Nicole Abadie

And I just had a real, I'm just really intrigued by Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton as this sort of power political couple.

And I thought it was, I was absolutely enamored by Curtis and Field's ability to just sort of reenact those early years of Hillary's life.

I was absolutely captivated by that.

I certainly didn't feel it was caricatured, but I do think certain elements were sort of whisked over, obviously, because this isn't an autobiography and where Sittenfeld doesn't want to sit the author or marinate in these sort of duller passages of Hilary's life.

But I really thought that was very true to what I'd read about Hilary in the books that she'd written about her own life, just sort of sped along a little bit for the sake of the narrative momentum.

I think you're right.

I think Curtis Settenfield is channeling authentic conversations that certainly we weren't privy to, but certainly that you can only assume happened between Bill and Hillary during those really tumultuous moments.

Curtis Settenfield, as she's proven time and time again in her fiction, she sort of manages to implant herself in these rooms and these conversations between two real characters.

And even though the dialogue is fictional, I think she captures precisely what

the conversations Bill and Hillary were having during those tumultuous moments of their relationship when Bill had done these misdemeanors.

And you can only imagine that Hillary was wondering whether their relationship was sustainable, not just from a personal point of view or from a family point of view, but in terms of her own aspirations to further her career in politics as well.

I do think it's interesting that Curtis Sittenfield doesn't necessarily hide the fact that Hillary Clinton has a fairly rigid personality, at least as a public persona.

I think she sort of leans into it a little bit and doesn't, you know, present this Hillary in this alternate universe as anything but what she has shown herself to be, you know, in the real world.

I just think it's a brilliant book.

It's a brilliant portrait of an amazing person.

Kurt has done an amazing job humanizing someone that we're not often given a chance to sort of warm up to.

I have indeed.

I am just so drawn to her characters.

I just find them so poignant and always rendered with this sort of unique blend of melancholy and warmheartedness that is just so distinctly Anne Tyler's style.

I just think no one writes like her.