American Wife

A Novel

By: Curtis Sittenfeld

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 23 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller. 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.

Named one of the 10 best books of the year: Time - People - Entertainment Weekly.

A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is 17 shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege.

And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with - and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband’s presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer.

Named one of the best books of the year: The New York Times Book Review - Chicago Tribune - NPR - Rocky Mountain News - St. Louis Post-Dispatch - The Washington Post Book World.

©2008 Curtis Sittenfeld (P)2008 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

“Terrific...an intelligent, bighearted novel about a controversial political dynasty.” (Entertainment Weekly)

A good story overall with some exceptions

The book barely tries to hide that it is based on the marriage of George and Laura Bush and on Laura herself. Same wealth, different city and state. Same teenage tragedy. And some might feel that the Governor/President is a pretty accurate depiction, too, right down to the actual years of the presidency. At times, I found that the voice used by the narrator for “Charlie” heightened that character’s crudeness and immaturity to the point where I could barely stand to listen. This was toned down somewhat later in the book. Unlike many other reviewers, I found the latter part of the book very interesting and revealing in regard to the lack of privacy and the difficulty of always putting up a good public image, even if it means suppressing one’s true opinions. Overall I recommend listening to this book.

Ending was eh...

I liked the book. It gave some insight...ending left me wanting more or better resolution.

Surprised to find I liked it

Very good story. Would recommend even to people like myself who are not a shrub fan.

One can only hope

One can only hope that this wonderful book is a reflection on some of the inner life of Laura Busch. Very well written and performed!

Interesting but Insulting

I have read Sittenfeld's other books, Prep and The Man of My Dreams, and enjoyed both. I think she is a talented writer, so gave this book a chance.

I think her storyline is fascinating but only because it is modeled after Laura Bush. I wish she used her imagination to write a fresh work of fiction... or she could just stick to the facts and write a true biography about someone.

The last section of the book (the White House years) is incredibly disappointing, and I felt as though the author was just force-feeding me her anti-war, pro-choice views. I actually jumped ahead of a long rant about the War at one point.

The best parts of the book were those that focused on the characters, their day-to-day lives, and their personal stories. "Alice's" long musings about her life's decisions and Andrew (the character she kills in a car accident) get very old by the end of the book.

Charlie is a weak character who's faith and intelligence is mocked by Alice (and the author--another attempt to take a swipe at GWB and his Presidency.)

So, would I recommend this book? Yes - only if you have an interest in politics and lot of driving ahead of you. If it were a complete work of the author's imagination, it would be fascinating...but I found myself disgusted with the authors attempt to push her anti-Bush views on her audience via the main character--Alice Blackwell.

A Unique Perspective

Although I wasn't a big fan of "Prep," author Curtis Sittenfeld does a great job with this fictionalized account of the Bush clan and Laura Bush. I found it surprisingly engrossing. I don't see at as fawning, as some reviewers have, but as a different perspective on the events of the last eight years - whether or not you are a fan of the Bushes. I also found her portrait of the Blackwell clan at Halcyon hysterical. You could actuially see these events happening. With the dead-on portraits Sittenfeld creates, it can be hard to remember that this is a work of fiction, after all. As with "Prep," I find a lot the prose in Sittenfeld's bedroom scenes to be somewhat jarring. It doesn't always seem necessary to go there. I did find the Alice character to be passive to the point of irritation but also finished the book wanting to know more about her model, the real Laura Bush.

FANTASTIC!

I loved this book; it was so well written and so interesting. Even if I did not know who it was modeled after, the story would have been interesting anyway. I was very impressed and it was nice to make a good choice. The narrator was great too.

Wonderful-- honest and moving

I so enjoyed this book. Sittenfeld has done an amazing job creating the characters, especially Alice. The story is unflinchingly honest and I got totally pulled into the world the author creates: the family, the struggles of this woman as a wife and mother. What a treat to read a story, and to get to know a character, so fully developed as this.

Fictional version of First Lady

likeable main character, good reader, story changes a little abrubtly 2/3 way in hard to follow after that.

Good read

Enjoyed the story line but did not like the constant flashback and flash forward. Also did not like Alice character. She seemed to nag about everything