January 1, 2019
A debut novelist finds that his book has been acquired by Jackie O.Rowley (Lily and the Octopus, 2016) likes a shot of fantasy with his fiction--last time it was a malignant sea creature attached to the head of a dachshund, this time it's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis at her day job. A young gay writer named James Smale is sent by his agent to Doubleday to take a meeting about his book, with no advance warning that the editor who wants to acquire his manuscript is the former first lady. As this novel is already on its way to the screen, one can only hope that the first few scenes come off better on film than they do on paper--here, the brio of the premise is almost buried under the narrator's disbelief and awkwardness and flat-footed jokes, first in the meeting with Jackie, then when he goes home to share the news with his lover, Daniel. James' novel, The Quarantine, deals with a troubled mother-son relationship; as Jackie suspects, it has autobiographical roots. But James' real mother is extremely unhappy with being written about, and the two are all but estranged. Mrs. Onassis insists, in her role as editor, that he go home and deal with this, because he won't be able to fix the ending of his book until he does. So he does go home, and long-kept family secrets are spilled, and everyone gets very upset. As a result, he apparently fixes The Quarantine, though as much can't be said for The Editor.Even if you have Jackie Kennedy--and this is a particularly sensitive and nuanced portrait of her--you still have to have a plot.
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Starred review from February 18, 2019
Rowley follows his debut, Lily and the Octopus, with a poignant tale of a new author’s breakout hit in the early 1990s under the guidance of one of publishing’s most high-profile editors, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The story opens with a slick snippet of writer James Smale’s first novel, The Quarantine, and how his fictionalized account of his fiercely devoted mother—and the heart-wrenching choices she made to protect him from a stern and distant father—catches the eye of Jackie. “The hardest thing to dramatize, without being cliché, is the love a mother has for her children,” Jackie tells James. Working together in New York—where the former first lady pulls out a bottle of rum from her desk to mix daiquiris—and at her home in Martha’s Vineyard, Jackie encourages James to remove his self-imposed “shackles” that protect his mother rather than tell her story. But during a disastrous family Thanksgiving gathering, James, who believes his homosexuality is was what drove his parents apart, discovers the dark secret his mother has kept from him. Rowley deliberately mines the sentiment of the mother/son bond, but skillfully saves it from sentimentality; this is a winning dissection of family, forgiveness, and fame.
March 1, 2019
James Smale has been granted every struggling novelist's wish: his debut novel is going to be published by a major house. That success escalates into a dream come true when the editor assigned to assist him is none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Will theirs be a truly collaborative relationship, or will it turn into a nightmare thanks to her celebrity status? James' novel of a fraught mother-son relationship resonates with Mrs. Onassis, and the advice she tenders ranges far beyond the scope of the novel to spill over into James' real-life obstacles with his own mother. As a friendship blossoms between editor and author, James is forced to confront a far different reality than he could ever have contemplated when a life-changing family secret is finally revealed. While diving deeply into questions of identity, loyalty, and absolution within the bonds of family, Rowley, author of the beloved Lily and the Octopus (2016), soars to satisfying heights in this deeply sensitive depiction of the symbiotic relationships at the heart of every good professional, and personal, partnership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)
November 15, 2018
Rowley follows up his sterling debut, Lily and the Octopus, with struggling young writer James Smale suddenly lucking out when editor Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis buys his novel. But he's drawn heavily on his own dysfunctional family and can't face finishing the manuscript, so Mrs. Onassis sends him home to address his conflicted relationship with his mother.
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