American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

I liked the book, I didn't LOVE the book but it's one I will remember passages out of for awhile. It's based loosely on Laura Bush and I really didn't remember hearing about the accident she had when she was a teenager in which another teenager is killed. That was the turning point of Alice's life in the novel.

I'd heard of it of course and had no desire to read it, thought it would be dull as dishwater, I got it @ the library and started reading it Monday and finished late last night because I took a snow day off of work. It's not dull @ all on a psychological level alone. The accident when the main character is groping for direction and atonement of some sort is fascinating to me. All though I've never been involved in an incident of that proportion I'm not sure what my reaction would be but I'm sure seeking atonement would be in the forefront of my emotional needs. Actually this book explains my family to me in a strange strange way. At a family reunion in 2004 my daughters asked my brother and I where we came from. The rest of the cousins are not completely quiet but there are no surprises in their life or maybe I should say they are not LOUD, they are upstanding, quiet and polite, not saying my brother and I can't be perceived as such but smart Alec might come to mind sooner (or other forms of the expression). There are surprises in my life and my brothers, a little rowdiness, I still feel the need to ride motorcycles if they are available (even with my grandchildren on the grass and they have on a helmet), we don't drink or not anymore but we are more like a hard working Charlie in the book than we are Alice, but the rest of the family seems to operate on Alice psychology. That question asked in 2004 has always stuck with me. Reading this has given me some insight into what the differences may be and why. Does that change me? Probably not except I have a deeper understanding of family dynamics.

Overall a good read, the years between the first 10 years of their marriage and one day in the white house are glossed over and merely referenced, but on the whole I found it a satisfying book, not quite like anything I'd read recently.