant questions and how to barricade behind a wall of aristocracy and formal flowery phrases. Marylin's style of writing was more kiddy, I think, she had lots of spelling mistakes and an easier way of writing, outspoken, what I guess was a known chapter of her character.
I have read a couple of books about Jackie before I found this book and I was always fascinated by the sweet charm she performed and with whom she banished a lot of people, mostly man were fallen for her cute way of communicating. That's a well expressed part in the book, too, I give Wendy Leigh credit for and for so many researched habits which made the two characters lively and loving.
Marilyn's amours and Jackie's depressions are accompanied by the phantom lover and Marilyn's One Love Mr.G which causes much action in the book . Though Marilyn and Jackie just met a few times her contact by letter lasted for years, intimate and outspoken they talked about their private life and past, the newest gossip and their desires.
I can truely advise this particular book for every Jackie and Marilyn fan and lovers of exciting and fetching stories. This book can give you a completly new insight and an animate picture of these wonderful, strong characters who inspired so many people untill now.
A Thumping Good Read!
Rating:
5 / 5
Wendy Leigh has accomplished a truly amazing feat with her most recent book! As a biographer, what better subjects could she find? And, how better could she have revealed the secret nature of two of the most mysterious women in American popular culture?What could have been a strange fantasy became a living experience for me as I read the letters between Marilyn and Jackie. I kept reminding myself that these letters - though historically and accurately encapsulated in time - were in fact, a work of fiction. The relationship between Jackie and Marilyn that develops in the course of the book via the age-old epistolary genre is highly plausible - if alarming to consider - and there is no doubt that the evolution of such a relationship could truly have occurred. Both women come across as needing something from the other that no-one else could provide, and though we know from history that both women were polarities in background, appearance and status, their meeting place was in the relationship bound up with John Kennedy. This book is a page-turner, it is impossible to put it down because the authenticity of the writing, and the dramatis personae are so realistic, that I "forgot" that this was a work of fiction. However, by the end of the book, fiction becomes so enmeshed with facts that one is completely bound up in the last few pages, and left thinking - as usual - "what really did happen"? The emotional denoument is critical to the book - it simply must be read in sequence. Chilling, sad and possibly too too true. . .one is simply compelled to read on. And, "hurrah" to Ms. Leigh for her bravery and creativity to have brought such challenging subjects together in this well researched and brilliantly written book.
A great romantic read
Rating:
5 / 5
Bought the book in New York before flying back to England this weekend, and read it non-stop during the flight. The moment I finished it, I started it all over again. Because, although it is an extremely easy read, the book - which tells the story of Marilyn's love affair with Jack Kennedy through her letters to Jackie Kennedy - works on so many different levels. Apart from the fact that you really feel that you are reading a true correspondence, this book gives more insight into Marilyn and Jackie than any biography of either of them I've ever read. The letters change from being letters between strangers, to letters between friends, and then, rivals. When I finished the book, I felt as if I had been in another world, another time, and had been in the hearts and minds of both Marilyn and Jackie. Before I read the book, as someone who admires Jackie, I was afraid it might be disrespectful of her. But that is not the case. The letters reflect everything I've read about her in biographies - and much more. And made me care about her more than ever. The ending of the book made me cry - it seemed so real, so true, so very sad - and went to the heart of Marilyn and Jackie. As I said before, I am reading it again and can't recommend it enough. Reading The Secret Letters is as addictive as eating Godiva chocolate. Enjoy.
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