Curtis Sittenfield's novel based on Laura Bush's life started off strong, but did not end the same way. The early years of Alice Blackwell's life and marriage were intersting and strung together well. In many ways she explained better than most anything else I've read how much a single event can change your life. The one night or event that shapes how one can see everything. The tactic is something I plan on remembering for when I write about my own stories--if there is one event, like the genisis of everything else.
Alice and Charlie fell in love easily and quickly and in a believable way. Yet, the later years were a bit less believable--perhaps because Sittenfield didn't have the personal material to finish the characterization, yet had political material. How would it feel to be a liberal living in the pro-war White House? Sittenfield's ideas do not quite get to me in the same ways that the earlier portion does.
Sittenfield's broad narrative is chronological with plenty of flashbacks througout that focus on earlier problems or conversations Alice has. The narrative style became quite tedious during the final portion when the entire story was flashback for the most part. Also, some parts of the story seemed a bit too neat for reality.
Overall, I enjoyed the story quite a bit.
0 comments:
Post a Comment