Christopher Kennedy Lawford's Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption: An Exploration of the Symptoms of Withdrawal

Das große Ohr: Christopher Kennedy Lawford hat das Buch selbst geschrieben, was schon besonders erwähnt werden muss in Anbetracht der vielen für Promis aktiven Ghostwriters. Seine Geschichte berührt, weil er selbstkritisch und humorvoll damit umgeht. Seine Drogenabhängigkeit über Jahrzehnte wühlte mich als Leserin auf, genauso wie die vielen Schicksalsschläge der Familie Kennedy. Ein liebenswerter Mann, auch seine sehr privaten Bilder sind besonders. Ich habe davor eine Biographie über seinen Vater Peter Lawford von dessen letzter Ehefrau gelesen und war deshalb bestens eingestimmt. Sehr traurig dass Christopher schon so früh verstorben ist, ausgerechnet im Yogastudio. Wahrscheinlich war sein Körper durch jahrzehntelangen Missbrauchs von Drogen und Alkohol geschwächt.

Germany on Apr 08, 2022

Claudia: Muito bom! Super interessante e bem escrito.

Brazil on Mar 22, 2021

Scotti: For a tell all book about Ameica's "royal" family or clan, young Lawford seems to have come to an adult relation with reality and his self identity perhaps better than either of his parents. Enough introspection and clan family gossip to satisfy the simple readers, but enough explanation of quirks and "warts and all" bits about the family to explain growing up in this family. Almost apologizing for the money and growing up time wasted on the drugs and profligate lifestyle, somehow finding a life style much more productive and meaningful and satisfying. Well written, meaningful, enlightening, very little self pity, an acceptance of a life in the spotlight and making peace with life, in spite of all the excess.

United States on Jul 21, 2017

EB Foley: For any family who is experiencing the tragedy of an addicted loved one, this is book helps in understanding what it is like to be an addict. Having a son who also suffers from addiction, I can clearly see now what it is like to deal with, as the author so honestly puts it, "an 800 lb gorilla on your back". I empathized with the authors mom and all the feelings that come up when you see your child's suffering no mater how old they are. Great insight to that world and a reality check that even if you come from an affluent family,no one is spared from the heart-wrenching foibles of life. God bless to all!

United States on Apr 21, 2016

ilprofessore: This is a very odd book indeed, as if it was written first from a child's point-of-view, a boyhood diary, and then rewritten or, more likely, ghost-written by a more savvy adult with an eye on the obvious market for such a confessional. Christopher Lawford, son of Kennedy daughter Pat and handsome English-born actor Peter, provides us with all the expected, always fascinating Camelot anecdotes of life in America's royal family, but never once attempts to give us a full psychological portrait of any of the key participants in his life, including, sadly, his own mother and father. They are as distant to us as they were to him.

Despite all the toys and attention afforded him as a Kennedy, no one seems to truly care for him or, for that matter, for anyone else, unless of course they are direct blood members of the first family. Those who have married into the clan are all willing participants in some sort of game or pageant, whose purpose is to celebrate the family name, and to bring it glory. The rules are clear, Grandpa Joe has set them and Grandma Rose is there (or occasion) to remind the players about them, and even when tragedy hits, as it famously does, they all somehow...

United States on May 17, 2013

Mary McAndrew: about 60pages missing,chapter 21 to 26 are in there twice.book is a total mess.would probably have been an ok book otherwise.

United Kingdom on Feb 21, 2013

Olivia: I think maybe some of the reviewer's here are being a little hard on Chris. I have never picked up a book especially about the Kennedy's, and saw it told like it is, or was. They tell things, but only to a point.... He told everything. He could have toned it down, or dressed it up, and he didn't. Hey, we bought the book, so he already had our money, and anything could have been in it. But he was honest, and revealing. I'm sure his extended family wasn't jumping for joy reading it. But he wrote it anyway. Yes he made a lot of money with it, but also it's probably a good tool for his recovery (that actually lasts a life time.) ..... I loved this book, and I thank him for being truthful, and honest. He needed to tell his story. He doesn't hold back. Also, I have a family member in recovery, and she is trying really hard...but after reading this book, I have even more info in which to help her. God bless you Chris....you did real good, and the book was fantastic. .Keep ever going...you're doing great.

United States on Mar 11, 2006

Andrea E.B.: The book is okay, if repetitious, and certainly engaging enough as Lawford seems to vacillate between considering himself one hot dude and a loser who is a "second string Kennedy." But what bothers me the most about this book is the egregious number of spelling errors and the above-mentioned repetition. About the only name he spells right is his own! Further, he spells some names variously, e.g. "Davie" and "Davy" on the same page. His own grandmother isn't immune: Is it "May" or "Mae," Chris? I certainly hope someone takes a blue pencil to this book before it's issued in paperback; such sloppiness is just unacceptable.
Special apology to the late Jack "Lemon" [sic], as well as Jimmy Van "Husen," and Dominick "Dunn." (Well, Lawford doesn't have much use for Dunne, so maybe that one is intentional.)

In its favor, the book is absorbing; however, though it purports to be about Chris Lawford and his journey through the hell of addiction and toward the "sunlit" days of sobriety, the fact remains that there is still plenty of "Kennedyiana" and Hollywood gossip in which Peter Lawford comes off poorly. One seems to be asked to admire Christopher for loving his father anyway, and...

United States on Oct 10, 2005