Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife Provides Fictionalized Portrait Of Laura Bush

Curtis Sittenfeld, the bestselling author of Prep and The Man of my Dreams, has penned a fictionalized account of Laura Bush's life to be released in time for the Republican National Convention.

The book, American Wife, will be published by Random House, and centers around a main character named Alice Blackwell, a librarian who unwittingly falls in love with a blue-blooded man (Charlie Blackwell) who would become President of the United States.

The book, as Radar reports, mixes fiction with facts of Laura Bush's life:

It is, in short, a fictional examination of the life of the First Lady that mingles real facts and incidents with the author's imaginative, fanciful, sometimes sexually charged musings. The result is a masterful highbrow-lowbrow mash-up that satisfies as ass-kicking literary fiction and juicy gossip simultaneously.

From discovering that her grandmother is a lesbian, killing her high school crush with her car at age 16 (this incident at least is based in fact--Laura Bush was involved in a fatal car accident at that age), having sex with his brother, getting an abortion, and descriptions of sex with the president, Alice's antics are sure to have tongues chattering from coast to coast.

In the below excerpt, courtesy of Radar, Alice has an abortion. For more excerpts, visit Radar here.

"Alice" gets an abortion

"'We'll go to Chicago, and we'll have it taken care of. Next week, likely. I need to make a few calls. You can do as you see fit, but I'd advise against saying anything to your parents. I just can't imagine what purpose it would serve.'

"I felt an impulse then to express incomprehension, except that I did comprehend. At night, when I listened to 'Lonesome Town,' I knew. She was right.

"'Isn't it--" I hesitated. "'Isn't it illegal?'

"'Certainly, and it happens all the time. You can't legislate human nature.'

"[...]My grandmother was not permitted in the operating room--when Dr. Wycomb appeared in the white coat. She squeezed my hand, and the warmth of her grip made me realize how cold I was. I wore a blue hospital gown, and when I lay on the operating table, the nurse had me set my feet in metal stirrups. 'The doctor wants to talk to you before we put you under,' the nurse said, and ten or twelve minutes had passed."

Read more excerpts here.

Comments

[Rockwell]

Ewwwwwwwwwww!

[irishgawdess]

I second that emotion! This reminds me of when I was a kid and found out my parents had sex. shudder

[mediamarv]

Can't wait to hear Fox Noise's reviews... oh, wait, Fox viewers don' t read, do they,

[nonconformist2]

Billo is licking his lips and getting out the loufah as we speak. Icky poo!

[yngcelt]

So if someone follows suit and writes a book about Obama being a closet gay member of a street gang in Honolulu during his teens while practicing satanism and experimenting with pedophilia you would all be cool with that and but that book, right? Because we all know how "open minded" and "fair" you lefties are.

[SiberianRat]

Blanket comments like that are uncool--I'm a "lefty" who is very unimpressed by this sort of thing...

[yngcelt]

Ah, but blanket comments about "neocons", "GOPers", Christians, etc. are totally cool? Cuz there sure seem to be plenty of them on this site!

[WaspMan]

Ditto. If you knew me, you'd call me a screaming left winger - and this book disgusts me.

Grantred, I think Laura to be about as bright as a 15 watt bulb, and of course she's married to a night-light, but this sort of slime is awful.

The reality of GWBush is far worse than slimy fiction about his wife.

[dr4Will]

Isn't fiction always close to the truth in biography's--it should be a good one!!

[Felicty]

This will probably come out just in time to coincide with Oliver Stone's "W " film. Laura's not complaining about it.

I just want them all gone.

[aaronburr]

I really hate the thought that trees are going to die to publish this junk. This clown had better get his book published (and Stone had better get his movie out) before the election - or at the latest the next inauguration - because once the new President is elected nobody is going to want to even think about Bush or his minions ever again!

[totaldisbelief]

WTF???? is there no end to the madness??

[HatingTheGame]

reefer madness?

[thinklib]

It's very sad to see so many people here bashing Laura Bush.

So much for the tolerance you preach.

Hope you're proud.

[Felicty]

Bless your heart.

[impatient]

Well Thinklib, I would advocate being kind andd generous to her exccept for her own past.

So first there was of course the dreadful car accident in which she killed a boy, and fails even to this day to ever discuss that and fails to make that tragedy in her life meaningful by serving as an object lesson to other 16 year olds, who, by the way are 25 times more likely to generate traffic fatalities than any other group.

Secondly, from all accounts she USED to be a wonderful person, into the arts, into literature. She dated interesting funny people and enjoyed the Austin liberal scene. She was a registered Democrat.

But then the opportunityt o join the first family of Texas comes along and Laura turns coat. She becomes a republican who steadfastly defends Dubya. I don't care that they're married, when he does the crap he does, she should take a stand. How spineless is she?

Also, Laura's favorite past-time apparently, is not reading. Instead, it is shopping. Laura apparently enjoys acquisition, which accounts for the lure of the Bush Family, where shopping is a recommended past-time. Barbara Bush, her mother-in-law is also notorious for her rather expensive tastes, especially when it comes to her personal wardrobe. (Contrary to popular belief, she is NOT the quintessential grandma).

When you sell your soul to the devil, he sometimes demands his due.

[realityczech4u]

I would imagine that given the tragedy that her accident was, she probably doesn't want to keep reliving it. It probable took many years before it stopped haunting her and she stopped having nightmares about it. Who the hell are YOU to decide how she should make it 'meaningful'? Get over yourself.

And I would be surprised if her favorite "past-time"(sic) duh , is not reading since she is a librarian. Self-rigtheous twit.

As to your final comment, you wait until your bill becomes due. Karma is a beech.

[Silver123]

This sounds like an idiotic book.

If the author has any writing talent (not obvious from the excerpt we're shown), she should aim higher.

[helonias]

I though truth was stranger than fiction

[Janel]

I've always admired Laura Bush and find it disgusting that an "author" would stoop to such a low level.

[rainey]

What do you admire about her? What has she ever done but live a life of privilege?

Even her title as "teacher/librarian" comes from one year of work before she started living off the connections the Bush family arranged for Georgie.

Can you think of one thing she's done to benefit others as First Lady? Can you think of another First Lady who was more useless and disinterested in how America might be improved?

She is the living example of a parasite. And, as a taxpayer, you're paying her first-class freight.

[impatient]

Yes, exactly. Laura Bush is not woman to admire.

Mrs. Randy (Jai) Pausch is a woman to admire. Jane Goodall is a woman to admire. Any number of brilliant writers and historians and scientists are women to admire.

Laura likes to go shopping.

[provgrays]

She's a Smiling Stepford wife who married too well to ever have to think for herself.

[GerryS]

I bet Laura's daily mantra, "keep sweet, no matter what" is reinforced daily by W's handlers-

[elr50]

What do you expect from a woman whose mother-in-law doesn't recognize AGONY when she sees it and a husband who commits and condones murder! Laura Bush is an accomplice to the biggest murder this country has ever perpetrated. She is NOT innocent-there is blood on her hands as well.

[rickmv]

What murder are you referring to? Do you have any evidence? FDR nuked 100,00 Japanese civilians so wouldn't that make him a bigger murderer? Or does a president have to have an R by his name to qualify as a murderer in your newfangled criminal justice system?

[irishgawdess]

Perhaps elr50 meant as governor of TX with their "hang 'em high" mentality about the death penalty. W could have commuted those sentences and didn't.

[learnsomething]

I agree. I don't know why some people want to push the lie that Laura Bush is sweet. There's nothing sweet about that woman. She is just as hardcore and her corrupt husband.

[impatient]

Exactly. She smokes like a chimney, and is said to not turn down a valium when it's offered. And in college she was apparently a go-to girl when you needed to find someone to go to.

I'd say she fits in just splendidly with the hypocritical Bush family.

[BushBites]

You sure that's fiction?

[gala1]

So, what DOES happen to remaindered books?
I mean, it is a shame to waste paper on something like this, isn't it?

Are they going to print a Cliff Notes version so her husband can read it-- or just make a Mexican comic book out of it? And do the Ugly Betty people know how much fun this would be to play with?

I really do need to meet someone who would willingly read this.
I just can't imagine anyone doing it unless they were tied down and their eyelids propped open.

I've always thought of Laura Bush as enough of a tribute to pharmaceuticals that she'd be the ultimate Stepford Bookend.
---And now she's got a matching book to go with it.

-gala1

[Exit]

Laura Bush is the only Republican I like. Don't mess with her.

[learnsomething]

We mess with everybody else, why not her? She's a Bush, she is just like them.