The fiction of KENNEDY GIRL: “Your own life is within it”

Finished “Kennedy Girl” this morning plus the discussion topics which followed.   Much to say: writing was excellent, kept my attention throughout.  You have a gift for vivid imagery,  especially in portraying feelings.  I was going to say, “I felt like I knew Annie” but then in a way I do know her.  No, you write fiction but your own life is within it, and naturally so.  You bring back an era I knew well, and bring it back with vibrancy and power.  You bring your characters to life for sure.

What is both fascinating, and disturbing, is that we are still wrestling with the issues of that 1960’s era–in fact, the present widespread denial of racism in our society is a step backward..  And the hypocrisy of the Catholic church, its obsession with sexual behavior and its unwillingness to abandon its ludicrous garments and symbols of power (which have little to do with the ways of Jesus) are still around.

I know you do not write for fame or fortune but to express the churnings which have always stirred within you.  That they stir within others is obvious from your success.  Keep sharing your gift, Caitlin.

P.S. I was studying at the U. of Muenster, Germany, when MLK and Bobby Kennedy were killed.  Also when the Watts riots broke out. I returned to U.S. in late December of 1969.

With affection,

Don