A review by blanham
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

4.75

My favourite book I’ve read this year. Gripping, thought-provoking and compelling. I felt Curtis Sittenfeld’s dealt so thoughtfully with the life of Laura Bush, using her imagination to fill in the gaps and try to understand the choices she made. Alice is a lovable narrator, and Charlie is a vividly painted character, who we can understand without judgement why Alice fell in love with him despite their political differences. The genius of the book, though, is the structural choices of the writer and the way one pivotal moment at the beginning shifts everything for the reader at the end.