David Pitts

Struggled with this one - David Pitts might have been aiming for the journalistic approach, and I'm not questioning his sources or his bias, but I felt like I was reading a biography for teenagers to begin with. The tone throughout most of the chapters is very much dumbed down, for example: 'Not long after they met, Jack learned that Lem was what today we would call a gay man'. Also, there is a lot of repetition, like stating over and over again that Jack and Lem maintained a longstanding, mutually dependent friendship long after Choate, even though they had little in common. I know, that's why I'm reading your book, Mr Pitts!

That said, regurgitation of other biographies apart, I did enjoy picking up a few extra crumbs, especially from the correspondence between the pair. 'Dear Lemmer,' Jack writes, 'I believe I'm well on my way to health, strength and personal power, whatever personal power is. I can see that with time I will be powerful, graceful and magnetic'. And even David Pitts' overemphasis of Lem's love for Jack, sort of like a faithful hound, became more endearing and less pitiful as I read on. Who wouldn't want a friend like that?

'Not just another political book about JFK', as David Pitts disclaims in his afterword, but not far off - all the key chapters are in there, from Choate to Dallas, only with Lem and his homosexuality tacked on, plus accompanying photographs of Lem with the same expression over forty years.… (altro)