A review by amies808
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

2.0

I read Prep and liked it well enough, so I assumed I would have the same reaction to this one--with the added bonus of this being a fictionalized look at Laura Bush's life (ooh, gossip! The Oval Office! A peek at a very interesting marriage!) American Wife was, however, plodding and meandering, and downright dull despite the requisite beach trash moments. I kept hoping--and hoping--and hoping-- the story would pick up, but all of a sudden I was 250 pages deep in a 460+ page book that I wasn't even enjoying. I felt like Sittenfeld kept trying very hard to make eloquent, grand statements about love and marriage, which ceased resonating with me after page 50 and ended up being simply pretentious. I didn't mind Alice so much as a character, but I kept screaming in my head the classic freshman year lit mantra: "SHOW, don't tell!!"