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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2008 > August > 30 > Entry
This First Lady is no chain smoker…
Curtis Sittenfeld hit a publishing home run a few years back with her debut novel, “Prep.” Her latest venture, “American Wife,” promises to be another sensation. It’s the story of a first lady, Alice Blackwell. Her life bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Laura Bush.
Sittenfeld told USA Today that “this is not a biography. If I had sold this as a biography, I would and should be sued.” She made the disclaimer that “85 percent is made up and all the conversations I made up.”
Names and locations appear at a prudent distance from the originals.
Alice grows up in Wisconsin. As a teenager she is involved in a tragic automobile accident. The car wreck was her fault. A boy she loved was killed. This tragedy replicates an actual event.
Alice becomes a librarian. She meets Charlie Blackwell, a young man running for Congress. “He was undeniably handsome, but his bearing was cocky in a way I didn’t like … he also had mischievous eyebrows and a hawk nose with wide nostrils, as if he was flaring them at all times.”
Charlie is a member of a well-connected political dynasty in Wisconsin. The Blackwells made their fortune in the meat business. Alice is stunned when Charlie introduces her to his family and one of Charlie’s brothers recites an obscene limerick about Alice. The family applauds.
The Blackwells are heavy drinkers. Charlie loves to party. Despite everything, Alice and Charlie fall in love and get married. She attends his class reunion with him. His behavior there is out of control. She suspects that he is using cocaine.
In real life, George W. Bush bought a share of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise. In the novel, Charlie Blackwell becomes part owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. Charlie’s drinking gets so bad that Alice decides to leave him. Blackwell goes through a mid-life crisis. He had just turned 40 when they briefly separated — sounding familiar? At this low point he finds religion and sobriety, the first steps in his ascent to the highest office in the land.
Sittenfeld has written a sympathetic portrait of a first lady. We feel her loneliness and isolation when she logs on to a computer: “Once or twice a year, I type my name into an Internet search engine — I don’t want to be overly sheltered from what’s out there — and skimming the results makes me feel as if someone is turning a doorknob inside my stomach.
“American Wife” by Sittenfeld is a dangerous book. Sittenfeld’s publisher, Random House, recently pulled the plug on another project that they felt was too risky to publish, a book about the wife of the Prophet Muhammed. “American Wife” is a novel that reads like it has been vetted by a legion of lawyers.
It’s pure fiction, though. This first lady decides to stand up to her husband. Without consulting with President Blackwell first, Alice tells the press that we need to withdraw our troops. The word “Iraq” is never mentioned.
Vick Mickunas
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Comments
By Page Turner
September 1, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this
“Blackwell” is a curious choice of name for the president. As I recall, former Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell of Ohio was said to have had a hand in alleged ballot irregularities that helped provide the margin of victory for George Bush in 2004.