Wednesday, January 27, 2010

American Wife

Title: American Wife
Author: Curtis Sittenfeld
Black Swan, 2009 (2008)

Since I am home sick, and since it is all but impossible to say something worthwhile about a novel in Twitterlength, I will sneak in a post on this interesting novel. Sittenfeld has used former first-lady Laura Bush' life as a blueprint for the story and I can't help but think how weird it must be for Mrs. Bush to read about herself in this way.

Despite the mild excitement of sneaking a fictional peek into the lives of such a debated couple, the novel raises important questions about culpability and responsibility. What choices does life push people to make and how inevitable are they? The answer, provided in the character of Alice Blackwell, aka L.B., is both empathic and unforgiving.

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