(Photo: Yuri Gripas/AFP/Getty Images)

Maybe you’ve heard a little something about Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife (Random House; September 2). But the flurry of press this summer that focused on the book’s salacious bits completely missed the point. (What modern novel about marriage wouldn’t include a sex scene?) This isn’t a roman à clef about George and Laura Bush; it’s more like a historical novel written just a tad prematurely. As for its treatment of W., he comes off most of the time as a nice guy who was unlucky enough to become president. Or as First Lady Alice puts it, “All I did is marry him. You are the ones who gave him power.”

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• Archive: “Guides”
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