Come To The Edge

Come To The Edge, a love story, by Christina Haag is just that, a haunting, mesmorizing love story.  And it’s true.  And I loved every page of it.  Typically, I mark the pages I like with pink stickies.  In a typical book, I will mark 3 to 5 pages.  In this book, I marked 40.  Need I say more.

This is the love story of the author, Christina Haag, and John F. Kennedy Jr.   When I “met” Christina on Twitter, I did not know the subject matter of her book.  I have read numerous biographies of the Jackie Kennedy and, loved George, John Kennedy Jr.’s magazine.  It was a true tragedy that the magazine died with him.  Thus, I was very interested to read Come To The Edge.

Haag does a masterful job of making this book her love story with John.  It is not sensationalized at all and her writing is beautiful.   When she recounts Caroline’s wedding, she does so with honesty- she was worried if she’d be dressed correctly.  She worried about what to call Jackie.  This is an extremely honest, haunting love story.  She and John keep coming back together after college, drifting and finding each other again.  I found myself wondering how they didn’t end up together as it is clear that they were truly in love.

A few quotes from the book:

Regarding the author’s visit to Jackie’s home and her hospitality- “You hadn’t realized that you wanted to put your feet up, but there was a stool waiting.  You hadn’t realized you wanted to read, but there was a light nearby and just the right book.  Comfort and desire were anticipated, and you felt cared for.”

“I wonder if I was born nostalgic.  It’s possible it’s in the blood, a predetermined trait like green eyes or flat feet.  And it may well be that some ancestor on a sea crossing was filled with longing for what was gone- out of grief or pleasure, or simply to make the time pass on the ship.”

Of the author’s pre-teen self, she writes, “…I would practice the two things that seemed essential to my future: how to raise one eyebrow and how to cry on cue.” (I love this quote!)

At John’s memorial service, their friend Christiane said, “He was an ordinary boy in extraordinary circumstances.  And he lived his life with grace.”

Haag and John traveled extensively together- she with the guide book in hand and he just there to explore.  When he goes to Costa Rica without her, he sends a card saying, “It’s a beautiful country, but I must confess to feeling ignorant about the place without you.”

The night before Caroline’s wedding, Jackie takes John and Christina to see the wedding tents.  Haag writes of Jackie, “This is a woman who does not take life for granted.  This is a woman who knows her luck and lives it, who grasps that beauty is transformative and transient.”

I highly, highly recommend Come To The Edge.

Random House provided a review copy of this book.  All opinions are my own.

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