American Wife

by Curtis Sittenfeld

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and fate into a brilliant portrait of a first lady--from the author of Rodham and Eligible

"Terrific . . . an intelligent, bighearted novel about a controversial political dynasty."--Entertainment Weekly

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time - People - Entertainment Weekly...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812975405
• ISBN13: 9780812975406
• Release Date: February 2009
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Page turner & eye opening

I loved this book and had trouble putting it down. The main character was complex and very real. Somehow, all at once, she was thinking, confident, intelligent, worldy, liberal, sexual and nurturing while also being reserved, desperate, conflicted, passive, conservative, naive and uptight. These traits made her sympathetic, something I didn't feel for the main character in Prep (I probably would have rated that book 3 stars - although it was good, it left me with an "icky" feeling). The author's characterization of Bush actually made me like him MORE (and even feel oddly attracted to him). Overall, I saw this as a story of a marriage between two complex and ultimately shockingly infuential people. It made me much more intrigued with the real Laura Bush and want to learn more about her. I accept that this is a completely fictionalized account of Laura's life, but can see how conservatives wouldn't like to read this. I am still thinking about the book and characters several weeks after reading it.

Wonderful novel

I truly loved reading this book. I agree with many reviewers that the earlier parts of the novel were smoother, but I think that the later parts of the book recounting the more recent events in the world are appropriately rougher, and more uneven. The characters created here, while based on real people, are compelling, very human, and I found myself quite drawn to them, regardless of how I feel about the people on whom they are based. This is a book to really savor, and I highly recommend that you read it.

True art. A nuanced portrait of how it feels to be the wife of a major political figure, or any cel

Let's get this out of the way up front: If AMERICAN WIFE were nothing more than a barely disguised attempt to imagine and illuminate the inner life of Laura Bush, it might be entertaining in a titillating sort of way, but hardly worth more attention than a quickly forgotten magazine profile. In truth, Curtis Sittenfeld's third novel is a rich and arresting portrait of an enduring marriage, of the inevitable compromises necessary to reach that longevity, and of the unremitting demands of public life and the price of fame. Sittenfeld's protagonist, Alice Lindgren, is born in a small Wisconsin town in 1946, the only child of a bank manager and a housewife. Her early years are unremarkable until a September night in 1963 when the car she's driving on the way to a party collides with one driven by Andrew Imhof, a classmate with whom she's moving toward a relationship. Andrew is killed, and the specter of his loss shadows Alice's waking (and dreaming) life. Alice falls into a relationship with Andrew's older brother, Pete, and when she becomes pregnant, her grandmother takes her to Chicago for an abortion --- a decision that plays a central role in the novel's denouement. Sittenfeld fast forwards to Madison, Wisconsin in 1977, where Alice contentedly works as an elementary school librarian and dreams about buying a house. During a summer when she's spending most of her time creating papier-mâchécharacters to decorate the library, she meets Charlie Blackwell, "someone who found his own flaws endearing and thus concealed nothing," at a backyard barbecue. Charlie is the youngest of four sons of Harold and Priscilla (nicknamed "Maj," short for "Majesty") Blackwell. Harold is a former governor of Wisconsin and unsuccessful candidate for president in 1968, and the family owns a prosperous meatpacking business. Two of Charlie's brothers work alongside him in the business, while one serves in Congress. But, as Charlie puts it, "Being a Blackwell is my full-time job." At first, Alice --- a registered Democrat with liberal political sympathies --- is put off ("money and Republicans and sausage did not strike me as a particularly tempting combination."). But within six weeks, she and Charlie are engaged, and six weeks later they're married. On the surface it's an unlikely match: Alice is bright, self-aware and witty, an inveterate reader of serious novelists like Bellow and Nabokov, while Charlie prefers to spend his evenings with a beer and pretzels, stretched out on the couch watching a baseball game. The mystery of romantic love is on display here in all its oddity. Charlie's first foray into electoral politics as a candidate for Congress in 1978 results in a crushing defeat, and he retreats philosophically into the family business and life of a prosperous Milwaukee suburbanite. Ten years later, he's a disgruntled 42-year-old, obsessed (to Alice's annoyance) by his "legacy." An offer to become a part owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and the public face of t

A thought provoking read.

"American Wife" is a huge, juicy, wonderful novel. Obviously based on the life of Laura Welch Bush, Sittenfeld extrapolates from Bush's biography a "back story". It's probably wishful thinking that makes Sittenfeld have her Laura Bush/Alice Blackwell character do in the last chapter the one thing that the real Laura Bush has never done in "real life". But if Sittenfeld makes free with the ending, she does bring life to Charlie Blackwell and his wife Alice. We see what may have been the attraction between the real George Bush and his wife. I enjoyed this book and, while long, never bored me in the least.

Loved it

Great summaries in the other reviews - I won't repeat those. I loved the beginning and middle of this book. Loved Alice, her childhood, her growing up experiences, her family, her life as a single woman, her courtships, her experiences with the Blackwell family (these were my favorite sections), and her relationship with her husband, the future president. All of these things are plot lines that Sittenfeld wrote BRILLIANTLY. When I finished reading this book, however, I was lukewarm about the ending. 2 weeks later, when I was still thinking about the book, I realized how fervently it had stuck with me, and have since decided that it was one of my favorites of 2008 so far. Great work, Curtis. I praise your boldness and your talent for writing about women in a sometimes awkward and uncomfortable but always honest fashion. Definitely worth the read.