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maggierthanyou's review against another edition
2.0
This book was a little over the place, which I can empathize with as someone who is all over the place. However, the moments and the writing that resonated with me were overshadowed by the moments that felt completely derailed into irrelevant tangents about fiction writing pedagogy—though it was interesting to understand how the writer explains the process, I signed up for a hybrid fictional/nonfictional memoir of the First Lady of one of the most enigmatic presidents and felt that half the book avoided that and failed to reach its potential. That’s the last time I’ll buy a used, former-library book with about 6 “discarded” stamps covering its every surface
anderson65's review against another edition
1.0
This book is marketed as a novel, yet the author uses a pedantic approach-- as though teaching creative writing -- via the imagined life of Pat Nixon, wife of our disgraced President. The author's writing style is quite disconcerting because it reads like a text book. Must she explain the most obvious analogies, i.e., crystal bowl and crystal ball?The many comparisons of the Nixons and/or events in their lives to literary works, such as Chekhov, seems to be a purely academic effort with little merit.
If you want to learn about Mrs. Nixon, you would be far more gratified with PAT NIXON: AN UNTOLD STORY written by her daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower, biased as it may be. Julie's book is an often quoted resource for this novel. Having read a biography of Mrs. Nixon and her daughter's book about her, I find this novel to be a disappointing exercise. However, if you are looking for a book that might provide some lessons in the writing process, this could be the book for you.
If you want to learn about Mrs. Nixon, you would be far more gratified with PAT NIXON: AN UNTOLD STORY written by her daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower, biased as it may be. Julie's book is an often quoted resource for this novel. Having read a biography of Mrs. Nixon and her daughter's book about her, I find this novel to be a disappointing exercise. However, if you are looking for a book that might provide some lessons in the writing process, this could be the book for you.
pepper1133's review against another edition
3.0
This was my choice for our book club, and that's probably why I didn't hate it like my fellow book club members lol. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, in that I assumed it would be a fictionalized account of the life of Pat Nixon, but instead focused on what could potentially have been Pat's story in the hands of different writers. A good choice for writers who are interested in the actual nuts and bolts of telling someone's life story.
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