lily
07-09-2008, 12:07 AM
What a hoot! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25588880/):lmao:
Steamy novel based on Laura Bush stirs controversy
Curtis Sittenfeld's 'American Wife' has sexy scenes with fictional president
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 2:01 p.m. ET, Tues., July. 8, 2008
There's no question that Laura Bush provided the inspiration for protagonist
in Curtis Sittenfeld's upcoming novel, "American Wife." And although the
tale Sittenfeld concocts is almost pure fiction, there's enough of the first
lady in it to already have created a sensation in Washington, D.C.
Radaronline.com called "American Wife" "a thinly veiled novel based on Laura
Bush's life that is sure to send the White House into a fury."
A review of the plot synopsis and several lurid excerpts posted on Radar's
site show why. Alice Blackwell, the title character, is a single child who
grows up to be a librarian. A Democrat, she falls for the roguish son of a
privileged family of Republican bluebloods. As a high school student, she
kills a classmate in a traffic accident. As a young woman, she has an
illegal abortion and discovers her grandmother is a lesbian. And she
describes in graphic detail sex with the president of the United States, a
man whose policies she comes to utterly disagree with but whom she continues
to love.
The sex scenes, which are too graphic to reprint here, include a loving
description of the presidential plumbing and musings on his "cute little
butt."
"On the gossip front, the novel doesn't disappoint," writes Radaronline.com.
"Alice's antics are sure to have tongues chattering from coast to coast."
Steamy sections
One such episode involves discovering her grandmother's secret love for a
female doctor. In one of the Radaronline.com excerpts, Alice narrates:
"...I stepped instead into the living room, and just before I crossed the
threshold, I heard my grandmother's laughter, and just after I heard her
laughter, I saw her sitting on Dr. Wycomb's lap, kissing Dr. Wycomb on the
lips.
"Dr. Wycomb was dressed in a burgundy silk bathrobe; my grandmother was
wearing a beige bra and a beige half-slip trimmed with lace. She was facing
Dr. Wycomb, and their mouths were open a little and their eyes were closed,
and the kiss went on for several seconds and had not yet stopped when I
backed out.... I had to leave the apartment; there was no alternative.
"[...] Approaching the nearer vase, I pushed aside the greens and then I
vomited-hideously, pungently, gloriously - into the vase's depths."
Sittenfeld, a young novelist schooled at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, has
published two best-sellers: "Prep," a tale of prep-school life that has been
called an updated and female version of J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the
Rye," and "The Man of My Dreams." Critically praised, she's shown a talent
for taking real people and places and dressing them up in fictional
clothing.
Facts and fiction
She does that with Alice Blackwell, taking some actual facts about Laura and
President Bush and then letting her imagination run wild. Laura Bush
actually was a librarian, and, as a 17-year-old high school girl, she ran a
stop sign in rural Texas and crashed into another car. The occupant, a
highly popular athlete and her classmate, was killed.
Buoyed by those few facts, readers are expected to gobble up the rest in the
book, which is being published by Random House in time for the Republican
National Convention in early September.
The synopsis on the publisher's Web site hints at the conflicts faced by
Alice Blackwell:
"As Alice learns to make her way amid the clannish energy and smug
confidence of the Blackwell family, navigating the strange rituals of their
country club and summer estate, she remains uneasy with her newfound good
fortune. And when Charlie eventually becomes President, Alice is thrust into
a position she did not seek - one of power and influence, privilege and
responsibility. As Charlie's tumultuous and controversial second term in the
White House wears on, Alice must face contradictions years in the making:
How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How
complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do
when her private beliefs run against her public persona?"
Steamy novel based on Laura Bush stirs controversy
Curtis Sittenfeld's 'American Wife' has sexy scenes with fictional president
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 2:01 p.m. ET, Tues., July. 8, 2008
There's no question that Laura Bush provided the inspiration for protagonist
in Curtis Sittenfeld's upcoming novel, "American Wife." And although the
tale Sittenfeld concocts is almost pure fiction, there's enough of the first
lady in it to already have created a sensation in Washington, D.C.
Radaronline.com called "American Wife" "a thinly veiled novel based on Laura
Bush's life that is sure to send the White House into a fury."
A review of the plot synopsis and several lurid excerpts posted on Radar's
site show why. Alice Blackwell, the title character, is a single child who
grows up to be a librarian. A Democrat, she falls for the roguish son of a
privileged family of Republican bluebloods. As a high school student, she
kills a classmate in a traffic accident. As a young woman, she has an
illegal abortion and discovers her grandmother is a lesbian. And she
describes in graphic detail sex with the president of the United States, a
man whose policies she comes to utterly disagree with but whom she continues
to love.
The sex scenes, which are too graphic to reprint here, include a loving
description of the presidential plumbing and musings on his "cute little
butt."
"On the gossip front, the novel doesn't disappoint," writes Radaronline.com.
"Alice's antics are sure to have tongues chattering from coast to coast."
Steamy sections
One such episode involves discovering her grandmother's secret love for a
female doctor. In one of the Radaronline.com excerpts, Alice narrates:
"...I stepped instead into the living room, and just before I crossed the
threshold, I heard my grandmother's laughter, and just after I heard her
laughter, I saw her sitting on Dr. Wycomb's lap, kissing Dr. Wycomb on the
lips.
"Dr. Wycomb was dressed in a burgundy silk bathrobe; my grandmother was
wearing a beige bra and a beige half-slip trimmed with lace. She was facing
Dr. Wycomb, and their mouths were open a little and their eyes were closed,
and the kiss went on for several seconds and had not yet stopped when I
backed out.... I had to leave the apartment; there was no alternative.
"[...] Approaching the nearer vase, I pushed aside the greens and then I
vomited-hideously, pungently, gloriously - into the vase's depths."
Sittenfeld, a young novelist schooled at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, has
published two best-sellers: "Prep," a tale of prep-school life that has been
called an updated and female version of J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the
Rye," and "The Man of My Dreams." Critically praised, she's shown a talent
for taking real people and places and dressing them up in fictional
clothing.
Facts and fiction
She does that with Alice Blackwell, taking some actual facts about Laura and
President Bush and then letting her imagination run wild. Laura Bush
actually was a librarian, and, as a 17-year-old high school girl, she ran a
stop sign in rural Texas and crashed into another car. The occupant, a
highly popular athlete and her classmate, was killed.
Buoyed by those few facts, readers are expected to gobble up the rest in the
book, which is being published by Random House in time for the Republican
National Convention in early September.
The synopsis on the publisher's Web site hints at the conflicts faced by
Alice Blackwell:
"As Alice learns to make her way amid the clannish energy and smug
confidence of the Blackwell family, navigating the strange rituals of their
country club and summer estate, she remains uneasy with her newfound good
fortune. And when Charlie eventually becomes President, Alice is thrust into
a position she did not seek - one of power and influence, privilege and
responsibility. As Charlie's tumultuous and controversial second term in the
White House wears on, Alice must face contradictions years in the making:
How can she both love and fundamentally disagree with her husband? How
complicit has she been in the trajectory of her own life? What should she do
when her private beliefs run against her public persona?"