Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by Kate Clifford Larson 362.1968 Lar

    

Rosemary Kennedy was the third child and oldest daughter born to Rose and Joseph Kennedy.  She died in 2005 at the age of eighty-six, which is a long time to live - but when you read about Rosemary's life you quickly realize that it was an eternity.  I knew a bit about Rosemary's life before I read this book but I found this book to be fascinating.  What happened to her was most certainly not unusual for the times.  In fact she surely had it better than most because of her family's money.  But everything about her story is so sad.

It begins with why she was unable to learn like her siblings.  What a horrific story.  She was a beautiful girl (the best looking of the Kennedy girls) but she was not allowed to have any sort of a normal life.  To hide her intellectual disabilities she was closely watched so that no one would notice. Of course eventually that doesn't work.  She was moved from place to place in an attempt to find a school that could help her.

Rosemary might have been the family secret but eventually she became a secret even from her family.  She ended up in Wisconsin and her siblings were told she had gone there to become a teacher's assistant. An operation is performed on Rosemary when she was in her twenties and the essence of Rosemary was gone forever.

A powerful book.  It is not the usual Kennedy book because Rosemary was not the usual Kennedy.

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