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What Really Happened: John Edwards, Our Daughter, And Me (2012)

by Rielle Hunter(Favorite Author)

2.34 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1937856402 (ISBN13: 9781937856403)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

BenBella Books

review 1: Edit: I have just belatedly caught up with Rielle's apology in the Huntington Post, which mitigates much of what I had written below. I wish I had read the revised edition and I would recommend people new to the book skip straight to that to save rehashing old wrongs.I read all the extremely negative reviews about this book before I read it along with a couple of the more encouraging ones, along the lines of, whatever judgment you have, it's a riveting read anyway. And I thought I could read it without judgment so I bought it.Unfortunately, although it is a fascinating story, it is also very hard to take in any of the places Rielle puts the boot into Elizabeth.It's gobsmacking that someone who believes themselves to be on a spiritual path can be so lacking in empathy towar... mored a woman who is so obviously suffering intensely and deeply from her husband's affair.And then it gets worse. When Elizabeth is also dying from cancer and having to deal with her husband of 30 years giving his love to another younger woman, Rielle still can't resist judging her. It's a very hard book to read objectively because it isn't written with any understanding of objectivity. Like many others, I just feel like there could have been a bit more of an attempt at grace by Rielle.At the end of the day, there is another little girl, and that adds even more pathos to what reads more like a tragedy with redeeming features, than a great romance, as I think Rielle would like it to be. Could you just not, for one minute, put yourself in Elizabeth's shoes Rielle?As a result of this book I have researched more about it on the net. Not coming from the US I was only vaguely familiar with the story. I think its best summed up by Elizabeth's sister when she said that Rielle has no first hand experience of the challenges of marriage, and therefore is ill-equipped to understand.Potentially a good story, I marked it down due to the lack of insight.
review 2: I didn't think it was possible for me to walk away from this book liking her any less than I did before I started it. What an unlikable, selfish woman. She seems to live a very extravagant lifestyle for someone who was essentially sponging off of anyone who would pay her bills. Throughout the book, she keeps referring to her "little rental house" (different rental houses) as if to make it seem like she was living like a pauper. The rent on these "little rental houses" was $2700 per month in Chapel Hill to $6000+ a month in California. She bashed Elizabeth Edwards throughout her book and, while I have heard other accounts that Elizabeth wasn't a nice person, Rielle really wouldn't know anyone BUT an angry Elizabeth. After all, Rielle was having an affair with her husband. In the end, I can't tell if she's stupid or if she's manipulative. Either way, she's not likable at all. less

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