the one about Laura Bush.

I just finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld and let's just say that I have very conflicted feelings about this novel.   The novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Laura Bush.  Or maybe not, because the author recommends you put Laura and George Bush out of your head while reading.  Really? Because reading this novel without thinking of the Bush presidency is nearly impossible to do.  The similarities between Alice Lindgren and Laura Bush are just too close for comfort.  I learned that Laura Bush was in a fatal car accident in high school, that her views on abortion are complex, that she made compromises in life for love.  So many other spoilers worth reading.

If modeled after George Bush, the character of Charlie Blackwell did not help enamor me to the president.  He attends Princeton, manages a meat packing industry, owns the Brewers and basically comes across as an egocentric, entitled and rough around the edges guy.  Not making a statement here about George Bush - just Curtis Sittenfeld's Charlie.  Charlie really irritated me throughout the novel and I questioned how a woman could marry a "boy" who is scared of the dark.  Alice portrayed many admirable characteristics - just not her choice in men.

In the end, this novel is fiction.  But reading about the president's drug use and sexual proclivities made me uncomfortable.  Relationships should on some level be private and held sacred.  This novel just goes to show that people are a lot more complicated than their public perception.

I enjoy reading Curtis Sittenfeld (author of Prep).  I would recommend this novel in part.  Just wish she had pared it down by about 200 pages.  The last third of the book steers off course and seems more a political commentary than a character exploration.  The beginning of the book - LOVE.