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American Wife: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Publisher: Random House
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy Used: $9.99
You Save: $16.01 (62%)
New (54) Used (27) Collectible (3) from $9.99
Rating:  99 reviews
Sales Rank: 482
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1.7
ISBN: 1400064759
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9781400064755
ASIN: 1400064759
Publication Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
On what might become one of the most significant days in her husband’s presidency, Alice Blackwell considers the strange and unlikely path that has led her to the White House–and the repercussions of a life lived, as she puts it, “almost in opposition to itself.”
A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice learned the virtues of politeness early on from her stolid parents and small Wisconsin hometown. But a tragic accident when she was seventeen shattered her identity and made her understand the fragility of life and the tenuousness of luck. So more than a decade later, when she met boisterous, charismatic Charlie Blackwell, she hardly gave him a second look: She was serious and thoughtful, and he would rather crack a joke than offer a real insight; he was the wealthy son of a bastion family of the Republican party, and she was a school librarian and registered Democrat. Comfortable in her quiet and unassuming life, she felt inured to his charms. And then, much to her surprise, Alice fell for Charlie.
As Alice learns to make her way amid the clannish energy and smug confidence of the Blackwell family, navigating the strange rituals of their country club and summer estate, she remains uneasy with her newfound good fortune. And when Charlie eventually becomes President, Alice is thrust into a position she did not seek–one of power and influence, privilege and responsibility. As Charlie’s tumultuous and controversial second term in the White House wears on, Alice must face contradictions years in the making: How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do when her private beliefs run against her public persona?
In Alice Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is a gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and the exigencies of fate into a brilliant tapestry–a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.
Praise for American Wife
“Curtis Sittenfeld is an amazing writer, and American Wife is a brave and moving novel about the intersection of private and public life in America. Ambitious and humble at the same time, Sittenfeld refuses to trivialize or simplify people, whether real or imagined.”
–Richard Russo
“What a remarkable (and brave) thing: a compassionate, illuminating, and beautifully rendered portrait of a fictional Republican first lady with a life and husband very much like our actual Republican first lady’s. Curtis Sittenfeld has written a novel as impressive as it is improbable.”
–Kurt Andersen
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| Customer Reviews: Read 94 more reviews...
 A Verbal Portrait of a Lady November 20, 2008
Reading the "American Wife:A Novel", one feels captured by the startling similarities to our present First Lady. You cannot help but want to embrace the picture presented of a truly great lady. From an unfortunate teen tragedy to her strong, loving support of a flawed husband, she shows greatness in her gentile manners and intelligence. You want to speak to her, and hug her, and tell her she's "ok"!
 Seemed endless November 18, 2008
Thought this book was about 100 pages to long, which made it a boring read. If you're interested in Laura Bush I would suggest reading one of the many biographies written about her.
 Somewhat interesting but too long and too slow November 15, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book was good enough to keep me reading to the end, but failed to be a truly satisfying read. The fact that I stuck with it to the end is telling because, in a book that long and that slow, I would normally have given up by the halfway point. There are moments in the story where the writing was truly beautiful and yet many others when it was tawdry or cliched.
I found the first third of the book better than the rest--the first lady's beginning as a good girl who skidded off the tracks for a while after a tragic event in her life. Once you get to the White House, the parallels between the real current first lady and the fictional Alice Blackwell become blatantly apparent.
The book portrays Charlie and Alice as a couple who love one another very much but don't share the same class level or political/religious beliefs. This makes for a very interesting marriage once Charlie is in the White House, and creates some good conflict in how Alice can be true to herself and her beliefs and still be the President's wife.
Though it was Charlie's family who had the money and the power, even Charlie's mother agreed that it was Charlie who "married up," not Alice. This also makes for some interesting conflict in the story--you can love someone deeply and not always like their behavior or choices.
Whether the book truly represents the thoughts and choices of our current first lady, I don't know but, if so, it definitely gave me a new--and more sympathetic--view of her and the fact that there may be a lot going on behind that passive smile when she's on camera.
This American Wife November 15, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Oddly heartbreaking at points. Remembering that the story echoes Laura Bush's life adds an extra weight of poignancy. At one point, the main character remarks that she is who she is because she's a reader (I can relate). Yet, I wonder how well the book would fair without the pseudo-bio gloss. Does anyone remember Dutch?
I saw Oliver Stone'sW after reading this. I had a completely different reaction to the movie than Dan, and I think the difference had to do with my reading this book. W was too superficial for me, but he found the movie's sympathy for the Bushes to be refreshing.
I'm interested in reading Prep now since I've heard that's a better book.
 Where is some originality? November 13, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Most of the other reviews do not cover how incident for incident this book follows the lives of Laura and George Bush. Oh yes the meat packing industry is substituted for the oil industry; a governorship of the father's instead of a presidency, Wisconsin for Texas. Specifics of Laura's accident are changed and elaborated on and other than the last few pages where there is speculation of the wife's feelings on the war in the Middle East... my toes curl in frustration at the just plain non- original ideas. It's not even done in the `fun-style' of gossip columns; oh yes there are descriptions of a wonderful love life between a husband and wife. Even that does not screen through and into the husband's real character and motives, it is just done so superficially - he's such a paper foil, even the "Laura' is dry and lacking real emotion - it's supposed to be there but where?. This could have been a fun book, a speculative history book, but it just appears as an excuse to play upon a famous family, use their lives to make some money on a best selling novel, certainly not literature or even a good original story.
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