Books Set in the United States: Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

American Wife, by Curtis Sittenfled (2008)

This novel is a not-so-thinly disguised fictional account of Laura Bush’s life before and after meeting George Bush, although in the book, they appear as Alice Lindgren and Charlie Blackwell. The novel is written in 4 parts. In the first part, we meet Alice Lindgren as a young girl who comes from a working-class background.  In Part 2, she meets and marries Charlie Blackwell. Charlie is the buffoon of his family and a drunkard.  In Part 3, Charlie is pushed into politics and Alice learns to be a politician’s wife. By Part 4, Charlie has been elected President of the United States and Alice must learn to navigate her political convictions and beliefs while not compromising her husband’s policy positions.

The first part was an interesting view into young Alice’s life.  She is a likable and moral character.  She has a crush on young Andrew Imhof.  Throughout high school, Alice has her eye on Andrew.  Later, when she is in high school, she is driving the car that causes an accident that kills Andrew.  This is a turning point in Alice’s life.  The decisions she makes within the next few months will impact her life and have repercussions years later.

Alice becomes a librarian and meets Charlie. He comes across as a jerk.  What the smart, articulate Alice sees in Charlie strains the imagination.  After having been together for a mere 6 weeks, they become engaged.  He is from a rich, privileged family from Wisconsin whose family is in the meat-packing business.  Charlie has no flair for business, so goes into politics.  Alice isn’t so enthused about this, but thinks that it will be a one-shot trial into that field.

When Charlie becomes President, Alice has learned to keep her political opinions to herself, although she is a Democrat and her husband has Republican values.  She keeps things to herself until forced to confront an important issue.  Will her actions, she wonders, jeopardize her husband’s career.

I found the first and fourth part of the novel to be interesting.  The middle sections were just plain frustrating.  Charlie was such an unlikable character.  What was the attraction between to two.  They seemed to have no intellectual common interests.

It was somewhat interesting to read this book in today’s political climate.  Although written in 2008, the issues raised in this novel are the same as what we are reading today.

Read:  June 28, 2019

2 Stars

Books Set in the United States: Oklahoma and California

Mary Coin, by Marisa Silver (2013)

The cover photograph is the famous photograph by Dorothea Lange entitled Migrant Mother ~ the mother and baby taken during the Depression in 1936.  At the time, Dorothea Lange was working for the United States’ Farm Security Administration and taking pictures as part of the work program.

Mary Coin is a novel based on this photograph. In the novel, Vera Dare is the photographer, and Mary Coin is the mother.  Mary was of a poor family living in Oklahoma in the 1920s, shortly before the Dust Bowl.  She falls in love with Toby Coin, and at age 17, marries him and begins her family.  Toby was of poor health and quickly dies, leaving Mary with a growing family.  She moves from place to place finding work in farms so to feed her family, ultimately finding her way to California.

The novel spans nearly 100 years, from Mary’s early life to the present day.  The novel opens in present day with Walker Dodge emptying his father’s house after his father died.  Walker is a history professor with little knowledge of his own family’s history.  He meticulously goes through his late father’s possessions in hopes of learning more of his mysterious grandfather.

Then we switch to Mary and her life.  The book describes the life of the migrant worker. One day, Vera comes across Mary as she is holding her new born, pondering how to get her broken down car started.  Vera asks to take her photograph.  Mary agrees, but doesn’t really know what she is agreeing to.

Soon the photograph is plastered in all the papers. Years later, Mary locates the photographer and, thinking Vera made money off the picture, makes a plea for funds. This briefly touches upon ownership issues of work done at the behest of a governmental entity.  It would have been interesting to have explored this issue in more detail.

The novel does, however, explore how lives touch and become intertwined.  It was interesting, but not one of my favorite books.

Read:  June 15, 2019

3 Stars