Rate this book

American Adulterer: A Novel (2009)

by Jed Mercurio(Favorite Author)

2.97 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

143911563X (ISBN13: 9781439115633)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Simon & Schuster

review 1: This book reads more like a hybrid sociology and history textbook with some creative license than a novel. Kennedy is referred to as "the subject" throughout and some historical events are dramatized a bit. As a work of fiction, creative license has been taken in many areas, but some historical aspects can still be accurately found throughout. The book takes the reader through the extent of Kennedy's presidency and unless you have historical context, you may get lost as to what year it is and what event it is.
review 2: The life and times of the thirty-fifth President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, have fascinated readers for the better part of the last fifty years. On the surface then British writer Jed Mercurio 2009 novel American Adulterer would app... moreear to be just another one of the thousands of books written about JFK. Yet Mercurio's novel is more then that. It is an intriguing fictionalization of the thousand or so days of the Kennedy presidency and of Kennedy himself.Mercurio is a medical doctor by training and he approaches the novel with a cold, clinical style. The first chapter introduces us to “the subject” as Mercurio refers to Kennedy throughout the novel and the conflicting aspects of his personality: a devoted family man who loves his wife but nevertheless is a philanderer and can find no problem being both at the same time and a man who appears to the world to be healthy but is in constant pain from secret ailments. From there the novel goes through the ups and downs of the Kennedy presidency from the Bay of Pigs to the decision to send men to the Moon, from the Berlin Wall going up to the Cuban Missile Crisis and to a fateful trip to Dallas, Texas. Along the way “the subject” takes in a number of affairs and tries to deal with the various ailments he suffers from as a small group of doctors tries to treat him for them, sometimes making them worse not better. Mercurio uses this approach to fill in the gaps left by the historical record to insert what might well have been JFK's hopes, fears and thoughts about the events he found himself in and does so in a way that is quite convincing for the most part. The result is something that perhaps can only happen in fiction: the chance to get inside the head of one of the most famous figures of the twentieth century in his roles as husband, father, adulterer, commander in chief and leader of the free world.American Adulterer also recreates the world around JFK vividly. Mercurio rarely calls anyone by their name and usually refers to them by first name or a title such as Frank for Frank Sinatra, Marilyn for Marilyn Monroe, the Director for FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and so on for the various members of government and the Kennedy entourage. The characterizations are fascinating to read at times from Frank's anger at “the subject” having to end their friendship over his mob ties, Marilyn desperately wanting to become first lady and what happens when it becomes clear that isn't going to happen, and the Director's dogged investigation of “subject” once the Perfumo affair in the UK begins having links to the US government. There are times when characterizations and dialogue don't quite work through, such as the one dimensional characterizations of various generals and in particular there are some wooden and unrealistic exchanges between “the subject” the director towards the end of the novel. Overall though the novel recreates the thousand days of the Kennedy presidency rather well.None of that is to say that American Adulterer is perfect though. The clinical approach can be off putting at times as it gets too personal about some of the ailments such as compering explosive diarrhea to nuclear warheads exploding for example. Also, despite seeming to be a well researched novel there are things which make the reader wonder just how well researched it really it. Take the most glaring omission, which is the lack in any size, shape or form of the man who was arguably closest to JFK: his brother Robert who was the attorney general. While this is a work of fiction, it's hard to believe that Mercurio wasn't aware that Robert Kennedy was privy to and played a crucial role in many of his brother's decisions. More forgivable is the occasional altering of events such as moving Kennedy's famous Ich bin ein Berliner Speech from June 1963 to right after the Berlin Wall went up during the summer of 1961 or having mathematician John Nash (made famous by the book and film A Beautiful Mind) showing up at the White House during the Cuban Missile Crisis to brief JFK on how his game theory predicted the US winning a preemptive nuclear war (which as far as I can tell never happened). Yet these may well be minor flaws compared to something else.If there's anything really odd about about American Adulterer it is that to some degree Mercurio spends a good deal of the novel talking about a president whose name isn't Kennedy but Clinton (who cameos in the novel briefly as he actually meet JFK as a student in 1963). The bibliography at the end of the novel lists three books about President Bill Clinton as sources and at times it shows. For example there's are several scenes in the book which finds “the subject” and a woman named Mary smoking pot in the Lincoln bedroom or a scene set during the Cuban Missile Crisis when “the subject” has an intern climb under the oval office desk. Perhaps the biggest moment where this becomes clear is when the FBI Director brings in a special investigator named Kenneth to ask “the subject” if he's had sexual relations with a number of women. While many have made analogies between the two men and while it makes sense to place them in what is admittedly a fictional setting, the result is a distracting one to say the least and it only hurts the novel rather then serving it. What can be said then to sum up Jed Mercurio's fictionalized take on the Kennedy presidency? It is blessed with an intriguingly original clinical approach to its narrative and with some excellent characterizations as well. Yet some of its failings from at times far too personal descriptions, glaring and obvious omissions or unsuccessful attempts to put infamous elements of a later presidency into the Kennedy presidency leave the reader with an odd feeling about the novel. As such then,American Adulterer makes for at times odd reading but it is never anything less then intriguing. less

Download links for: American Adulterer: A novel

Advertising