American Wife

When I read Gone With the Wind for the first time, I had not seen the movie but I was a big fan of Clark Gable and the character of Rhett Butler was already embodied in my mind by Gable's looks and personality. I was equally unable to read Sittenfeld's novel without picturing George and Laura Bush as Charlie and Alice Blackwell. But because Laura Bush is in many ways a public enigma, she provides a blank canvas which Sittenfeld fills with an intriguing and thoughtful look at the choices we make in life and how they are influenced by the people and events surrounding us.

Although Sittenfeld's novel was prompted by her curiosity about Laura Bush, it is a work of fiction and speculation about the life of a woman who marries a man with different political views, a background of privilege and wealth and a strong family culture. Raised in a quiet Wisconsin home of modest means, Alice is charmed by Charlie Blackwell's lack of pretense and sense of humor. The level-headed attitude and maturity of this elementary school librarian are considered a plus and needed balance by his family for Charlie's drinking, hijinks and lack of direction. The bulk of the novel is set during the years of their courtship and early marriage. More than a thinly veiled speculation about the Bush family, this is the story of a true love match and the very real compromises which lie at the heart of every successful marriage.

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