My own thoughts...

Okay. So I have admittedly not yet finished reading American Wife. I fully intend to finish, but I have some thoughts and I have some quiet time as my family is still asleep and I have been awake all night.

First, the story has turned out to be interesting. I feel like Alice is a woman that many women can identify with. The female perspective is often so different from the male perspective. I don't think this adversity between Alice and Charlie is different from most other marriages. Alice has very strong feelings about certain issues. Despite them being different from those of her ultimately very powerful husband, she manages to hold on to those ideals. She has a very philanthropic spirit which I personally find admirable and inspiring. She is dedicated to being a respectable person and despite the life of privelege she is able to provide her daughter she feels compelled to insure that her daughter understands these values.She is able to accept her own faults and failures in life and and takes full responsibility for them even when she is not so much to blame.

I think any woman who has ever been married and genuinely in love with her husband can relate to the feelings she has for Charlie. I often wondered while reading this book whether her feelings were close to reflecting those of Laura Bush. Even though I know it is largely fiction, I would like to think that George W. is close in character to his persona in the book. It makes me feel more sympathetic toward him.

That brings me to thoughts of one's personal legacy. Charlie struggled with this idea. He had such a strong desire to have a greater impact on the world. To feel as though he was something more than ordinary. I think Alice struggled with this too. I don't think she really felt any different. I think she was envious of his ability to indulge himself in these thoughts. She had been forced to relinquish her own quest for a meaningful legacy when she chose to marry Charlie. She says to him during their brief separation, "I Know you've struggled with getting older... I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's such a thing as suffering quietly." She always felt as though she had to make certain sacrifices and that he should be willing to sacrifice as well. And then Mrs. Blackwell opens her eyes to a version of Charlie she had never seen.

One thing I really liked about this book is the many different types of women there were. You had Dorothy and Emilie and Gladys Wycomb. You had Dena the jealous floozy. You had Mrs. Blackwell and the varied sisters-in-law. You had Ruby and Yvonne and then Jessica who turned out to be just remarkable. All of these women who shaped her life and pushed or pulled her in a different direction.And yet the two people that had the greatest impact on her life were the two men, Andrew and Charlie.

Another way I think we can identify with Alice is I believe we all have our own personal tragedies. No matter how big or small, we all feel like we have some source of shame or guilt that must be hidden. Alice allowed her personal tragedy to steer her course for such a large part of her life. I think on some level she never felt like she truly deserved happiness. She always felt guilty for the way her life had worked out.

I struggled with reading this book and as I said before, I still have yet to finish it. I believe this is because of the perspective from which it was written. It is entirely in the first person point-of-view and only in her voice. It seems to be almost monotone. At times I would hear "blah, blah, blah" in my head while reading. I much prefer to hear the voices and perspectives of multiple characters throughout a book to a single perspective.

There, of course, is much more that I could say on several of these topics, but I don't really need to re-write the book for you. I may try to reflect on some of the discussion questions once I'm finished with the reading.

I do hope the next book we choose is a little easier to read.

Thoughts on American Wife

We weren't able to have an official November meeting to discuss American Wife because one member was out of town and another was sick.

Here are the questions that came with the book (maybe we can leave some comments via the blog to discuss our thoughts):

1. The novel opens and closes with Alice wondering if she’s made terrible mistakes. Do you think she has? If so, what are they?

2. Alice’s grandmother passes down her love of reading. How else is Alice influenced by her grandmother?

3. Why does Andrew remain such an important figure to Alice, even decades later? Do you think they would have ended up together under different circumstances?

4. To what do you attribute Dena’s anger at what she calls Alice’s betrayal? Do you believe her anger is justified?

5. Is Charlie a likable character? Can you understand Alice’s attraction to him?

6. Does Alice compromise herself and her ideals during her marriage, or does she realistically alter her behavior and expectations in order to preserve the most important relationship in her life?

7. Were you surprised by the scene between Alice and Joe at the Princeton reunion? Why do you think it happened?

8. What would you have done in Alice’s situation at the end of the novel? Do you think it was wrong of her to take the stance she did?

9. How do you think Laura Bush would react to this novel if she read it?

Reviews of American Wife

I thought it would be interesting to read what others have said about American Wife.
Here are few articles to review (if you like):

• The First Lady in the New York Times by Joyce Carol Oates
• American Wife in Entertainment Weekly by Jennifer Reese
• GoodReads.com reviews (collection of many reviews, some positive, others not)

I'm looking forward to our discussion next week because I have really mixed feelings about this book. For some reason, I expected to love all of our book club choices...and here with #2, I can see this might not be so!