‘What Remains’ by Carole Radziwill

I went down the rabbit hole recently after reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King, and wanted to learn as much as I could about JFK, and his family history. I found I was really connected to how his death affected Jackie Onassis, and of course, was moved by the photo of John Kennedy Jr. as a child doing a salute at his father’s funeral.

So I eventually came to understand the man that little boy eventually grew up to be, which ultimately led me to the story of his death.

When I looked up books about his plane crash, I discovered the memoir by Carole Radziwill, who was JFK Jr.’s cousin by marriage. She was really close to him, and was best friends with his wife Carolyn. What I didn’t know was that her story was not just about John and Carolyn’s death, but how she lost her husband three weeks later after a five year battle with cancer.

Let’s just say, I was a complete wreck by the time I finished her book.

Radziwill was a former ABC News producer, so what we get is a remarkably well written, devastating story that proved to be one of the best I’ve read in the past few months.