Monica's Story

Okay - I'll admit I am reading this book about 17 years too late! But, on the plus side, I have been able to pay just 1p plus postage for a pristine hardback copy! Now, up until reading this book my opinion on this story was: Bill Clinton is a selfish, misogynistic womanizer who uses and abuses women and discards them like old tissues. And Monica Lewinsky was a foolish, impressionable, star-struck young girl swept up in dreams of an enduring romance and relationship with the most powerful man in the world. Monica was, always in my view, more sinned against than sinning. And to a degree, I still hold these opinions, but they are now nuanced by this book. Monica was not quite as innocent as I imagined... and in the conversations she reveals, I see there is possibly a sadness about Bill Clinton - and a loneliness in his marriage that may explain at least partly his ongoing sexual incontinence. Monica came to Washington as an intern with eyes on a post-graduate degree after completing the internship. But she did leave behind in Portland, Oregon a rather messy and unfinished relationship with a married man that had been ongoing for several years. So, Monica = not so innocent! Her low self-esteem connected to her life-long weight problems may go some way toward explaining her attraction to unavailable men, and she also had a difficult relationship with her father, now divorced from her mother. Her relationship with Bill Clinton was not, however, as I had thought, just a laughable sexual fling - but a true friendship with much affection expressed between them. Even when Bill had called off the physical connection, he continued to phoneMonica for late night telephone chats - indicating that he had a need for the comfort of her friendship after stopping the sexual contact. He comes across in the conversations she reveals as lonely within his marriage - and finding solace and fun in their light-hearted relationship punctuated with laughter, many exchanges of personal gifts, pet names and just simple companionship. At one stage he confesses to Monica of the lies and womanzing he indulged in during his younger years, but claimed to have made a concerted effort to stop after the age of 40 - to save his marriage and protect his daughter. Is this true or not? Who knows? But Clinton is surely a complex man burdened with a lot of guilt, a loose definition of 'truth' and an uncontrollable sexual appetite. Of course once the affair was exposed, Clinton quickly showed his true colours as a politician first and foremost, and it was an all-out campaign to save his career at the expense of Monica's reputation. He was certainly able to ditch any of the apparent affection he held for 'Miss Lewinsky' when his career was at stake. So having read the whole sorry saga, I still feel sorry for Monica - silly love-struck girl that she was. But she was largely the author of her own misfortune. And as for Bill, he is still a ruthless womanizer and compromiser of the truth, but I have a little more insight into his characterand the true nature of his friendship with Monica. And just a moment to mention the despicable Linda Tripp. Has there ever been a scummier villain of the piece than this loathsome woman? I think not! Now many years have passed since this book was written, when the scandal was still fresh news. Monica has not married and has no children, something she dearly wanted. Had she not had the misfortune to cross paths with the predatory Mr Clinton, what would her life have been? To have weathered the public trauma she underwent when the scandal blew up, and emerged sane and reasonably successful is a testament to her strength of character. And I wish her well in the years to come.

I'm a BIG fan of Andrew Morton, with his clear, concise and well-written style, and he does not disappoint in this shocking expose of what ACTUALLY happened between Ms. Lewinsky and The President. The detail in the book was phenomenal - I got a whole new perspective on the affair, and I came away believing Ms. Lewinsky was taken extreme advantage of by Bill Clinton and railroaded by Kenneth Starr and his cohorts. The book also exposes the true depth of betrayal by Linda Tripp, who had her own vile agenda for sending "a friend" down the river. Nasty, nasty woman - I wonder HOW she can sleep at night, almost 20 years after the revelations; she does NOT deserve to sleep for what she did. The book also describes what took place in The Oval Office - shocking, shocking revelations of The President's base behavior - until I realized it was no different from what takes place in every office of every corporation in America every day. At the end of the day, I came away sympathizing with Ms. Lewinsky's predicament - she was so young, so impressionable, so caught up in the shenanigans of Washington. She is NOT to blame for what happened (she believed the President's duplicitous words) and she certainly paid the price for her choices in more ways than one. How she got through it, I'll never know and it's testament to her courage that she did. She deserves our compassion (NOT in a condescending way, for she would HATE that - this young girl has grown into a strong woman....) and our admiration for her honesty - while the Pres was busy denying it all, putting a politician's spin on it, SHE was being truthful and for a while continued to protect the President. I hope she is now living a happy, healthy life now and has put this whole sordid scene behind her. I LOVED THIS BOOK! It's a MUST-read!

This was an excellent read, with Monica Lewinsky being used as a pawn in an attempt by Clinton's political enemies to unseat him by means of impeachment. Whilst it was shocking that both indulged in a totally inappropriate relationship, the depth of their genuine, personal friendship was unquestionable and for that reason alone Monica tortured herself constantly during the impeachment and to her credither concern was always for her friend's well-being. The person who came out of this story in the worst possible light was the manipulative, devious and poisonous Linda Tripp. This story was in fact very sad.ship

Great item - arrived as described and on time - very pleased - thank you

The book details the agonies Monica had to go through just because she had fallen in love with the president. Because the Republicans were trying to attack Clinton using the Whitewater Affair, the Starr investigation could get no evidence against him so switched their attention to a possible affair, using the FBI to help. It seems that they acted like the 'Gestapo' in the way they treated her and also prevented her from calling a lawyer to help. The action of Linda Tripp was inexcusable.It surprised me that a young girl could be treated like a dangerous villain or terrorist in modern day America.

Received in good condition as seller detailed. Yet to read but did flick through at the photos inside book couple of them hanging out but easy to fix with sellotape 😋

Interesting story

what a mess! both Clinton and Lewinsky....i do have more empathy for Monica than before.a silly girl and a powerful man with a major addiction