I will give Sittenfeld more than an iota of credit, however, for picking a subject so interesting that despite my long-standing grudge, I begged for the full-price hardcover as a birthday gift.)Īlice Blackwell, Laura’s doppelganger, has a history familiar to those who know Laura Bush’s biography: a small-town girl from a modest background, a tragic car accident in which she kills a high-school classmate, the quiet years as a 20-something public-school librarian.
In the first paragraph, she snipes that “you’re not one iota smarter after reading” Banks’ stories if that’s our metric for good literature, I submit that American Wife hasn’t added any iotas to my own personal collection of smarts. (Full disclosure: I have a large and juicy bone to pick with Sittenfeld after her petty, sexist, oblivious New York Times review of Melissa Banks’ The Wonder Spot in 2005. Which is exactly why I couldn’t wait to read American Wife, in which Curtis Sittenfeld imagines the life of Laura Bush. Bush and think, “Hey, I love that guy!”? Yeah, me too. Ever wonder how someone could wake up every morning next to George W.
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