Summertime. . .

And the Living is Sleazy

Summer is the time when all sorts of things that slither, creep and crawl leave their damp rocks for a moment in the sun. Some are insects, some are reptiles and some are books.

The latest book that hopes the summer sunshine will bake the stench from it is “Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story” by C. David Heymann. The publisher is Atria, a Simon & Schuster imprint, and the book’s release date is July 14.

Heymann, who has written four books on the Kennedys, writes in this one that Jacqueline Kennedy and Robert Kennedy had an affair in the time between President John Kennedy’s November 1963 assassination and Bobby Kennedy’s own murder in June, 1968.

In an Author’s Note on a Simon & Schuster website Heymann writes “Knowing that Robert and Jackie Kennedy became romantically involved following JFK's death -- and for reasons that this volume attempts to reveal -- sheds a whole new light on who they were and what made them tick. It demonstrates, among other things, that they were motivated by many of the same temptations and emotions that drive the rest of us. It helps us gain a fuller comprehension not only of them but also of ourselves.”

Part of that “fuller comprehension” emerged yesterday on msnbc.com, where we learned some of the book’s details, including the allegation that Jackie had a fling with Marlon Brando, who is quoted reviewing her skills.

Still more comprehension came from the New York Post’s story on the book, which reported that someone saw Jackie sunbathing topless with RFK, who touched her breast and put a hand inside her bikini bottom.

Given that this is the beginning of the summer season in news, when not much happens but the media have to fill space anyway, we’ll probably see comprehension on who touched whose what where and when popping up all over the place.

That both Jackie Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy are long dead won’t slow the chatter. Nor will the observation that at least until recent medical advances, each and every one of us reading this stuff is the result of that exact behavior.

Now, full disclosure: I haven’t read the book and don’t plan to read the book. Just not my thing, based on the funny notion that some things are private unless made public by those involved, not those observing.

Still, some of us will put up $26 for the chance to peer into a more famous bedroom window than the one next door and with lots less risk of arrest. Like any author, Heymann probably hopes that number will be large. To repeat what Heymann wrote, “It helps us gain a fuller comprehension not only of them but also of ourselves.”

Yes, it does, but you have to wonder if we’ll like what that fuller comprehension reveals.

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