American Wife: A Novel
by Curtis Sittenfeld
List Price:
Our Price: $15.24
You Save: $10.76 (41%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $14.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Curtis SittenfeldEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-02
ISBN: 1400064759
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Random House
Book Reviews of American Wife: A Novel
Book Review: Left me cold
Summary: 2 Stars
I received the book American Wife as part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. It is the latest novel by Prep: A Novel author Curtis Sittenfeld and draws on the life of Laura Bush for much of the formation of the main characters and events. It is a long and detailed story of how a reserved (but not conservative), intelligent woman ended up the wife of the President of the United States.
The books starts off strong with a compelling description of teenage life in the early 1960s in middle America. I was drawn in by the dramatic events of most of the first part and quite interested to see how these events would shape and drive this young woman -- as I was sure they would.
I will admit I was not a big fan of Prep. I wanted very much to like it and by the description it sounded very much like a book I would definitely like, but it had one fatal flaw -- the main character. I had no empathy or even sympathy for her. American Wife suffers from the same problem. I can't find many reasons to warm up to Alice. She's so reserved and so rigid and so downright prissy that I just couldn't care about her. I can't help thinking that Ms. Sittenfeld was so afraid of having her novel referred to as "chick lit" that she stripped out all the humor, all the passion and all the foibles of Alice -- in other words all the things that make us root for the women who star in all those "chick lit" novels. If I could have cared about Alice more, and rooted for her then this story might have been a lot more human.
Alice never really overcomes, she never really shows passion and she doesn't even stand behind her husband or her own convictions. So, for me, the book, like Alice herself, slowly stagnates after the first part. If Alice had been passionate about her husband, rather than accepting, had thrown herself into supporting him, or thrown herself into motherhood or really anything it would have been a much more interesting story. Instead we ended up with story of how a rather stilted woman came to be. For Laura Bush's sake I hope the similarities between her life and Alice's are limited to the major events only.
Summary of American Wife: A Novel
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
Contemporary Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Books I Want to Read
Rehabby Randi Reisfeld
Simon Pulse; Published: 2008-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.73
Price in other shops:
Catwalkby Deborah Gregory
Delacorte Books for Young Readers; Published: 2008-06-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.24
Price in other shops:
The Debsby Susan McBride
Delacorte Books for Young Readers; Published: 2008-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
serafina67 *urgently requires life*by Susie Day
Scholastic Press; Published: 2008-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.94
Price in other shops:
Jet Setby Carrie Karasyov, Jill Kargman
HarperTeen; Published: 2008-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.48
Price in other shops:
Model: A Memoirby Cheryl Diamond
Simon Pulse; Published: 2008-05-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.63
Price in other shops:
The Social Climber's Guide to High Schoolby Robyn Schneider
Simon Pulse; Published: 2007-07-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.94
Price in other shops:
Grange Hill for Saleby Robert Leeson
Armada; Published: 1981-09-17; Paperback; Book
Love Lessonsby Jacqueline Wilson
Corgi; Published: 2006-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Market, Theby J. M. Steele
Hyperion Book CH; Published: 2008-04-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Ten-Year Napby Meg Wolitzer
Riverhead Hardcover; Published: 2008-03-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
One Fifth Avenueby Candace Bushnell
Voice; Published: 2008-09-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.13
Price in other shops:
Audition: A Memoirby Barbara Walters
Knopf; Published: 2008-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.40
Price in other shops:
Love the One You're Withby Emily Giffin
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
The Senator's Wifeby Sue Miller
Knopf; Published: 2008-01-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops:
Certain Girls: A Novelby Jennifer Weiner
Atria; Published: 2008-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.68
Price in other shops:
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novelby David Wroblewski
Ecco; Published: 2008-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.95
Price in other shops:
Prep: A Novelby Curtis Sittenfeld
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2005-11-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Chasing Harry Winston: A Novelby Lauren Weisberger
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2008-05-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops:
The Beach Houseby Jane Green
Viking Adult; Published: 2008-06-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.48
Price in other shops: