American Wife

by Curtis Sittenfeld

This is the story of Alice Linden Blackwell, First Lady of the United States, and how she got there. Loosely based on the life of Laura Bush, the reader follows Alice from her early childhood to her husband's second term in office. Along the way, Alice faces a teenage tragedy that shapes the following decade of her life. While married to the more powerful man in the country, if not the world, we see that Alice is indeed her own person, with her own ideas and opinions.

I did not think I would like this book. But I did. In fact, I read it in about 2 days. The novel focuses on Alice's early life - the First Lady part probably only takes up the last 50-75 pages. And there were so many times when I thought "I could see that happening to ME". Who among us doesn't have skeletons in our closet? And what would happen if by some odd chance we ended up being married to someone who decides to run for public office? I, for one, have MANY things in my closet that would be horrifying to have uncovered and publicized. How to explain them, and then have to reconcile your past with your life today, or worse yet, your husband's strong stances on abortion or war, would be humiliating.

Alice does her best to live her best life. She makes some mistakes along the way, but who hasn't? She tries to remain true to herself, without drawing attention to herself or embarrassing her husband and his administration. It's an interesting take on the path to the White House.