Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld was one of my most anticipated books of the summer. It will definitely be a polarizing book and I don’t think this is a book that everyone would enjoy. I’m excited to share my thoughts today to help you decide whether it’s something you’d find interesting and would like.
Synopsis
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.
Rating
4 Stars (An Excellent Book!)
My Thoughts
This book will be very polarizing! Some people will love it and some will hate it. I think it would be a great book club pick and one that will encourage lots of discussion. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn’t wait to find out how it ended!
I was completely invested in the story and really enjoyed the re-imagining not only of what Hillary’s life would look like but the results in our elections. Would we have had a female president elected? You’ll have to read to find out!
If you dislike Hillary Clinton this book is not for you. The book is told from Hillary’s point of view and also at times it was quite steamy. I appreciated that Sittenfeld had Hillary make some questionable choices at times, however I know Hillary haters will not like this book so in that case don’t read it.
I enjoyed the book’s take on Female ambition, marriage, the compromises women have to make and our political climate. It had been a while since I had highlighted so many passages in a book! I found myself googling a lot of things to see if they were actually true (since parts of the book are based on real life events). Overall I think this was a very entertaining and thought provoking book!
Who I recommend this book to
I recommend this book to anyone interested in “what ifs”, if you don’t hate Hillary Clinton and if you are interested in politics. Definitely recommend this book as a book club pick!
I really want to talk about this book with people that have read it so let me know if you have. Would love to hear your thoughts. Rodham is out tomorrow May 19! Get it from Bookshop.org here or Amazon here.
