American Wife: A Novel

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It's a hit!

I would have given this a five-star rating had I not felt Sittenfeld ran out of steam towards the last 100 pages of so of the book. I was totally ... (show more)

I would have given this a five-star rating had I not felt Sittenfeld ran out of steam towards the last 100 pages of so of the book. I was totally captivated for the first 450 pages, which is really saying something. As a character study it was breathtaking. She has such a knack for bringing people to life and for making you care about them. This was particularly impressive considering that the people she was writing about were some of the most polarizing people in recent U.S. history.

What I really found fascinating, apart from Sittenfeld's considerable talents as a writer, was that she took George and Laura Bush and all of the well-known incidents of their lives (Laura Bush's fatal car accident as a teen, George Bush's recovery from alcoholism and subsequent born-again status, the Cindy Sheehan episode, so on and so forth) and wove them into the lives of the characters in such a way that I could actually envision how these things must have happened and what kind of impact they must have had on that person.

Which brings me to something I was thinking as I read this book. I know many conservatives castigated this book as a hit piece on Laura Bush, which leads me to believe that none of the critics ever actually read it. Or if they did, they objected to things that made Laura Bush appear as though she was a less-than-perfect Republican wife. I think that is flat-out nonsense, and speaks to the desire to deify our political leaders and not allow them any of the foibles of human nature to which we are all subjected, which is so unfair, not only to the leaders but to us, because it means that a lot of decent people are excluded from public service simply because their backgrounds are not spotless. (I have my criticisms of Obama, but one of the things I appreciate with him is his candidness about his background. Unfortunately there are others who would use that against him - a sign of that precise need to turn our human leaders into immortals.)

At any rate, those who expressed harsh criticism of the book as a character assassination should know that I - as someone who is so liberal I am beyond liberal - read this book and came away with a whole new appreciation for the Bushes. I am still adamantly opposed to about 99% of Bush's policies, and I also realize this book was fiction, but just the fact that, through this book, I was able to envision the First Couple as something other than a symbol of all that went wrong with the U.S. over the past eight years is a pretty significant thing, I think. I finished the book and felt like I had more of an understanding as to the people behind the public personaes. Who knows how accurate it is, but I think that's besides the point. What matters is that they have now been humanized in my eyes, and for that I am grateful. (show less)

 

 

by Caitlin Kuleci Constantine

No, it's a flop!

I'm ambivalent about this one. It's a little hard to be reading a book about characters who are sort of real, but also fictional. The major plot po... (show more)

I'm ambivalent about this one. It's a little hard to be reading a book about characters who are sort of real, but also fictional. The major plot points follow Laura Bush's life but the author takes liberties with peripheral characters, other plots, life events etc. so it's hard to know what's real and what isn't. Am I supposed to come away feeling like I know what makes Laura Bush tick a little bit more, or not, because it's made up in the author's imagination? The first half of this book was great but the last section - where they are in the White House - drags quite a bit while the Laura Bush character gets extremely introspective without much actual action. It's about 100 pages too long. But, it does make me think a bit more about Laura Bush separate from her husband -- and made me more sympathetic to her which seems to be the author's intent. (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-gebruiker

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  While this novel maybe hard for a conservative to read and enjoy, it will no noubt play a role in how I, an avowed liberal, make peace with the Bush

  Administration. This fictional account of Laura Bush's life, beginning with her childhood and carrying through (with varying levels of detail) to the summer of 2007, is a deliberate, thoughtful, expertly-crafted story of the encounters that shaped the courage, conviction, and above all the conflicts of the main character Alice Blackwell. Thos... (show more)

  While this novel maybe hard for a conservative to read and enjoy, it will no noubt play a role in how I, an avowed liberal, make peace with the Bush

  Administration. This fictional account of Laura Bush's life, beginning with her childhood and carrying through (with varying levels of detail) to the summer of 2007, is a deliberate, thoughtful, expertly-crafted story of the encounters that shaped the courage, conviction, and above all the conflicts of the main character Alice Blackwell. Those who want a play-by-play of Alice's life in the White House will be disappointed. In fact, over 400 pages of the 555-page story cover the life of Alice and her politician husband up through his stint as governor of Wisconsin. The vantage point throughout the novel, however, is from a seasoned First Lady. The "view from above" is rarely but very strategically woven into the narrative, including the prologue in which it is very clear that Alice is writing from the Lincoln Bedroom.

  As a reader I fell fast and hard under Sittedfeld's spell. Alice Blackwell is likable and believable, but not someone I would necessarily befriend. Her young life as a student and later as a teacher and librarian is crafted to show more than anything that we are always walking around as the cumulative effect of our experience, rather than as representatives of a moment in time (even a defining moment such as that in Alice's adolesence which was the most talked about parallel between Laura Bush and Alice Blackwell, the oft-cited accident that sends a clear message that Sittenfeld had Bush in mind as a character). You may not like Alice Blackwell, but you will know her.

  Is Alice Blackwell Laura Bush? Who knows? Does it matter? It would be crude to distill this lengthy story into an "upshot" or morality tale except to say that we never really know people, especially those in the public light. How then, does Sittenfeld paint this portrait of a woman that is at once intimate and always just out of reach? If the author's goal was to honor Laura Bush and give readers a sense of the woman that is haunting and reverent, she has succeeded. This book creates a safe place for the reader to ask tough questions about marriage, family, and politics while simultaneously challenging the reader with an ongoing assault of tough times palatable only because of sentence after sentence that is clear, precise, honest, and conflicted. Oh, if we could all be as honest with ourselves and others as Alice Blackwell is with us. (show less)

   

  by Facebook-gebruiker on Jul 16, 2009 at 12:00AM

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  I cannot believe how much I loved this book! It spoke to me on many levels. I was impressed with how well Sittenfeld was able to capture the nuisances of compromise in marriage, especially when she is so young. I remember after reading Prep, that many critics thought she was writing from a purely autobiographical standpoint. This book proves that she has talent.

  I did not read the reviews of this book ahead of time; I was surprised to realize that it was loosely based on Laura Bush's life. ... (show more)

  I cannot believe how much I loved this book! It spoke to me on many levels. I was impressed with how well Sittenfeld was able to capture the nuisances of compromise in marriage, especially when she is so young. I remember after reading Prep, that many critics thought she was writing from a purely autobiographical standpoint. This book proves that she has talent.

  I did not read the reviews of this book ahead of time; I was surprised to realize that it was loosely based on Laura Bush's life. If you had told me that before I read the book, I probably would not have picked it up. It was very well-written, and Alice Blackwell's character was amazingly detailed. To imagine that Laura Bush's personality might be so well-hidden behind George is an eye-opener for me.

  The book did seem to bog down in the last quarter, and I was not as impressed when I got to that point. I still would highly recommend reading it. (show less)

   

   

  by Diane Coy Mayer on Sep 08, 2009 at 01:17PM

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