A brutal New York Times review of former First Lady Melania Trump's new book, Melania, is raising eyebrows for its sharp and biting tone.
In her review, critic Alexandra Jacobs wrote that the book:
"Though clad in a black cover — a choice that could symbolize mourning, sophistication or more likely abject nothingness — is a brazen whitewash of a presidency and a marriage of some tumult."
It gets better:
"Its 182 pages are padded with a generous photo insert, including an old ad she did for Camel cigarettes. There are long quotes from the former first lady’s previously delivered speeches, and some of Mr. Trump’s, too."
"And as if to assert herself against his omnipresent monogram, some paragraph breaks are marked with the stark initial M. Is this a book or a souvenir tea towel?"
Jacobs notes that the timing of the book's release, just weeks before the election, "invites speculation about what exactly" Melania Trump is trying to do. Moreover, she takes the former First Lady to task for some of her policy positions, which ring inauthentic:
"Its biggest revelation, that Mrs. Trump supports abortion rights, could be a cry of independence — or a strategized attempt to further blur Mr. Trump’s unpopular policy position. The author briefly waves a manicured hand at the idea that trans women in sports might unfairly dash some dreams, and refuses to concede that President Biden won in 2020."
Jacobs notes that Melania Trump offers a rather impersonal view of her childhood growing up in Slovenia and that she notes she was "was a diligent student and planned to pursue industrial design before professional photographers began clamoring to take her picture."
But the book, Jacobs adds, is ultimately "less a confessional than a C. V., most notable for what it leaves out than what it includes":
"Forget anything about porn stars or crotch-grabbing; astoundingly, George Floyd’s name is never mentioned during a discussion of Black Lives Matter. Instead she writes of business ventures like her jewelry sold on QVC, a planned skin care line with 'the rejuvenating properties of caviar' that never quite made it to eager customers and recent dabblings in blockchain."
"If there’s a plain truth in 'Melania,' it’s that she loves her son, Barron, and will protect him at all costs; and sincerely cares for imperiled children. She has an aversion to raw fish that was accommodated during an official trip to Japan, and an ongoing correspondence with King Charles III."
"There’s plenty about her hard-hatted but high-heeled renovation of the White House, including a tennis pavilion, and her design of a flowery new rug for the Diplomatic Reception Room."
"And yet the only entity called to the carpet by 'Melania' is the media — a faceless monolith solely motivated by a desire to do damage to her family, willfully misinterpreting and mocking messages — 'Be Best,' her initiative to stop cyberbullying; 'I Really Don’t Care, Do U?' scrawled on a jacket — that should be obvious to all."
"'Lying is not acceptable,' she asserts."
The review said it all—and people had thoughts.
Someone might need to tell Melania to follow her own advice and "Be Best."
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