A review by kittykornerlibrarian
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

4.0

My college-age daughter saw me with this and asked, "Is that Hillary Clinton fan fiction?" and I guess it is! Sittenfeld, who is one of my favorites, writes a life of Hillary Rodham if she had not married Bill Clinton. It's an interesting speculation, certainly, and while I wish she had drawn some different conclusions (what? a novel about Hillary inspiring controversy? surely not!) it was a fascinating and in some ways therapeutic story. I always enjoy Sittenfeld's smart writing and dialogue and this did not disappoint. She doesn't shy away from awkward scenes and she shows a real empathy for smart women who struggle for acceptance in a world that refuses to celebrate their gifts. I found that I could relate to many of the struggles in this story. Congratulations to Sittenfeld for making the story of a unique woman feel so universal. I could not put this one down.