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    American Adulterer: A Novel
    American Adulterer: A Novel
    American Adulterer: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    American Adulterer: A Novel

    Written by Jed Mercurio

    Narrated by Paul Boehmer

    3/5

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    About this audiobook

    "The subject is an American citizen holding high elected office, married, and father to a young family..."

    From its opening line, American Adulterer examines the psychology of a habitual womanizer in hypnotically clinical prose. Like any successful philanderer, the subject must be circumspect in his choice of mistresses and employ careful calculation in their seduction; he must exercise every effort to conceal his affairs from his wife and jealous rivals. But this is no ordinary adulterer. He is the thirty-fifth president of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

    JFK famously confided that if he went three days without a woman, he suffered severe headaches. Acclaimed author Jed Mercurio takes inspiration from the tantalizing details surrounding the president's sex life to conceive this provocatively intimate perspective on Kennedy's affairs. Yet this is not an indictment. Startlingly empathetic, darkly witty, and deft, American Adulterer is a moving account of a man not only crippled by back pain but enduring numerous medical crises, a man overcoming constant suffering to serve as a highly effective commander-in-chief, committed to a heroically idealistic vision of America. But each affair propels him into increasingly murky waters. President Kennedy fears losing the wife and children to whom he's devoted and the office to which he's dedicated. This is a stunning portrait of a virtuous man enslaved by an uncontrollable vice and a novel that poses controversial questions about society's evolving fixation on the private lives of public officials and, ultimately, ignites a polemic on monogamy, marriage, and family values.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9781400183678

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    Reviews for American Adulterer

    3/5

    22 ratings4 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Purchased recently on the Barnes and Noble 75% off sale table, it took a long time to finish this book and I think the reason is that the style was convoluted and confusing.There were too many vividly written pages of JFK's manifest sexual indiscretions. Peppered throughout with his very serious medical conditions, it is amazing that JFK could function in the way in which he did. Finding "Dr. Feelgood" and his pills and injections enabled a very drugged and ill man to live another day. While he was a loving father and husband, his libido simply could not be controlled to one or two or three or four or five or one hundred women.To say he was flawed was an understatement. But, to paint his entire life and presidency in negative shades, would not be realistic. And, the author does a credible job of showing a leader who, when confronted with the possibility of war, always turned the tide toward peace.He was haunted by the disaster of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban crisis. When confronted by the thug of Russia, Premier Khrushchev, and his bombastic personality of threats, lengthy tirades and bullying, time and time again Kennedy stood firm but did not embrace war. Very wary of involvement in South East Asia, Kennedy knew that it would be wrong to become enmeshed in this embattled nation. When the Berlin wall was built, Kennedy was at his finest in stating that while Democracy may have problems, we do not have to build a wall to keep our people inside.His courage in taking a stand against the travesty of the treatment of blacks in America cost him admiration. He was sickened by images of police clubbing and physically harming innocent people. He was viscerally upset by the emotional degradation of people who deserved better, especially because they risked their lives in a war to defend our nation.I give this book two stars. It was worth the read, but it appeared as though the author didn't know if this should be a pornographic novel or a love poem for a flawed hero for whom many accolades and songs have been sung.
    • 3/5
      Highly entertaining but only if you have some deeper understanding of who JFK was beyond an adulterer. The surprising thing about this book is how well Mercurio captures Kennedy's toughness in the face of miltary advisors hell bent on war with the Soviet Union, his courage on civil rights, and his gentleness with his chlldren and fragile wife (yes, depsite and perhaps due to his adultery.)
    • 2/5
      This could have been so much better than it was. And it should have been named "American Sick Guy" -- there was more about JFK's health than his dalliances. I couldn't get past the reference to JFK as "the subject," it was awkward and disruptive whenever it came up, because the rest of the story wasn't a medical or psychological report, it was a story. I assume that making this a novel, rather than non-fiction, was so the author could make up all the inner talk we got - the justifications and motivations for the string of sexual encounters that is documented in the book. But it never seemed clear what this book was trying to be: a history of JFK's years as president, or a novel about a character that the author could manipulate as he desired? Overall, I found it largely distasteful and manipulative.The reason I gave it two stars instead of one was because there were times that what it could have been shown through. For instance, the description of the Cuban Missile Crisis highlighted in a very real (and scary) way JFK's differences with the military and the "military-industrial complex" and showed the internal pressures that favored aggressive, hawkish responses. We see the gifts of JFK in his desire for peace and disarmament, and in his work to promote civil rights and social justice within America. I would have liked to see more of this, and less repetitive accounting of medical procedures and symptoms.
    • 1/5
      Timing is everything, and perhaps that’s the reason why I could not finish American Adulterer by Jed Mercurio. I picked up this book the day after the death of Teddy Kennedy and two weeks after the death of Eunice Shriver. Perhaps I wasn’t ready for this view of President Kennedy.It didn’t help that this novel was impersonal, cold and repetitive. Mercurio approached this book like a medical case study. JFK was depicted as the “subject,” and the readers get lengthy explanations on whatever was plaguing the President – from excruciating back pain to scorching diarrhea and severe headaches. We even learned about what ailments he encountered during major events, such as his inauguration or his decision to invade Cuba. Despite his ailments, Mercurio never lost sight of Kennedy’s sexual encounters. The narrator contended that the President suffered from a sex addiction, and if he did not bed a woman, he would experience withdrawal symptoms.Enough already. I recognize that JFK was far from perfect, but why this cold, medical approach? He was not a lab rat but a human.I hope another author approaches this subject. President Kennedy was a fascinating man – a juxtaposition of great leadership and vision coupled with moral digressions and flaws. He would make a great story. Sadly, American Adulterer did little to teach me about the man who was John F. Kennedy.