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American Wife
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 23 hrs and 25 mins
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Publisher's summary
Brought to you by Penguin
In the year 2000, in the closest election in American history, Alice Blackwell's husband becomes President of the United States. Their time in the White House proves to be heady, tumultuous and controversial.
But it is Alice's own story - that of a kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s Midwest who comes to inhabit a life of dizzying wealth and power - that is itself remarkable. Alice candidly describes her small-town upbringing and the tragedy that shaped her identity; she recalls her early adulthood as a librarian and her surprising courtship with the man who swept her off her feet; she tells of the crisis that almost ended their marriage; and she confides the privileges and difficulties of being First Lady, a role that is uniquely cloistered and public, secretive and exposed.
In Alice Blackwell, Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is not a novel about politics. It is a gorgeously written novel that weaves race, class, fate and wealth into a brilliant tapestry. It is a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Mira
- 08-29-20
Interesting story - fun fiction behind the curtain
Not my usual go to but very highly recommended by chats 10, looks 3. Story line dips into some huge issues with finesse and sensitivity while still making this a comfortable read. The look behind the curtain approach and thoughts that all humans have their faults even those we put on a pedestal is raw and so plausible. Overall a nice read, a little too long for me but many will enjoy this.
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- andrew ward
- 03-13-21
Wonderful novel
Curtis Sittenfeld has fully realised the character of Alice Blackwell as a wholly sympathetic yet complex character. Unlike Rodham which I also loved, it is not political in the same way until the latter sections. Although partly inspired by the life of Laura Bush, it is about the ironies, pains and consolations of life more than anything else. It is rare to find a long novel that consistently appeals. It is a huge skill to be able to make even relatively uneventful periods of life wholly compelling. I’m struggling to think of a better written modern novel. Increasingly Alice moves between the various time zones to create a satisfying, cohesive narrative. It’s quite rare to come across a novel I so looked forward to continuing and didn’t want to end.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Kimlizzy
- 11-08-20
Not plausible
I just couldn’t get my head around why a liberal, intelligent and empathetic woman would spend her life trying to justify her husband’s many shortcomings: conservatism , drinking problems, sexism , being a born again Christian! Why were these things presented as normal and acceptable to a woman who was introduced so wonderfully liberal and intelligent at the start. I understand that these things should be tolerated but I couldn’t believe this woman would take that to mean she could accept them in a life partner. I felt like the whole book, after she met Charlie, centred on her trying to rationalise his behaviour instead of living her own life to the full. I loved the book at the start which was about her inner world and making sense of growing up and personal tragedy. She had so much potential! After she met her husband I just couldn’t identify with it. I didn’t find it plausible.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Shelfseeker
- 11-10-20
Tedious and overwritten
I still have 14 hours and 24 minutes to go, but this is where I stop. I'm of a generation that was exhorted always to finish any book one starts, and I've applied that principle to audiobooks too. However, I'm not getting any younger, and life is definitely too short to finish this vastly overwritten novel of people who are by turns dull, brash, and oblivious to their privilege. The first third of the reading held some interest in its descriptions of 1950s and 60s mores in small town America. The description of the initial aftermath of a major, avoidable tragedy on the teenaged protagonist is sensitive and perceptive. Thereafter, there are long gaps in the narrative of her life that don't make much sense. I suppose the author had to cut her voluminous prose somewhere. The narration by Kimberly Farr kept me going for the first 6+ hours, though her pronunciation of some European names is perhaps typically American, e.g. the play "Forst" by "Go-Etter"!
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3 people found this helpful
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- Sam Edwards
- 10-30-20
Engrossing, insightful, compelling listening.
I downloaded this book on some sort of whim of a deal and had it sitting in my library for many months before getting around to listening. I just didn’t fancy the topic, the era, the controversy. But, I began listening and could not stop. Could not stop. I was completely invested from the beginning and bereft when it ended as I felt so very engaged with the characters, the topic and the controversy. As a teenager I wanted to have grown up a 1950s teenager and now as an adult I now after listening fantasise about being a 1980s/90s privileged American Wife. Talented author, the level of detail in crafting the characters and building the stories is awe striking.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-12-20
Un-putdownable.
So nuanced and richly layered. An absolute joy to listen to. You'll be sad to finish it.
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2 people found this helpful
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- HARRIETBELLE
- 05-31-20
Fiction or Nonfiction?!
A really good story and with so many apparently authentic references it was difficult to imagine how much was fiction and how much reality!!
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2 people found this helpful
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- AndyT
- 11-15-20
My book of lockdown 2020
Funny, dramatic, moving. Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife was recommended on BBC4 Woman's Hour and rightly so. Brilliantly written and narrated.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Elizabeth L Mitchell
- 05-25-20
Childish
How childish were these 31 year olds?
Having lived in the US for some time, their self entitled posture rings true
The main male character 'voice' was dreadful
I'm sure Laura Bush wouldn't be impressed !
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- WomanoftheWorld
- 08-29-23
Insipid
I slogged through almost 19 hours of this audiobook annoyed at how trite it was and the narrator’s mispronunciations and wondering why it is so highly rated by others. Alice is a Stepford wife and Charlie a caricature. I feel sorry for the Bushes that the author thinks it is fine to stylise their lives into this dribble. It is neither historical fiction nor a biography. The writing is plodding and the narrator’s voice equally dull. I’ve officially given up.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-15-23
Loved it
Thorough, considered and thoughtfully written. I was captivated from the start. The voice artist was wonderful.
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- rhonda keen
- 08-11-20
can never look at george Bush the same !
enjoyed it but ..... if it is Laura Bush I really didnt want to know so much about George in the sack !
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1 person found this helpful
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- G. Stahl
- 08-07-23
Full of surprises!
If you told me I would thoroughly enjoy an intellectual fictionalization of the life of Laura Bush, I would have laughed.
This book is excellent… extremely well written. Full of surprises! I really found it quite riveting. For me, it had just the right amount of characterisation and meticulous plotting.
Part of the magic is how compelling Sittenfeld makes a character with very very few aspirations complex and interesting. It compelled me to reflect deeply on the role of the midwestern housewife, gender socialisation, the patriarchy, etc. The book excels with capturing the complexity of never wanting power and then ending up powerful/influential (without doing the whole fish out of water thing which has so been done before).
Things that really kept me engaged:
*The attraction-of-opposites husband/wife dynamic and their power struggles/micro-aggressions over the course of decades
*The tension between the personal and the celebrity (in the third act)
*The attention to class, gender and ethnicity - very spot on!
*How richly the characters are drawn
*The author knows the tropes and skips the tropes
I’m really excited to work my way through Sittenfeld’s other books!!!
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- Susan Creighton
- 04-19-21
What a writer!
I read Rodham and loved it and just needed to get my hands on more of this author. Love her style of writing. So engaging. Such an interesting insight into the life of The First Lady. Fascinating. I learnt a lot and was entertained. Narrator very good.
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- Kerrie Bartholomew
- 03-27-21
Comments
My comments are negative so I hope I don’t offend ...
I found Most characters annoying especially Pricilla (bit**) and Charlie - even Alice - so dreary and boring ...
I got tired reading about such pompous privilege, and a self centred “boys club” type of family - the men’s behaviour was appalling...
And the rest of the story wasn’t much better
I believe Alice is based on the character of Laura Bush but I’m sure it had to have been somewhat embellished ...?
I thought the story was shallow, tedious, but I only kept reading because I thought it would get better...
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Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
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The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
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After the Parade
- By: Lori Ostlund
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Sensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, 40-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After 20 years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate.
By: Lori Ostlund
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Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
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Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
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The Rest of Her Life
- By: Laura Moriarty
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Leigh is the mother of high-achieving, popular high school senior Kara. Their relationship is already strained for reasons Leigh does not fully understand when, in a moment of carelessness, Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy, the effects of which not only divide Leigh's family, but polarize the entire community.
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Obnoxious musical interludes ruin the story
- By Joan on 12-25-11
By: Laura Moriarty
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Magnolia Wednesdays
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Käthe Mazur
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
At 41, Vivian Armstrong Gray's life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she's pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says "yes" to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito. Down South, it's her sister's ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life - and where unexpected friendships develop.
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Painful. And not in a good way.
- By Kate on 01-24-13
By: Wendy Wax
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She Regrets Nothing
- A Novel
- By: Andrea Dunlop
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Laila Lawrence becomes an orphan at 23, the sudden loss unexpectedly introduces her to three glamorous cousins from New York who show up unannounced at her mother's funeral. The three siblings are scions of the wealthy family from which Laila's father had been estranged long before his own untimely demise 10 years before. Two years later, Laila has left behind her quiet life in Grosse Point, Michigan to move to New York City, landing her smack in the middle of her cousins' decadent world.
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Good Listen
- By Vallena on 02-19-18
By: Andrea Dunlop
-
Saints for All Occasions
- A Novel
- By: J. Courtney Sullivan
- Narrated by: Susan Denaker
- Length: 15 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.
-
-
The narration ruined it
- By Janis Reynolds on 06-12-17
-
After the Parade
- By: Lori Ostlund
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sensitive, big-hearted, and achingly self-conscious, 40-year-old Aaron Englund long ago escaped the confines of his Midwestern hometown, but he still feels like an outcast. After 20 years under the Pygmalion-like direction of his older partner, Walter, Aaron at last decides it is time to stop letting life happen to him and to take control of his own fate.
By: Lori Ostlund
-
Bettyville
- By: George Hodgman
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself - an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook - in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. Will George lure her into assisted living? When hell freezes over. He can't bring himself to force her from the home both treasure - the place where his father's voice lingers, the scene of shared jokes, skirmishes, and, behind the dusty antiques, a rarely acknowledged conflict...
-
-
Title Should Be Georgeville-It's All About George
- By Sara on 10-08-15
By: George Hodgman
-
The Rest of Her Life
- By: Laura Moriarty
- Narrated by: Julia Gibson
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leigh is the mother of high-achieving, popular high school senior Kara. Their relationship is already strained for reasons Leigh does not fully understand when, in a moment of carelessness, Kara makes a mistake that ends in tragedy, the effects of which not only divide Leigh's family, but polarize the entire community.
-
-
Obnoxious musical interludes ruin the story
- By Joan on 12-25-11
By: Laura Moriarty
-
Magnolia Wednesdays
- By: Wendy Wax
- Narrated by: Käthe Mazur
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 41, Vivian Armstrong Gray's life as an investigative journalist is crumbling. Humiliated after taking a bullet in her backside during an exposé, Vivi learns that she's pregnant, jobless, and very hormonal. This explains why she says "yes" to a dreadful job covering suburban living back home in Georgia, a column she must write incognito. Down South, it's her sister's ballroom dance studio that becomes her undercover spot where she learns about the local life - and where unexpected friendships develop.
-
-
Painful. And not in a good way.
- By Kate on 01-24-13
By: Wendy Wax
-
She Regrets Nothing
- A Novel
- By: Andrea Dunlop
- Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Laila Lawrence becomes an orphan at 23, the sudden loss unexpectedly introduces her to three glamorous cousins from New York who show up unannounced at her mother's funeral. The three siblings are scions of the wealthy family from which Laila's father had been estranged long before his own untimely demise 10 years before. Two years later, Laila has left behind her quiet life in Grosse Point, Michigan to move to New York City, landing her smack in the middle of her cousins' decadent world.
-
-
Good Listen
- By Vallena on 02-19-18
By: Andrea Dunlop
-
The Wednesday Sisters
- By: Meg Waite Clayton
- Narrated by: Julie Dretzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For 35 years, Frankie, Linda, Kath, Brett, and Ally have met every Wednesday at the park near their homes in Palo Alto, California. Defined when they first meet by what their husbands do, the young homemakers and mothers are far removed from the Summer of Love that has enveloped most of the Bay Area in 1967.
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Loved it!
- By Denise Wallace on 06-26-09
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Confessions of a Latter-Day Virgin
- A Memoir
- By: Nicole Hardy
- Narrated by: Nicole Hardy
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Nicole Hardy’s eye-opening "Modern Love" column appeared in the New York Times, the response from readers was overwhelming. Hardy’s essay, which exposed the conflict between being true to herself as a woman and remaining true to her Mormon faith, struck a chord with women coast-to-coast. Now in her funny, intimate, and thoughtful memoir, Nicole Hardy explores how she came, at the age of 35, to a crossroads regarding her faith and her identity.
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This Book Spoke to Me
- By Allison on 04-08-14
By: Nicole Hardy
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Liberating Paris
- A Novel
- By: Linda Bloodworth Thomason
- Narrated by: Cynthia Darlow
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Woodrow McIlmore, the town's golden boy and local gynecologist, is married to his beautiful high school sweetheart, Milan, and seems by all appearances to be leading the perfect life with his two children and extended family and friends. But when Wood's daughter announces that she is smitten with a college classmate and intends to marry him, her parents are stunned.