Rodham
Fiction
Random House
May 19, 2020
Hardcover
432
Purchased
In 1971, Hillary Rodham is a young woman full of promise: Life magazine has covered her Wellesley commencement speech, she’s attending Yale Law School, and she’s on the forefront of student activism and the women’s rights movement. And then she meets Bill Clinton. A handsome, charismatic southerner and fellow law student, Bill is already planning his political career. In each other, the two find a profound intellectual, emotional, and physical connection that neither has previously experienced.
In the real world, Hillary followed Bill back to Arkansas, and he proposed several times; although she said no more than once, as we all know, she eventually accepted and became Hillary Clinton.
But in Curtis Sittenfeld’s powerfully imagined tour-de-force of fiction, Hillary takes a different road. Feeling doubt about the prospective marriage, she endures their devastating breakup and leaves Arkansas. Over the next four decades, she blazes her own trail—one that unfolds in public as well as in private, that involves crossing paths again (and again) with Bill Clinton, that raises questions about the tradeoffs all of us must make in building a life.
My review:
This was one of my most anticipated books of the spring, and I had a feeling it could be very polarizing even if you were a Hillary fan (which I am). Much as with another polarizing book published this year (I'm looking at you American Dirt), I feel you must keep in mind that this is fiction based on historical facts. The first part of the book focuses on Hillary's early days from her Wesleyan speech to her courtship with Bill. It then takes a turn to her life without him, and what her life and political career (and to a lesser extent his) would have looked like. It's at this point that you just have to go with the flow that the author created, either you find it intriguing as I did, or you label it fan fiction (as I've seen lots of reviewers do). For the most part I read it as a fictional story, although I do think that Sittenfeld did a great job with the voices of all the major players, I could hear them speaking the dialog! Her characterization of Trump at the end was pure gold! One of my favorite scenes was during a tv interview with Bill, and Hillary was sitting at home arm chair coaching what should have been said. I could just hear her voice! The only minor faults I have were that it dragged a bit in the middle, and there was a bit too much sex for my taste. Fiction or not, these are real people, and I could definitely see why those labeling it as fan fiction went there. I'm going to give those things a pass because overall I really did enjoy this one.
Probably take a pass on this one if you aren't a Hillary fan, I can't say you'll like the way it ends, or even how it gets there. However if you are a tiny bit interested in a would have/ could have story, this one is worth it.
This one has been on my radar for a while now too, though I've been hesitant to dive into a political book. From your review, it sounds like I would really enjoy it!