Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 9, 1995 TAG: 9501190046
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JO BREMER THE BALTIMORE SUN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Remembering Jackie,'' by the editors of Life (Warner Books, $24.95, 128 pp.)
When Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis died May 19, she took the secrets of her life to her grave. That was probably supremely satisfying to a woman who avoided publicity in a most public life.
Now, back-to-back books chronicle the life of the woman few people wanted to think of as anything but the elegant, cultured wife of President Kennedy. ``Remembering Jackie'' and ``Uncommon Grace'' are both beautifully produced - as well as identically sized and identically priced.
``Remembering Jackie,'' from the editors of Life magazine, is filled with big, rich, color photos that show Jackie from toddler to toast of the world, including some never-before-published family photos. One particularly charming photo shows the tomboyish 9-year-old Jacqueline perched on a fence during a trip to the races at New York's Belmont Park, scuffed knees poking from the folds of her dress.
The lavish layout and stunning reproductions are long on glamour and mood. One can feel the road-weariness in a photograph of the Kennedys taken during the 1960 presidential campaign; as Jackie sips coffee in a diner in Oregon, her husband sits pensively. A pile of tires and wheels can be seen through the window that backlights the scene.
Gorgeous photos of the former first lady and her children are sprinkled throughout the book, as are the obligatory shots of her with a variety of notable figures. But other aspects of Jackie's life and work are given short shrift. Her extensive work refurbishing the White House, for example, is given a two-page spread. And the photo captions do little to give more information about the project.
The captions throughout the book are somewhat skimpy on information. Someone interested in finding out more about the woman's life will likely come away disappointed.
Overall, ``Remembering Jackie'' is a loving portrait that caresses the Camelot myth. Very little space - 29 pages - is given to the second half of her life, the years after the assassination of her husband.
In contrast, ``Uncommon Grace'' devotes 48 pages to the post-JFK Jackie, including a preface by co-author J.C. Suares that offers a peek into her life as a book editor. For people who saw Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis as a rich woman who was merely paid to lunch with important people, this offers contradiction and tells, for example, how she helped shape Michael Jackson's ``Moonwalk'' autobiography.
Stepsister Nina Auchincloss Straight tells about the role family scrapbooks played in developing Onassis' ``editorial eye.''
``If the Bronte sisters all wrote, we all pasted,'' Straight writes.
She lovingly depicts Jackie's love of fun, recalling a stunt the pair pulled in the early 1950s: ``We disembarked from a train with our hats and coats on backwards in order to (1) see who would notice and (2) see if we could get away with it.''
``Uncommon Grace'' has a more candid, intimate, scrapbook feel than ``Remembering Jackie.'' It also does a much better job with captions and adds text that enhances rather than detracts from the surrounding photos.
The photo layout of ``Uncommon Grace'' is a bit more restrained than the design of ``Remembering Jackie,'' but the effect is well-suited to the strictly black-and-white photos.
``Uncommon Grace'' has a quiet elegance about it. While ``Remembering Jackie'' shouts, ``Uncommon Grace'' whispers.
by CNB