bronwynreads's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
chelsealeem's review against another edition
4.0
Couldn't put it down. I just found it so fascinating. Definitely gasped or had jaw dropping moments a few time. Love when things happen, I don't expect! Great book. Made me wonder how much is true of Laura Bush and how much is fictionalized.
bdunson's review against another edition
4.0
Last year I started to get recommendations for reading from 2 well read friends. This however I found on my own. I like to go into bookstores pick a book that has an interesting title and/or cover and read in the bookstore to see if i want to purchase it. I liked it enough to buy and loved it enough to finish reading. It was well written and definately not one to judge by its cover.
megoates's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
toonan's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
jdglasgow's review against another edition
4.0
I put Curtis Sittenfeld’s AMERICAN WIFE on my WTRs after reading and being hugely impressed by her book RODHAM. It was my understanding the two books were fairly similar. Where RODHAM gave a fictionalized what-if scenario where Hillary never married Bill Clinton, AMERICAN WIFE gives a fictionalized account of the life of Laura Bush, wife of 43rd President George W.
Having read both, I can report that both books are very similar in that Sittenfeld’s voice and focus is fairly consistent—a positive thing in my view because her perceptive writing of domestic life and the small struggles it encompasses is as sharp here as it was in RODHAM. As with that book, AMERICAN WIFE is also written in first-person from a future time, commenting obliquely and wryly on the difference between the past and the narrator’s present fame. Alice Lindgren here remarks on a gathering of 25 people, stating that she now finds a group of 25, or even 250, rather quaint. Both Alice in this book and Hillary in the other do brush up against the Presidency by the end, too, in a final leg that makes a huge jump forward in time. And in fact, both books include an aside about the weird phenomenon of people on television or in writing speaking *directly to you* when you are famous, albeit rhetorically without any expectation that you will ever hear them. I’m of mixed feelings about how very alike the books are in structure and style; as I said, having been impressed by Sittenfeld before I was excited to get essentially more of the same, but it’s hard not to feel now that RODHAM (which came later) is a bit of a retread of this one, though the plot points aren’t all the same.
There are significant differences. Hillary is a very strident personality, whereas Alice often comes across as more passive. Both women get involved with men who exhibit a lot of toxicity, but where Hillary ultimately chooses to fly solo Alice accommodates and rationalizes her husband’s behaviors. Alice’s meekness isn’t a character flaw, though—it’s what *makes* her character compelling. Her frequent bouts of anxiety and indecision give her that realistic quality, that this is a person rather than a mere character. And it helps make those times when she does take a stand even more powerful because of how often she submits to others in the name of decorum or simplicity.
Now, let’s get down to the most thought-provoking thing about the book, which is the blurred lines between whether the characters are or are not George W. and Laura Bush. When Alice’s soon-to-be husband Charlie arrives in the story, I didn’t peg him immediately as the Bush stand-in. First of all, they meet in Wisconsin. Charlie seems… if not intelligent, then at least cultured, and he is genuinely romantic at times. Despite his wealth he seems to truly care for Alice. As the book went on and Charlie developed a problem with alcohol I began to have some nagging thoughts that maybe this is the GWB character, but knowing little about Laura Bush’s life I thought perhaps she divorced Charlie and *then* moved to Texas where she meets her beau?
When Charlie becomes part-owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, it all became clear to me as I recalled GWB was once part-owner of the Texas Rangers. When Charlie becomes President in the last leg of the book, there’s the same 2000 election scandal decided by a partisan Supreme Court, there’s 9/11, there’s the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. But when the planes hit on 9/11, Charlie Blackwell was not reading a children’s book to kindergarteners—he was delivering a speech to a real estate broker’s convention; though like GWB he opted to continue what he was doing rather than respond immediately. This almost-but-not-quite aspect calls into question how to respond to this character. Is he really the same person? Is he different, and therefore it’s unfair to bring your preconceptions about GWB to Charlie? The consensus among liberals is that Charlie is an evil goddamn idiot, which matches pretty well with the real thing… but *is* he the real thing? Where does Charlie Blackwell end and George Bush begin? That’s an interesting and fraught question.
Another thing I liked about AMERICAN WIFE is that I think Alice and Charlie are viewed a lot more skeptically. Hillary in RODHAM, for the most part, comes across as a heroic figure. Alice is constantly justifying why she married into wealth, why her husband’s and his family’s overt racism is not her problem, why her husband’s bloody war is none of her business. She gathers the courage to leave him for a spell during the height of his alcohol abuse, and she certainly has internal struggles about some of these other things which she tries to push back against in unobstructive ways, like inviting the Blackwells' Black housekeeper to dinner or giving a taut "Yes" answer without elaboration when asked if she supports abortion rights. Toward the end of the book, she takes a bit more of a public stand (by having a private conversation in an automobile which was thereafter publicized), but it doesn’t end with her demanding an end to the Iraq War or convincing her husband to withdraw his vociferously anti-abortion Supreme Court nominee. Instead it’s, true to the rest of the book, about how she and Charlie maintain their collegiality despite their differences.
But that lack of resolution on the political front, the fact that Charlie continues to be an evil idiot and Alice continues to tell herself that the people warning her about him are wrong, I think that adds to the complexity of the characters. In all, I found this another compelling read and after two books I can say I am definitely a fan of Curtis Sittenfeld. I’m eager to read another from her sooner than later.
Having read both, I can report that both books are very similar in that Sittenfeld’s voice and focus is fairly consistent—a positive thing in my view because her perceptive writing of domestic life and the small struggles it encompasses is as sharp here as it was in RODHAM. As with that book, AMERICAN WIFE is also written in first-person from a future time, commenting obliquely and wryly on the difference between the past and the narrator’s present fame. Alice Lindgren here remarks on a gathering of 25 people, stating that she now finds a group of 25, or even 250, rather quaint. Both Alice in this book and Hillary in the other do brush up against the Presidency by the end, too, in a final leg that makes a huge jump forward in time. And in fact, both books include an aside about the weird phenomenon of people on television or in writing speaking *directly to you* when you are famous, albeit rhetorically without any expectation that you will ever hear them. I’m of mixed feelings about how very alike the books are in structure and style; as I said, having been impressed by Sittenfeld before I was excited to get essentially more of the same, but it’s hard not to feel now that RODHAM (which came later) is a bit of a retread of this one, though the plot points aren’t all the same.
There are significant differences. Hillary is a very strident personality, whereas Alice often comes across as more passive. Both women get involved with men who exhibit a lot of toxicity, but where Hillary ultimately chooses to fly solo Alice accommodates and rationalizes her husband’s behaviors. Alice’s meekness isn’t a character flaw, though—it’s what *makes* her character compelling. Her frequent bouts of anxiety and indecision give her that realistic quality, that this is a person rather than a mere character. And it helps make those times when she does take a stand even more powerful because of how often she submits to others in the name of decorum or simplicity.
Now, let’s get down to the most thought-provoking thing about the book, which is the blurred lines between whether the characters are or are not George W. and Laura Bush. When Alice’s soon-to-be husband Charlie arrives in the story, I didn’t peg him immediately as the Bush stand-in. First of all, they meet in Wisconsin. Charlie seems… if not intelligent, then at least cultured, and he is genuinely romantic at times. Despite his wealth he seems to truly care for Alice. As the book went on and Charlie developed a problem with alcohol I began to have some nagging thoughts that maybe this is the GWB character, but knowing little about Laura Bush’s life I thought perhaps she divorced Charlie and *then* moved to Texas where she meets her beau?
When Charlie becomes part-owner of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, it all became clear to me as I recalled GWB was once part-owner of the Texas Rangers. When Charlie becomes President in the last leg of the book, there’s the same 2000 election scandal decided by a partisan Supreme Court, there’s 9/11, there’s the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. But when the planes hit on 9/11, Charlie Blackwell was not reading a children’s book to kindergarteners—he was delivering a speech to a real estate broker’s convention; though like GWB he opted to continue what he was doing rather than respond immediately. This almost-but-not-quite aspect calls into question how to respond to this character. Is he really the same person? Is he different, and therefore it’s unfair to bring your preconceptions about GWB to Charlie? The consensus among liberals is that Charlie is an evil goddamn idiot, which matches pretty well with the real thing… but *is* he the real thing? Where does Charlie Blackwell end and George Bush begin? That’s an interesting and fraught question.
Another thing I liked about AMERICAN WIFE is that I think Alice and Charlie are viewed a lot more skeptically. Hillary in RODHAM, for the most part, comes across as a heroic figure. Alice is constantly justifying why she married into wealth, why her husband’s and his family’s overt racism is not her problem, why her husband’s bloody war is none of her business. She gathers the courage to leave him for a spell during the height of his alcohol abuse, and she certainly has internal struggles about some of these other things which she tries to push back against in unobstructive ways, like inviting the Blackwells' Black housekeeper to dinner or giving a taut "Yes" answer without elaboration when asked if she supports abortion rights. Toward the end of the book, she takes a bit more of a public stand (by having a private conversation in an automobile which was thereafter publicized), but it doesn’t end with her demanding an end to the Iraq War or convincing her husband to withdraw his vociferously anti-abortion Supreme Court nominee. Instead it’s, true to the rest of the book, about how she and Charlie maintain their collegiality despite their differences.
But that lack of resolution on the political front, the fact that Charlie continues to be an evil idiot and Alice continues to tell herself that the people warning her about him are wrong, I think that adds to the complexity of the characters. In all, I found this another compelling read and after two books I can say I am definitely a fan of Curtis Sittenfeld. I’m eager to read another from her sooner than later.
mlyons416's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
antidietleah's review against another edition
3.0
If only I could break my star rating into sections... The first half (two-thirds?) was delightful and fascinating. The last half (third?) was dull and sporadic with far too much soliloquy and not enough plot. This was my first Sittenfeld and I'm intrigued enough to give her another chance.
anitaboeira's review against another edition
3.5
It’s fine, maybe it’d be more interesting if I knew more of the references. But it has an interesting perspective.