American Wife is significantly different from Sittenfeld's novel Prep. If you loved Prep, you might end up hating American Wife. Don't expect her work or writing style to be similar. She tackles a life story loosely based on Laura Bush and thankfully she does not push republican beliefs down your throat.
American Wife has a strong start and the "early" years of the main character's life are perhaps the most intriguing part of this book. The ending seems stiff and almost forced.
This novel also ran a bit too long and at time passages became tiresome and I found my self longing for the ending. Around the middle of the book, it gets to become a burdensome read and had I not invested so much time I would have quickly dismissed it.
Had it not been for the first half being so well written I would have easily given this book an F rating. If you feel drawn to this novel, I insist you check it out. Do not spend your hard earned cash on this book.
Grade: D+
Synopsis
A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown, she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with–and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband’s presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer.
A kind, bookish only child born in the 1940s, Alice Lindgren has no idea that she will one day end up in the White House, married to the president. In her small Wisconsin hometown, she learns the virtues of politeness, but a tragic accident when she is seventeen shatters her identity and changes the trajectory of her life. More than a decade later, when the charismatic son of a powerful Republican family sweeps her off her feet, she is surprised to find herself admitted into a world of privilege. And when her husband unexpectedly becomes governor and then president, she discovers that she is married to a man she both loves and fundamentally disagrees with–and that her private beliefs increasingly run against her public persona. As her husband’s presidency enters its second term, Alice must confront contradictions years in the making and face questions nearly impossible to answer.
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