Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife

Sittenfeld's novel, "American Wife" is the quasi-biographical tale of a recent First Lady, Laura Bush.  The character, Alice Blackwell, has a number of things in common with Mrs. Bush: she worked as a school librarian before she was married, she had a similar upbringing, she is generally considered more liberal in her leanings than her husband and probably also more intelligent.  As for the dramatic details-- the accident that Alice causes as a teen that leads to the death of a friend, the break-up of her friendship with her hometown friend Dena, the abortion that Alice has, and details about her marriage to Charlie Blackwell-- it is hard for me to say which of those mirror Mrs. Bush's experiences as I have not read a Bush biography.  Sittenfeld does list a number of biographies on Laura Bush and works by and about Hillory Clinton as inspiration for her novel.

While I dutifully kept reading the book and enjoyed parts of it, I often found it hard to get inside Alice Blackwell's head, and especially hard to find much sympathy for Charlie Blackwell, the spoiled son of a Wisconson meat packing tycoon, baseball team owner, governor and Republican president.  I just don't get what she saw in Charlie and why she stayed with him all those years when he was a liability to her and to his family and an alcoholic.  I kept reading to find out and really never did figure it out.

I'm glad I read this novel-- but I still don't know why.


Liz Nichols