Monica's Story Book

Though it's a legal document, the Starr Report, which was published in late 1998, reads like a racy novel. It tells the story of how the most powerful man in the world, President Bill Clinton, and a 24-year-old intern, Monica Lewinsky, had the most scandalous--and most unsatisfying--sexual relationship in history. She is portrayed as a spoiled Beverley Hills brat who performed oral sex on the President while he talked to colleagues on the telephone. They stole kisses in the hallways of the White House, him keeping his eyes open in fear of being discovered. When Clinton ended their liaison, she turned into a stalker, harassing his staff and demanding the President help her procure employment. Andrew Morton, author of Diana: Her True Story, spent several months interviewing Lewinsky after the scandal broke and the result is Monica's Story. In it he asserts that the picture the Starr Report paints of Lewinisky is totally incorrect. He believes she and the President had an emotional, mutually satisfying relationship, which, if circumstances had been different, would probably have remained secret. In Monica's Story he covers much of the same territory as the Starr Report, but adds details of conversations Lewinsky and Clinton had in an attempt to show the depth of the relationship. In several chapters with titles like Grunge, Granola and Andy and Terror in Room 1012, he paints a portrait of a "child-woman" who is sexually liberated but also intelligent, loving, and well mannered. "[She] could be anybody's sister, anybody's daughter." Where the book is most interesting, however, is where Morton describes the political intrigue, lies and deception resulting from Kenneth Starr's investigation. Leading the evil band is Linda Tripp, who is described as a black-hearted, shameless manipulator who betrayed Lewinsky and caused the scandal for her own personal gain as she was planning to write a book about the President and his affairs. Lewinsky then became the target of media hatred--particularly by women writers who became obsessed with her weight and body shape. As Morton says: "For just as the O.J. Simpson trial exposed the racial fault line running through American society, so the Monica Lewinsky saga has spotlighted the underlying misogyny that still permeates American life, and particularly the media." Monica's Story is gripping stuff--porn, fantasy, farce, political commentary and tragedy all rolled into one. --Dale KneenRead More