American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

American Wife is based, very loosely, on the life of former first lady, Laura Bush, although the protagonist in this story is named Alice Lindgren. The beginning of the book is probably the best, where we first meet Alice and see her growing up in Riley, Wisconsin with her parents and grandmother. Alice is very likable and the book flows nicely through her childhood and teenage years, when she is in a car accident that results in the death of her first crush. After meeting Charlie Blackwell at a party, the two quickly hit it off and become a couple. Charlie bears more than a little resemblance to our previous president; he drinks, he parties, he flaunts his Ivy League education and flubs even the most basic off the cuff comments. The Blackwell’s are essentially Wisconsin royalty; his mother is nicknamed Maj (short for Majesty), his father is the former governor, and one of his brothers is a Congressman. We follow the couple as Charlie gets sober, gets religion and gets himself elected to the White House. The end of the book feels forced, although it’s based on true events, I feel like she was trying to show what a bad president George W. Bush was, through Charlie Blackwell. And we lost some of Alice at the end, and she was the best part of the book. Once you finish, you’ll be left with the question of how much is real and how much is artistic license?