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

[sleeperd]

You people are such cowardly little weasels.

[impatient]

What's weasely?

I'd suggest that Laura has a few skeletons in her closet, and ought to be expecting a little mud-slinging. She is not exactly a profile in courage, you know.

[MemoFromTurner]

I'm a proud, card-carrying, Volvo-driving liberal who thinks that the BushCo nation-trashers belong in prison. And I no longer believe that taking the high road is sound strategy when the country is in grave danger.

But this flaccid, overcooked potboiler has no honor in it. It's a late-hit that only feeds the opposition, and the right wing loves to get its mock outrage on.

The net effect of this sophomoric pseudo-literary stunt will translate into more clean-up work for Democratic/progressive candidates.

[impatient]

Oh please, this book is so unimportant that it won't even be a blip.

IF it does anything it'll cost laura a little embarrassment and I say hooray to that.

[Oomingmak]

No fan of Bush am I, but this book sounds like it's in extremely poor taste. Bush is an idiot, the worst President in U.S. history, but leave the woman and the kids out of it.

[lippp]

Listen, I don't know what to think of this book. But your statement of leaving "the woman" out of it is absurd. Laura is enabling Bush. If she supports him, regardless how naive it is, she is part of this political blunder that is devastating to our country and has caused so much death, destruction and loss of treasure. She surely cannot be viewed as woman to be admired. She has an opinion, but does not express it. She is being a good Republican First Lady and a poor American Citizen. Just think how profound and important she could be if she voiced opposition to her husband's administration. We know Gerald Ford did not approve of Irag but was too cowardly to let it be known until after his death. Laura, likewise, is too cowardly to do the same - or if she believes in her husband's incompetence, is surely not someone we should excuse or emulate.

[Oomingmak]

Totally unrealistic in terms of human nature. Come on -- a First Lady calling her husband out? What planet are you living on? And in addition to being unrealistic, is that how we want our society to be organized, with wives and husbands denouncing each other for their politics?

I'm the first to say Bushie should be tarred and feathered -- maybe even tried for crimes -- but saying that his wife should denounce him seems more than a bit totalitarian. Indeed, it sounds like Orwell.

[JudyMillerDubyaAgent]

They'll give anybody a book deal these days. Geez.

[smilodon1]

I really feel sorry for her. Stuck with a nitwit, loser, sociopath of a husband. I guess this is a case of "love is blind."

[Slideguy]

Still, I'm not really sure what's she's done to deserve this. I'm as angry at her husband as anybody here, but Laura Bush has done me no harm that I know if, and this kind of cheap shot reminds me very much of the kind of the abuse that Chelsea Clinton took from the right. It certainly isn't going to change the minds of those whom we'd like to convince.

[smilodon1]

As I said, I feel sorry for her.

[impatient]

Well a big giant difference is that Chelsea was being attacked for being ugly and she was only 12 years old.

Laura is a grown up. She can take it. At worst, she'll boost the economy with some retail therapy. Plus, the stuff they're nailing her on, she DID. No one's hitting below the belt. They're just saying the holier than thou crap is just that. Crap./

[ann1]

She seems to be a nice lady.

[impatient]

I bet that's what they said abotu Eva Braun too.

[MemphisBuffalo]

She admits to having an abortion! This is big news!

[SwingVoter]

p r N d

[Paladine]

I like Laura Bush. She is a class act.

[rainey]

Laura Bush is the living, breathing version of the Stepford wife.

When has a First Lady been more pointless? What has she even attempted to do in 8 years? Even her m-i-l Godzilla Bush made an effort to increase literacy.

Laura is symbolic for the Bush years in that she typifies the principle of the wealth and power class taking a free ride on the blood, sweat and tears of working Americans.

[Veri]

She is a calculating woman. You have to give her that. Bush was a step up (or down if you consider it that way). I bet she wears the pants and lets Bush think he does. Like most women do to men. Just a childish thought.

[robertlockwoodmills]

I wonder if Jeff Gannon is the protagonist in the book. Or, maybe he's the antagonist. Oh, well.

[atombee]

Jeff Gannon doesn't mix with women. He would appear in the book about Dubya.

[TXOBAMAGIRL73]

Thinking of things I find sexy ummmmmmmmmmmm Tha Rock ....sexy ....Barack....sexxxxxxxy...Laura Bush ....Not so much (((LMAO)))

[V4Vigilance]

Wasn't this already covered in the "Stepford Wives"?

[KindAndThoughtful]

Laura Bush is a very nice person.

[impatient]

Yes. And so is tapioca and milquetoast.

But I wouldn't call either of those courageous or admirable.

[gettysburg]

OMG, line up the high horses. Chests will be so puffed out with righteous indignation that one of those arrogant bastards may explode. How dare anyone say anything scandalous about King George's wife. This is treasonous, un-American and behavior unbecoming of all decent Christians...........There, I said it. You can insert the dripping sarcasm anywhere you like.

[SaulGoode]

Oh my. HuffPo is wating bandwidth on this?