American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield

I've sometimes thought that if I should have an encounter with first lady, Laura Bush, we could break the ice by discussing novels we've read. Laura will be moving out of the White House soon, but we've yet to have our book chat!

In the unlikely event that we ever have our literary discussion, one novel I don't think I'll mention is American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfield. (Curtis, by the way, is a woman.) It could be just a tad awkward.

You see, American Wife is a thinly-disguised fictionalized account (for you English majors out there - remember the term roman a clef?) of Laura Bush's life.

In American Wife, the Laura Bush character is named Alice Blackwell. Her husband, Charlie Blackwell, is part of a powerful political family from Wisconsin. The book starts off with a cursory look at Laura's -- oops! I mean Alice's childhood, but really gains momentum when a teenaged Alice accidentally kills a male classmate in a car accident.

One problem about reading a fictionalized account of someone is you don't know what is really true and what is just the author's imagination. However, Laura Bush really did have a tragic car accident and, if this novel is correct, the accident changed her life, shaped her character, and formed her belief system. It also continues to haunt her 40+ years later.

I said earlier that it would be awkward to talk to Laura Bush about this book, but I think she might be pleased with Sittenfield's empathetic account of her life. Alice Blackwell is a likeable, intelligent, decent and serious person.

However, I think that Sittenfield put so much time and effort into creating the believable, multi-dimensional Alice Blackwell, that she had little energy left to expend on the other main character: Alice's husband, Charlie.

Charlie never comes across more than a shallow, hard-drinking frat boy whose unlikely climb to the presidency occurred solely because of family influence. I'm no big fan of "W" Bush, but I can't help but believing that there is more to him than the caricature Sittenfield presents. No one is ever as bad or as good as they seem. Even "W" must have his complexities.

It's fun to identify the real-life counterparts of Sittenfield's characters. You'll read about people who strongly resemble people such as Condoleeza Rice, Karl Rove, and Vice President Cheney.

I enjoyed this novel even though some of it I viewed with much skepticism. For example, I had a hard time buying that Laura Bush is really a "closet" liberal.

Overall, I recommend this book. It's compassionate, humorous and entertaining. Other times, it's heart-breaking and shocking. Michelle Obama or Cindy McCain can only hope that their lives are recounted by someone as skillful and respectful as Curtis Sittenfield.