Customer Reviews
Well crafted, great characters and an interesting concept - By: Julia Flyte, 06 Jan 2009 
American Wife is a novel "inspired" by the life of Laura Bush. The idea that you could be reading her thoughts is enticing. Throughout her timein the White House, Ms Bush has given very little away about her personal beliefs or background, & Sittenfeld uses that blank canvas as the inspiration for Alice's character & story. The book succeeds because the narrative is so honest & compelling. Alice's character feels incredibly real - as do all of the characters.
However the plot follows the known facts about Bush's life & her husband's presidency so closely that it becomes distracting. I didn't need so many elements to be identical to actual events: the terrorist attacksin September 2001, the details of the election, the description of the Clintons. It felt like Sittenfeld couldn't quite decide if she was writing a novel or a fictionalized version of actual events. It's a fine line, because ultimately the book succeeds because you like to imagine it's true - or could be true.
The book is narrated by Alice Blackwell. She is the wife of Charlie Blackwell, who was narrowly elected Presidentin 2000. It's writtenin four sections: the first when she is at school, the secondin her early 30s, the third several years later & finallyin the White House with her husband now President. One of the most unsatisfactory aspects of the novel for me was the fact that the third section ends when Charlie has just avowed to give up drinking & still has no intentions to enter politics. (This is well after the 400 page mark). Charlie's conversion from alcoholic to born-again Christian & politician are never really explained, which is to the book's detriment.
So it's not really a book about Alice as First Lady & if that's what you are after you'll probably be disappointed. Where it succeeds better is as a portrait of a marriage & the compromises that you make to stay together & build a marriage that works. Charlie & Alice are very different. Throughout the marriage, Alice find her own way to quietly stake her own territory - quietly giving donations to charities that her husband might not support or arranging to pay for the granddaughter of the family housekeeper to attend private school. In an article about Laura Bush, Sittenfeld has previously described this as Laura's "stealth activism".
When Charlie becomes President, Alice starts to question whether it's enough to hold her own beliefs or whether she has the moral obligation to try to influence events (and whether she can, even if she wants to). Should she speak out about her husband's choice of Supreme Court nominee? How much is she responsible for the warin the Middle East & should she campaign for the withdrawal of troops? Must she always support her husband?
It's a long novel & I didn't think it needed to be as long as it was. I was completely hooked at the beginning but the third sectionin particular was just too long for me. It's well crafted - threads are planted & then you realise their significance much later - but there are needless screeds of detail. There are also a lot of graphic sex scenes, which feel out of place given the novel is being narrated by such a private character. I tossed up between rating this 3 or 4 stars, but the fact that it has stayed on my mind has swayed me.
Couldn't put this book down - By: Mr. C. Mcintosh, 30 Dec 2008 
I haven't written a review on Amazon before but bought this book after seeing itin a store & the minute I started reading, everything else stopped! I couldn't put it down, it was completely engrossing. Written with such clarity that I kept thinking "just a few more pages" to the point that I read itin 3 days & recommend it highly. I have already ordered more copies for friends!
Confused - By: Jaybird, 29 Dec 2008 
American Wife is a fictionalised version of the life of Laura Bush.
As fiction the novel has a pacy, page turning feel, but the obvious comparisons with the life of Laura Bush made me feel uncomfortable, particularly because of the amount of sexin the book. In a real biography no-one would ever be so discourteous as to imagine this, & it is all th emore hypocritical since the central character talks about the distress she feels about her private life, including her sex life, being written aboutin frank & prurient terms.
The breath-taking idea that Laura Bush is a religious agnostic who votes Democrat is extraordinary. For a novel about the wife of a Republican president this would be an unusual enough premise, butin this book there is such a clear elision between the characters & the real presidency of George W Bush that I was left feeling deeply uncomfortable.
I felt this novel was confused on lots of levels. It is not clear whether Sittenfeld is writing light romance,in the rich vein of rags to riches, combined with good wife redeems rascally, lazy husband, or a more serious book about the nature of moral responsibility & political powerin a democracy. Whilst she might have pulled off the love story with ideas, by deliberately confusing fact & fiction as well, she goes a step too far & I felt the book suffered for that.
Curtis Interruptus - By: A reader, 12 Nov 2008 Laura Welch was bornin a smalltownin Texasin 1946; she was involvedin a car accidentin 1963 that led to the death of a fellow high-school student; she became a teacher & then a school librarian; past 30, she married the wayward son of a rich political family, George W. Bush, &in 2000 Laura Bush became First Lady. In Curtis Sittenfeld's roman-a-clef, Alice Lindgren grows upin a smalltownin Wisconsin, kills her boyfriendin car crashin 1963, becomes a spinsterish school librarian until at 31 she marries Charlie Blackwell, the wayward son of a rich political family, & becomes First Lady when Charlie wins the Presidency.
Narratedin the first person by Alice, the first section of Sittenfeld's novel is utterly absorbingin its description of Alice as a kind-hearted high-school girlin smalltown America. The relationships betweeen the womenin the novel - with her inspirational, closet-lesbian grandmother, with her mother, & with her best-friend & love rival, Dena - are beautifully drawn. The tragic accident is moving & sympathetic.
The second section jumps forwardin time. Alice appears to be on the shelf romantically at 30, this being mid-70s smalltown life. But she experiences a whirlwind romance with Charlie Blackwell, again very well drawn by the author. Only the next part of the book departs from the author's exceptional standard: the descriptions of encounters with Charlie's family & of family life seem desultory & unfocussed. This is a long book & this section, started to lose me. What was particularly disappointing is that Charlie's transformation from drunken playboy to born-again would-be President is never properly explained.
But then the novel returns to its brilliant form. The final part deals with Alice/Laura as First Lady, & her reflections on her decision at the outset of their relationship to put their political differences aside - she's a liberal-leaning Democrat, he's George W. Bush, the worst Presidentin living memory - during the key decisions of her husband's Presidency. Without making the final section into a hatchet job - though he completely deserves it - Sittenfeld tries to tackle the enigmatic psyche of Bush & his presidency through the eyes of his wife. It's a great literary achievement and, despite the flabby midsection & the odd foray into inappropriately explicit sex (which I don't mind generally but didn't seem to fit the style of this book), I would thoroughly recommend it.
Totally compelling - By: E. Buckley, 03 Nov 2008 What a brilliant writer! When there's so much description & recalling of events, it's often easy to wonder where the author's going, but that just doesn't happen here.
I have to say that I picked this up as someone with really very little interestin American politics. Although its subject matter is obvious, I think it stands as a completely brilliant piece of women's fiction & character study, politics aside. This kind of weaving of small details to create such a compelling scenario takes real talent.
Alice's relationship with her grandmother is brilliant (who wouldn't want a grandmother who tells you `People are complicated, & the ones who aren't are boring'?!). Alice is painted so well - right from the beginning, with a completely honest narrative, & I thought the author captured Alice's adolescence really well.
Her relationship with Charlie starts as truly touching, & is just so well done; it's humorousin all the right places - just spot on. The passing glimpses she provides to compare her current life to the memories she's relaying keep you engaged.
I just couldn't get over how utterly compelling Alice is. Her thoughts & concerns are universal, & you end up feeling like you know her really well. This is an absolute page-turner, not because it's some fast-paced thriller where you want to keep reading to find out who did it, but because you just want more & more of Alice.
