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American Wife

By Ashley Simpson Shires, Special to the Rocky

Published September 4, 2008 at 7 p.m.

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Curtis Sittenfeld has created a cast of fascinating characters in her third novel.

Photo by Ryan Kurtz / Cincinnati Magazine

Curtis Sittenfeld has created a cast of fascinating characters in her third novel.

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* Fiction. By Curtis Sittenfeld. Random House, $26. Grade: A

Plot in a nutshell: Sittenfeld, author of two successful novels, Prep and The Man of My Dreams, has outdone herself in her latest work. American Wife is a bold experiment inspired by the life of first lady Laura Bush, a fictionalized story incorporating many well-known events from Bush's life.

Sittenfeld's protagonist, Alice Lindgren, is a quiet, unassuming librarian, married to a man who becomes president of the United States. The first section of the book focuses on Alice's middle-class childhood in Riley, Wis. As Alice enters her senior year in high school, she drives to a party, misses a stop sign and crashes into another car. As she crawls through the wreckage, she realizes that she has killed Andrew Imhof, her classmate and longtime crush. This tragedy will continue to haunt Alice for the rest of her life.

The second section picks up as Alice turns 30. She has moved to Madison, where she works as an elementary school librarian. After several fascinating plot twists involving the Imhof family, Alice meets congressional candidate Charlie Blackwell. They are married several months later.

In the third part of the novel, the couple moves to a suburb of Milwaukee. As Charlie's drinking becomes a problem, Alice considers divorce. Charlie surprises everyone, though, by becoming a sober, born-again Christian. He stays faithful to this new lifestyle in the final section, in which Alice, as first lady, reflects on the improbable and unexpected course of her life. The war is raging in Iraq and her husband's Supreme Court nominee might make it possible for the court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Just then, a dark secret from the Imhof tragedy emerges, threatening to unravel Alice's complicity with both her husband and the Republican Party. She finally asks herself: How did she get to this point? Can she continue to live a life in opposition to itself?

Sample of prose: "At the reception, when Charlie was talking to my mother, I went and sat down by my grandmother . . . [She] was surveying the room, smoking a cigarette. . . . 'It's a swell family you've married into,' she said. We looked at each other, and she added, 'They're lucky to get you.' "

Pros: Sittenfeld does a brilliant job with her characters; they are fascinating and complex, resisting stereotypes and preconceptions. The story line, too, is intriguing. Sittenfeld draws on real events, but the novel is definitely a work of fiction, an imaginative roller coaster, full of unexpected twists and turns.

Cons: None

Final word: American Wife is an incredible achievement: thought-provoking and utterly engrossing. It reveals a humanity and complexity that crosses party lines.