There is a new novel coming out the first part of July called the “American Adulterer” by Jed Mercurio. Once again John F Kennedy makes it to print but in a fictionalized manner. The book, although typifying what the world already knows, that JFK was a runabout, looks at JKF as a patient from a clinical standpoint studying Kennedys’ sexualized psychology rather then just a story line giving it an interesting twist.
It reads somewhat like a clinical trial fashioned somewhat in a time line of the 35th presidents' life. It outlines how each affair brought him into deeper despair and the trickle down effect it brought on (fear of losing his wife, family, the stress it undoubtly brought upon him, and more). Topics such as JFK’s personal life, marriage, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Marylyn Monroe, and other historic figures throughout his presidency are all touched on, but done so in an detached tone, keeping the 35th president as the subject of Mercurios’ psychological evaluation. Mercurio covers Kennedy’s chronic ailments (Could they have been in any way connected to his almost pathological philandering ways?) abstracting how dilapidating it was for JFK to have this uncontrollable urge to philander.
Of course, John F Kennedy rises in the story line to what Americans see him to be, a hero that just had a bad crutch - sex. Mercurio manages to entertain, keeping a dry dark witty side to the “American Adulterer”. John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy family as a whole will remain a strong subject for writers throughout time; however, Mercurio managed to take the “subject” matter to a completely new compelling level.
(Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_F._Kennedy,_White_House_color_photo_portrait.jpg)
