Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

'Laura Bush' No Conservative in New Novel

Character has an abortion, describes sex with future president

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 7, 2008 4:44 PM CDT

(Newser) – In a new book unlikely to top the presidential reading list, author Curtis Sittenfeld fictionalizes the story of Laura Bush. Radar got a sneak peek and calls the novel "a masterful highbrow-lowbrow mash-up." The narrator is a librarian who falls in love with a future president upon seeing his crotch, undergoes an abortion, and has steamy sex with the brother of her high school sweetheart (who dies in a car crash she causes).

The narrator’s reaction upon discovering her grandmother is a lesbian: “Approaching the nearer vase, I pushed aside the greens and then I vomited—hideously, pungently, gloriously—into the vase's depths.”

In this photo released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, U.S. first lady Laura Bush drinks Japanese tea.
In this photo released by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, U.S. first lady Laura Bush drinks Japanese tea.   (AP Photo/Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, HO)
US President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush, right, wave on Air Force One.
US President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush, right, wave on Air Force One.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Author Curtis Sittenfeld
Author Curtis Sittenfeld   (Ryan Kurtz/Cincinnati Magazine via curtissittenfeld.com)
The cover of American Wife
The cover of American Wife   (Random House)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
To report an error on this story, notify our editors.
A snapshot of the day's best news stories.
 
COMMENTS
Be the first to comment on this story.

More Newser Stories

Let's Celebrate Sex in Literature

Laura Bush: I'm Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay Marriage

Is Incest Always Rape?

What Gets Women Hot to Trot?

Japan Fetes Genji , World's First Novel, at 1,000


NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne