I’ve been meaning to read American Wife for ages, since I’m a Curtis Sittenfeld fan, but I kept holding off for one big reason: did I really want to read a novel based on the life of former first lady Laura Bush?
The answer, it turned out, was very much yes.
I’ve long said that Sittenfeld’s gift is writing so well that one falls straight through the prose and into the story – that same effortlessness that makes reading anything by Stephen King such an engrossing pleasure – and this was no less true with American Wife. In a tale that spans decades, beginning with Alice Blackwell’s childhood and traveling all the way up until the middle of her years in the White House, Sittenfeld has pulled off a portrait of an interesting and complex woman whose poise, intelligence and beliefs were almost always overshadowed by the personality traits and actions of her husband, the political power and connections of her in-laws, and the assumptions and anger of an increasingly war-weary public. To say that Alice Blackwell – and the woman she fictionally portrays – was misunderstood is an understatement.
The last, short section of this novel felt less fleshed out compared to the carefully woven story of family dynamics and drama that came before, but it is a small disappointment compared to the overall pleasure of this surprisingly compelling book.
Sometimes I simply don’t know enough to be fascinated. American Wife corrected that, and I was hooked.
FTC Disclosure: This review was based on a copy of the book that I borrowed from the public library.
Sixteen-year-old Margo Crane of Once Upon a River by Bonnie Jo Campbell has been hailed by book critics from every corner as being one of the most unforgettable fictional heroines of the past decade, and they are not wrong.
Called “a 20th century Huck Finn” in the July 2011 Indie Next List, Margo is a survivor in every sense of the word, and her odyssey up and down the rural Michigan river she calls home is, in the tradition of all great epics, equal parts harrowing, haunting, and hopeful. This is both a beautiful and beautifully written story, made richer by Campbell’s masterful, almost spare prose and her main character’s incredible strength, fortitude and heart.
Margo is unforgettable, and it’s her unwillingness to flinch, matched only by the novel that tells her story equally unflinchingly, that makes this a truly excellent, utterly captivating book. Do not miss.
FTC Disclosure: This review was based on a copy of the book that I borrowed from the public library.
It’s not often that I shake my head while reading a book, nodding along and fairly shouting, “Yes, yes, yes!” (there are plenty of times I shake my head while reading a book, muttering, “No, no, no,” which occurs right before I stop reading it and/or throw it across the room), but that’s exactly what happened with The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk, aka @garyvee.
Fine, so I’m a Vaniac, so what? I love Gary’s tremendous passion for what he does. (Anyone who gets so fired up and stays so real he regularly swears during talks to huge crowds wins points in my book, which comes as a surprise to exactly no one who knows me in even the remotest way.) Gary and his ghostwriter, who he openly credits for getting his thoughts down on paper (more points), distill a small portion of that passion into this book, creating a simple syrup out of Gary’s beliefs about committing to and caring about one’s customers.
It’s true this is a business book, and it’s true I tore through it because it’s extremely relevant and applicable both to my business and what I do literally every single day, but more than that, it inspired the hell out of me. And that’s all I really ask out of a business book: to fire me up and stay real and, as a bonus, teach me something along the way.
FTC Disclosure: This review was based on my own copy of this book.
