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Books : American Wife (Unabridged) |
List Price: $55.00Amazon.com's Price: $28.88 You Save: $26.12 (47%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Audio Download
Label: audible.com
Manufacturer: audible.com
Publisher: audible.com
Studio: audible.com
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Editorial Review:
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
From the Hardcover edition.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
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"!
Rating:  -
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.
Rating:  -
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 ... Read More
Rating: -
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. ... Read More
Rating:  -
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. ... Read More
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