When We Were the Kennedys

A Memoir from Mexico, Maine

By: Monica Wood

Narrated by: Monica Wood

1963, Mexico, Maine. The Wood family is much like its close, Catholic, immigrant neighbors, all dependent on a father's wages from the Oxford Paper Company. Until the sudden death of Dad, when Mum and the four closely connected Wood girls are set adrift.

Funny and to-the-bone moving, When We Were the Kennedys is the story of how this family saves itself, at first by depending on Father Bob, Mum's youngest brother, a charismatic Catholic priest who feels his new responsibilities deeply. And then, as the nation is shocked by the loss of its handsome Catholic president, the televised grace of Jackie Kennedy - she too a Catholic widow with young children - galvanizes Mum to set off on an unprecedented family road trip to Washington, D.C., to do some rescuing of her own. An indelible story of how family and nation, each shocked by the unimaginable, exchange one identity for another.

©2012 Monica Wood (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The immediacy of Wood's storytelling is reflected in her open and candid narration.... Her narration is warm with these remembrances, and she occasionally slips into an appropriately Maine accent when quoting family members." (AudioFile)

Suerte stoty

Ver y enjoyable, loved it. Brought tears to my eyes. Would recommend to anyone who wants to read a well written story without sex or violence

Excellent

I enjoyed this memoir thoroughly. Monica Wood got her pacing down as narrator after the first chapter or two and I don't think anyone could have done it better. A book about a time that changed the author, her family and our country and how we and life move on. sad in parts but definitely not depressing. Could easily be the story of my life or yours.

"Memory Lane", at least for some of us

I definitely liked this book and it is definitely worth reading.

Its topic is the death of a loved one, seen particularly through the eyes of a young child. Monica, the author, speaks of her father's death when she was nine years old in 1963, the same year Kennedy was assassinated. How did that death impact her own life, her siblings', her mother's and her uncle’s? You follow first the days, then the seven months and finally the two years without Dad – the "Dad-less days". This is touching, but never maudlin. The author also makes you laugh.

I liked very much following this good, religious family of Catholics. Few books talk about GOOD, upright families with high morals. Definitely refreshing. That is not to say they were faultless. Some of the adults certainly pulled whoppers, but these were good if ordinary people.

This book will also take you back to "Memory Lane" - the 1960s, the death of Kennedy and life in a small, American town, in this case Mexico. Yes, this IS a small town in Maine near the border to Canada. I didn't realize how many in the area spoke and breathed French. This is the town of Oxford Paper, that shiny, smooth, glossy paper we all recognize from National Geographics. Do you remember the song Big Girls Don't Cry, the TV show Mr. Ed, the Talking Horse, the school game Red Rover, pedal-pushers and tootsie rolls and....it will all come back when you read this book. To at least some of us.

The author narrates her own book. She does it well. She delightfully sings the lyrics of those songs, the oldies we remember so well.

This book is true to life and serious and fun too. Pick it up. Read it.

Beautiful story

Great writing about a different time— small town and family life
Poignant story with beautiful narration
Just lovely

Cried and laughed.

Beautiful, beautiful book!!! Monica reads her own memoir in a way that evokes empathy in her listeners.