This is told in first person. The story begins with Alice as a school girl in the late 40's, growing up in small town Wisconsin, an only child in a middle class family. A trumatic event occurs in her life in high school, in the 60's, and this affects her in many ways. Although Alice is a sweet, lovely young women, she has strong feelings personally and politically. She is greatly influenced by her beloved grandmother, who lives with her family. Her life evolves in directions that she never dreamed of. In many ways she lives the American dream, with it's peaks and valleys. I could not put it down! Very well written. Author Curtis Sittenfeld is a female author, by the way.

AMERICAN WIFE is fiction. Be sure to remember that, although the American wife in AMERICAN WIFE is based on Laura Bush. Just remember that she really is a character of Curtis Sittenfeld’s imagination. Then you may enjoy the book properly because you understand what it really is.

This book is mostly a soap opera. That should not put you off. After all, I call Tolstoy’s ANNA KARENINA a soap opera.

Just like a soap opera, AMERICAN WIFE takes time to get into, to grab you and make you care. So the chapters describing Alice’s (Laura’s) childhood and adolescence can be boring, as it was for me. But later, particularly when she becomes first lady, her first-person accounts are absorbing.

Because Alice tells her own story, she is also able to ruminate and does so frequently. The story does not progress during these times when she tells you what she really thinks and feels. This is when you need to be most conscious that Alice is a figment of Sittenfeld’s imagination.