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From its opening line, American Adulterer examines the psychology of a habitual womanizer in hypnotically clinical prose. Like any successful philanderer, the subject must be circumspect in his choice of mistresses and employ careful calculation in their seduction; he must exercise every effort to conceal his affairs from his wife and jealous rivals. But this is no ordinary adulterer. He is the thirty-fifth president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
JFK famously confided that if he went three days without a woman, he suffered severe headaches. Acclaimed author Jed Mercurio takes inspiration from the tantalizing details surrounding the president's sex life to conceive this provocatively intimate perspective on Kennedy's affairs. Yet this is not an indictment. Startlingly empathetic, darkly witty, and deft, American Adulterer is a moving account of a man not only crippled by back pain but enduring numerous medical crises, a man overcoming constant suffering to serve as a highly effective commander-in-chief, committed to a heroically idealistic vision of America. But each affair propels him into increasingly murky waters. President Kennedy fears losing the wife and children to whom he's devoted and the office to which he's dedicated. This is a stunning portrait of a virtuous man enslaved by an uncontrollable vice and a novel that poses controversial questions about society's evolving fixation on the private lives of public officials and, ultimately, ignites a polemic on monogamy, marriage, and family values.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
October 6, 2009 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781400193677
- File size: 320879 KB
- Duration: 11:08:29
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 29, 2009
Mercurio takes inspiration from the affairs of such notable (and libidinous) political figures as Bill Clinton to create a fictional but realistic account of John F. Kennedy's days in office. As controversial and prurient as it sounds, the treatment is empathetic: the philandering (and cameos by a coke-snorting Marilyn Monroe) are sobered by accounts of Kennedy's strained family life, immense political pressures, back pain, and headaches. Paul Boehmer brings lush theatricality and welcome restraint to his reading: he narrates with flair but never oversteps into caricature or cliché. JFK emerges as fallible, psychologically complex, and very human. "A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, May 18). (Oct.)" . -
Starred review from May 18, 2009
Mercurio’s third novel is a riveting imagining of the inner life of a satyrlike John F. Kennedy, referred to as “the subject,” as he beds a steady stream of starlets, interns and prostitutes. Kennedy’s well-known insatiable and sometimes comical philandering is juxtaposed against his often cruel relationship with Jacqueline, his brilliance as a statesman (excerpts from his actual speeches are included) and devotion as a father, offering a unique portrait of a powerful yet stricken and conflicted man. The villains are the methamphetamine-prescribing doctors and the bloodthirsty American generals pushing the world to the brink of Armageddon. JFK’s contemporaries are also cast in provocative roles, with the coke-sniffing Marilyn Monroe plotting to be first lady, the mobbed-up Frank Sinatra and Kennedy’s Soviet counterpart—a peace-seeking Nikita Khrushchev—all making memorable appearances. Kennedy has figured prominently in hundreds of books, but Mercurio’s take on the subject is fresh, bold and provocative. -
Starred review from November 30, 2009
Mercurio takes inspiration from the affairs of such notable (and libidinous) political figures as Bill Clinton to create a fictional but realistic account of John F. Kennedy's days in office. As controversial and prurient as it sounds, the treatment is empathetic: the philandering (and cameos by a coke-snorting Marilyn Monroe) are sobered by accounts of Kennedy's strained family life, immense political pressures, back pain, and headaches. Paul Boehmer brings lush theatricality and welcome restraint to his reading: he narrates with flair but never oversteps into caricature or cliché. JFK emerges as fallible, psychologically complex, and very human. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, May 18).
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