american wife.
i’m glad my schedule was free this weekend because somehow i’d forgotten the literary power curtis sittenfeld holds over me. i tore through all 558 pages in the last three days and now am a little dazed to return to my own thoughts.
waiting for obama to replace bush in the white house before reading this novel proved to be a smart move. going into it i knew very little about laura bush and found myself constantly wondering what details had been drawn from reality and what was invented by sittenfeld.
bush is portrayed as having erratic highs and lows in temperament, obsessed with his legacy, and being…simple. for me, the most enjoyable moments were laura’s childhood and their courtship. the portion of the book centered in the white house was a minor chunk of the timeline and it was certainly the most uncomfortable and steeped in internal monologue.
i could not put this book down. when i wasn’t reading it, i was wandering around in a haze still buried in laura’s world. i can only describe sittenfeld’s work as consuming—anyone familiar with her writing has probably shared a similar experience of complete and total immersion.
the bush family’s world was one i wasn’t certain i wanted a glimpse into, but my initial judgment proved to be oh so wrong. highly recommended.
I feel the exact same way. I loved this book and I highly recommend it. You will thoroughly enjoy it. I promise.
