What if Hillary Rodham had never married Bill Clinton? That’s the question Curtis Sittenfeld poses in her latest novel “Rodham.” The author, who wrote about Laura Bush in “American Wife,” begins her novel in 1971 when Life magazine covers Rodham’s Wellesley commencement speech. Later, she attends Yale Law School, and meets and dates Bill Clinton. The author changes history by having Hilary reject Bill’s marriage proposal. Instead, she builds her own political future without him.
Sittenfeld seamlessly blends facts with fiction, managing to give us a greater understanding of Hilary and the political arena.
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http://www.everydayiwritethebookblog.com/2020/05/rodham-by-curtis-sittenfeld/

Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the most scrutinized, analyzed and discussed public figures in the world. Most of us are pretty familiar with her narrative at this point, from her Yale Law School days through her years in Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor, her 8 years as First Lady, and then her post-White House career as senator from New York, Secretary of State, and candidate for U.S. President. But what if that narrative had taken a very different turn? What if Hillary had turned down Bill’s multiple marriage proposals? How would her career have turned out? Would she have run for office, and would she have won? This is the subject of Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest novel, Rodham.

I liked Rodham and found it engaging and thought-provoking. Sittenfeld is a master storyteller, and she doesn’t disappoint in this latest book. There’s a lot to unpack here – Hillary’s relationship with Bill, the origins of her public service career, the misogyny she has faced from the beginning of her professional life. The book is very sympathetic to Hillary, offering her perspective on some of the statements that have dogged her for years (remember the “home baking cookies” comment?) and expressing her own confusion over why she often provoked such enmity. And of course, it’s interesting to think about the ways in which our history would have changed if Hillary hadn’t taken the path she had: the elections she would have fun for, the offices she could have held, the presidencies (ahem!) she could have prevented. I had to remind myself often of Sittenfeld’s timeline, replacing history in my mind with this new fact pattern.

I did have a few issues with Rodham First, I am not sure Sittenfeld sufficiently made the case for why Hillary was so polarizing beyond just being an accomplished, smart woman. Without Whitewater, her failed health care reform and the scandal of Bill’s presidency, the foundation for why she was so hated by the time she ran for president was a little shaky. Second, I think Bill gets a raw deal here. (This Bill is pretty awful.) I mean, the man has flaws, but there were some great things about Bill Clinton. And finally, Trump plays a role here too – not the one he’s in now, thank god, but one that felt inconsistent with the rest of the book. (Sittenfeld does portray him pretty accurately, though.)

Overall, Rodham was a very good read. It kept my attention and I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I finished it. I will read anything Sittenfeld writes, but I did seek this one out and was particularly excited to read it. It’s well-researched and never boring. And it will certainly get you riled up by the end, angry at the way women are treated in politics, the double standards and the extra hoops women jump through that men don’t even think about.

Wonderful book. I reviewed it for The Boston Globe here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/05/14/arts/new-novel-rodham-imagines-hillary-without-bill/

There are few literary questions I find more engaging than “What if?” I’ve always been drawn to narratives that offer a glimpse at an alternative version of our world, guessing at what might have been had something – anything, really – been different.

These questions tend to be more the purview of speculative fiction, but sometimes become devices used in the telling of altogether different kinds of stories.

That’s the category in which “Rodham,” the latest from bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld, falls, a book that asks and answers a singular question:

What if Hillary Rodham never married Bill Clinton?

From this fundamental premise, a complex and inventive narrative unfolds, spread over three time periods – the early ‘70s, the early ‘90s and the 2016 presidential campaign – following the career of Hillary Rodham as she works her way through the American political landscape of the last half-century. Sittenfeld offers a portrait of a political life unlived, one that paints an engaging and sometimes surprising picture of what might have been.

We start with Hillary’s graduation from Wellesley in 1969. At the time, her speech at commencement – the first-ever by a student at the school – received a good deal of attention, including national coverage. We follow her to Yale Law School, where she carves out a niche for herself as one of the brightest minds at the institution, though many of her peers and professors still carried some less-than-enlightened views regards a woman’s capabilities.

It was there that she met and fell for a young man in the year behind her, a genial Southern charmer by the name of Bill Clinton. His combination of good looks, brains and aw-shucks charisma made him an object of much desire, but to Hillary’s surprise, he seeks to be with her. Their relationship is impassioned and stimulating, with each confessing their ambitions to the other (Bill’s in particular were grand goals). As a couple, their future seemed to be unlimited.

She followed him to Arkansas, where he sought to begin his political career, taking a teaching job at the University of Arkansas law school. In their time there, he proposed several times, with Hillary putting him off. And here we have our point of divergence: instead of eventually accepting Bill’s proposal and wedding him, she embraces her doubts and breaks off their relationship.

From there, a new and different path unfolds in front of Hillary Rodham. It’s a path that sees plenty of similarities – time in the Senate, presidential campaigns, etc. – but numerous differences as well … and not just for her. The changes wrought by that one decision reverberate throughout a significant portion of American history, a near-half-century that puts some familiar figures in unfamiliar places (including a few that are VERY unfamiliar).

And in the midst of it all is Hillary Rodham, a woman who is building a career – and living a life – that is undeniably her own.

“Rodham” is an interesting reading experience. This version of Hillary Rodham serves as the narrator of her own story; Sittenfeld endows her with a distinct voice, one consistent with what we know of her life but also very much its own. Hillary as character is certainly engaging, with an inner life defined largely by her devotion to the law and public service. All in all, this version of Hillary feels plausible, meaning that “Rodham” clears the most onerous obstacle to its success.

What Sittenfeld has created is essentially an alternative rendering of American history. The ripple effects of Hillary refusing Bill’s proposal are wide-ranging, leaving a number of important political figures to land in very different positions; one of the things we get during the jump from the early ‘90s to 2015 is a listing of U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents from 1988 through 2012 – a listing that bears some significant differences from our own. All of it through the eyes of a person with the intelligence and savvy to offer a compelling view of it all.

This isn’t Sittenfeld’s first go-round in imagining the interior life of a prominent American political figure, having offered up a fictionalized take on Laura Bush in 2008’s “American Wife,” though this one benefits from eschewing the cosmetic changes and embracing Hillary as a real person. Sittenfeld’s Hillary is smart and observant, a good person with good intentions who is also a cunning political animal that occasionally succumbs to cynicism. And the history that unfolds along the way is well-constructed and thoroughly thought out; every shift makes sense in the grander scheme, both in terms of the individuals involved and the overall political structure.

It doesn’t hurt that Sittenfeld can put together some gorgeous sentences, exquisitely evoking the internal self-policing that comes part and parcel with being a powerful woman; she finds the words for the delicate dance on the wire, where one side is “shrill” and the other “slut.”

Now, “Rodham” might not be as immersive as it could be. At times, it feels as though the two big pieces of the book – Hillary as an individual and the world in which she operates – just miss connecting. Both are strong when viewed on their own, but there are definitely some connective misses. It’s also worth noting that while Sittenfeld’s explorations of Hillary’s personal life are engaging for sure, they don’t always connect to the larger picture as cleanly or clearly as they might.

It’s interesting to see the speculative “What if?” being addressed in this way, with the sort of literary sophistication that you don’t always get from alternative history – particularly when dealing with real-life figures with whom we have a longstanding familiarity. Yes, “Rodham” has its issues, but they are largely outweighed by a thorough and compelling portrait of what Hillary might have become and a political world brought forth with real verisimilitude.

All in all? I’m with her.

An interesting concept and take on an alternate reality. It is an unique read that surprised me several times.

I didn’t actually finish this book because it simply wasn’t in my interest category. That does not take away from the quality of the writing, or the relevance to someone else’s enjoyment of the book; it is simply not to my particular taste. I have recommended the title to other people who do have interest in this particular genre because I know they will enjoy it.

Do you remember what Jeff Goldbum’s character in Jurassic Park says right after they have the grand tour of the dangerous reanimated dinosaurs?

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

That is the line that kept repeating in my head as I read Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham. Meant to be a compelling exploration of “what if?”, Rodham sets out to answer the questions that many of us have wondered: What if Hillary had never married Bill? Would she have pursued her own aspirations first and foremost? Would we have had a female president even sooner than we thought possible? Would it have changed anything? Though the premise is intriguing, what could have been a feminist-glass-ceiling-shattering novel or at the very least a complexity-adding novel turned out to be poorly written fanfiction you’d find on a blog with MySpace level HTML. It’s just bad.

Rodham begins with our fictionalized Hillary and her iconic 1969 Student Commencement speech at Wellesley College. Hillary has a speech perfectly planned out but when Senator Edward Brooke spoke before her and avoided talking about anything of importance like recent protests, the Vietnam War, or civil rights, Hillary decided to open up her speech with an improvised but fiery response. Opening with a scene as strong as this one shows us that even though Sittenfeld is going to venture into uncharted territory, she’s going to root the beginning very much in reality.

This comes into importance later when Hillary meets Bill at Yale. It’s definitely a meet-cute and includes a romantic replay of their first date. Bill is charming and kind and Hillary is amazed to find a man interested in her mind and her body. But this is where things begin to get strange. As Sittenfeld paves the various stages of their relationship, she makes the baffling decision to include graphic descriptions of their sex life. With almost any love story, there’s going to be sex. If you’re lucky, it’ll even be steamy sex. But depictions of Hillary and Bill’s sexual encounters are less like a literary fiction look into the growing and deepening of a relationship, and more like a tattered 80s romance novel complete with Bill as Fabio and Hillary as a windswept vixen. This particular passage comes to mind:

“‘Please don’t get pulled over,’ I said, and after that I really couldn’t speak. I was writhing against his fingers. I lasted about two minutes, and then I was saying as quietly as I could, ‘Oh, baby. Bill. Bill. Baby, I love you so much.’ He stopped moving his fingers and just cupped me and I whimpered incoherently.”

With each sex scene, I asked myself why the author would include these in her book. More importantly, why would the author even imagine them in the first place? Reading them felt like repeatedly walking in on your parents having sex, I’m sure writing them didn’t feel any less embarrassing. And why oh why does she keep using the word “plunge”? I tried my best to narrow it down to a few reasons and this is what I was able to come up with:
The author wanted to shock and awe the reader
The author wanted to showcase Hillary as a modern, sex positive woman
The author wanted to allude to the possibility of Bill Clinton having a sex addiction by talking about just how often he wanted it
The author wanted to explain why it was so hard for Hillary to leave, the sex was just too good

However, even as I cycled through these options over and over again, I realized none of them fit. The real answer is hidden option E) Exploitation. It’s exploitive to write about their sex life. Hillary Clinton has had so many aspects of her life on public display for our consumption. She’s had her highs and her lows happen right in public view. She had to go through the turmoil of her husband’s infidelity on a very public stage. Even if Hillary Rodham in this novel is a fictionalized account, shouldn’t some things be left off the record? Shouldn’t our Hillary get to keep something to herself, something not speculated on?

Eventually after blushing our way through their relationship, we come to the big break in the story. The moment where the story we know meets two roads diverged in a wood and Sittenfeld chooses the most bizarre one possible.

The second half starts off with the breakup we all saw coming. Our two lovebirds part after Hillary decides not to move into the red brick tudor in Arkansas and decides not to marry Bill. The story then jumps swiftly ahead and when we meet up with Hillary many years later, she is still thinking of that man from Arkansas. Instead of humanizing her, this just feels like the literary equivalent of Brienne of Tarth standing in her nightgown and crying over Jamie-Fookin’-Lannister. She has a weird hand-holding affair with a married man. Any accomplishments she’s achieved thus far post-Bill are glazed over and never focused on too closely. When Sittenfeld had Hillary running for Senate and thinking of a Presidential candidacy, a part of me hoped that this story was finally getting back on track.

Unfortunately, the novel quickly declines into a Twilight Zone parallel universe complete with a 2015 Donald Trump using his quick-tweet fingers to come out in support of Hillary. Yes, you and I both read that right. Even in a fictionalized story, we are not immune to Donald Trump. Obviously, I enjoyed anytime a character brought up Trump and followed it with a snarky comment on how stupid or conceited he was, but no matter how many times you have him say the word “huge,” this isn’t believable in the slightest.

But that’s not even the craziest part. That comes later when we find out who she is running against in the Democratic Primary. Bill Clinton. The man we’re supposed to be imagining Hillary’s life without is someone still dogging her steps. It’s Bill Clinton who faces sexual allegations and still gets votes. It’s Bill Clinton that Hillary has to debate while worrying about sounding too emotional. It’s Bill Clinton whose supporters start a damaging and hurtful chant about Hillary. This time chanting “Shut her up!” instead of “Lock her up!”

Not only does this feel like a plot stretch of Freddie vs. Jason proportions, it’s incredibly frustrating. I know that even a fictionalized version of Hillary running for office would include a showdown with a privileged white male, but why make it Bill? It doesn’t serve a purpose other than being the strangest love-to-hate story of all time. Sittenfeld can imagine a world in which Hillary didn’t marry Bill, but apparently she’s unable to imagine a world in which Hillary is truly free of him.

Speaking of privilege, there’s also problematic elements in this novel that are never fully explored. Hillary chooses not to run for Senate, moving aside for a Black woman candidate, but then ultimately gets back in the race because she doesn’t believe the other woman has a shot of winning. There’s even a scene where Hillary ruminates over a possible Obama presidency and thinks “I found the news irritating and - because of his relative lack of national experience, race, quirky upbringing, and strange name - not particularly threatening.” Hillary goes on to tell a Black female friend of hers that it’s “not about race.” Exploring Hillary’s white privilege could’ve been an important and complex layer in this story. However, Sittenfeld doesn’t explore it. She just includes these bizarre scenes and moves along. If we’re going to reimagine a life, can we imagine a life in which the white protagonist is aware of her privilege?

I understand that with this story the author was trying to make valid points and observations about how women are treated in a male-dominated environment like politics, but any points she makes are lost in the fanfiction-style plot. Even inclusions of Hillary with her family do nothing to add to our image of the famous politician. In fact, the Hillary in this story feels so flat that it’s almost a caricature of the woman herself. It’s overdone. We all saw how her actual Presidential runs happened. We all saw how harshly she was judged against her male counterparts. We saw the angry chanters with their red hats and tobacco spittle on their lips screaming “Lock her up!” Those events played out in real life and in real time. We were witness to them. Did we really need a fictionalized story to drive any of those points home?

In the end, I was left with the realization that Hillary Clinton made her decisions and has stuck by them. Reimagining them doesn’t accomplish anything and in a way, it feels like a disservice to what she’s gone through in her real life. When I turned the last page, the Jeff Goldblum quote came back to mind. Just because Sittenfeld felt she could reimagine Hillary’s life, doesn’t mean she should’ve.

When I saw that Curtis Sittenfeld had written an alternate history of Hillary Clinton's life, I was intrigued. I liked what she did in American Wife, a fictionalized account of Laura Bush, and I though Eligible was a fitting 21st century update to Pride and Prejudice.

Having finished Rodham, though, I think a lot of my unease revolves around Sittenfeld's use of real people and actual events from Hillary's biography. Would I have felt better about this if the characters were like those in American Wife--different names, but modeled on real people? Possibly! There was something unsettling and off-putting about following Hillary and Bill's relationship in part 1. At this point in the story, Bill's personality overshadows Hillary, so she didn't feel particularly well-developed.

I found Parts 2 and 3 more interesting, although I expected that when she broke up with Bill, he would disappear from the narrative. No! (How frustrating.) I felt like we got a better sense of her voice in the 1991 and 2015 sections, and I liked seeing the mistakes she made and the ways that her chosen career came into conflict with her life.

I guess in the end, though, I question whether this needed to be a story about Hillary Rodham in particular. I have read fanfiction for years (so many P&P stories), but it felt a little uncomfortable at times to read an alternate history account of such an important public figure.

If you are one of those people who think Hilary Clinton got a raw deal in her marriage and in the 1016 elections, you’ll be tempted by this book. It is a “historical fantasy” in which Rodham turns down Clinton’s proposal. I was not particularly happy with the first part of the book. She seems older than her age, but later the book is hard to put down as you, the reader, share in the “what if” story. And then when she gets the Democratic nomination, plan to stay up late finishing the book. And, nope, not even chocolate chip cookies, will bribe into telling you whether she won, let alone who she ran against.

Curtis Sittenfeld's ability to write a novel focusing on what would have happened if Hillary had not married Bill Clinton is brilliant. I loved this so much. The author's imagination of how events would have played out was perfectly in tune with what so many others believe it would have been. I was hesitant to read this, but am so glad that I did!

An exciting and intriguing exploration. A "what if" that I won't be able to stop thinking about full of Sittenfeld's humor, warmth, and intellect.

Some of the most interesting books are written by people who ask the question "What if?" Phillip Roth's The Plot Against America asks "what if Charles Lindbergh becomes President and turns America towards fascism?". (It's been turned into an HBO miniseries.)



In her new book Rodham, author Curtis Sittenfeld asks the question, "what if Hillary Rodham never married Bill Clinton?" It's a daring book, one that takes factual events and blends them with fiction. Sittenfeld previously wrote American Wife, a novel based on the life of Laura Bush, where her main character was not Laura Bush, but a character with a different name. Hillary Clinton is so famous, or infamous depending on which media you follow, that a fictionalized version of her is possible.



In Rodham, we recognize the third grader who is asked to be in charge of the class when the teacher leaves the room because many of us were that girl too. We recognize the ten year-old girl who, when she opined about the Cubs versus the White Sox's chances, was told that "you're awfully opinionated for a girl". That statement stayed with her for the rest of her life.



This Hillary is diligent, a hardworker, a good student, and ambitious. Like her real-life counterpart, she graduated from Wellsley and gave a commencement speech that challenged convention and angered her "sarcastic, exacting and often mean" father.



This Hillary met Bill Clinton at Yale Law School, where she fell in love with him, much to the consternation of her best friend. Bill Clinton dated a lot of women and planned on going back to his home in Arkansas to run for Attorney General. Hillary's friends did not want her to leave behind all of the opportunities she had ahead of her for a shining career.



In real life, Hillary did follow Bill to Arkansas. In Rodham, Hillary does not marry Bill after catching him cheating on her. (Note to readers- this fictionalized Bill Clinton is not a nice guy.) The breakup crushes Hillary, but she eventually moves on, and has a stellar career of her own.



Rodham is divided into three sections- The Catch, The Woman, The Front-Runner. I found the last two sections, particularly The Front-Runner, most fascinating. Watching this Hillary fulfill her dreams and ambitions, and eventually run for political office is intriguing. How Sittenfeld ties it all up is just genius and so satisfying.



Sittenfeld has written a thought-provoking feminist novel that will talked about for a long time. It's a great book club pick, there is so much here to discuss over wine and appetizers. (I will warn you that there are some explicit sex scenes in here that may not be for everyone.) I highly recommend Rodham, but realize that this is fiction, not reality.

Link below to BBC Culture article

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200520-what-if-hillary-clinton-had-become-president

It's hard to classify my feelings on this book. For the first 40%, I was incredibly annoyed. The focus of the story was so enveloped by Bill's character that Hillary's didn't have space to develop. The second half of the book redeemed itself somewhat, because Hillary was able to come into her own. But still, so much of her time was spent talking and thinking about, or reacting to, Bill. And if it wasn't Bill, there was another man preoccupying her time. This book made me wistful for a time when I really thought that Hillary would be our first woman president, but I don't think this portrayal did her justice. She seemed so...calculating. Almost like her internal monologue was still written as the polished politician. I was hoping that Sittenfeld would bring more of her personality forward in this, but I didn't feel that connection to her character. And although I found this compulsively readable (I needed to know what would happen, and finished the book in 24 hours), it wasn't what I was hoping for from one of my most anticipated reads of the year. That being said, I'm sure this will be popular this year, and I can see why. I still liked the book and would recommend it to other readers who are similarly interested in politics and in the what-if's of Hillary's career, I just didn't adore it in the way that I expected.

A wild ride, from the...intimacy...of the first section of the book to the alt-reality of the last section. Very different reading experience from American Wife. I was very intrigued by Sittenfeld's version of Bill Clinton as the worst version of himself without the grounding presence of Hillary in his life.

Curtis Sittenfeld is an auto-buy author for me. She writes the most thought provoking books & this is one of them. She weaves a riveting fictional tale into historical events, to the point where you will be questioning which parts are true & which are fiction. This book has strong feminist undertones (win for me!) & really highlights what it’s like to be a strong, intelligent woman who is living in a world that is (still!) run by men. Afraid to pick it up because you lean hard right? Pick it up anyway. It’s fiction & it’s interesting. Also, check out her other novel “American Wife” for a fictionalized book of Laura Bush - also incredible.⁣⁣⁣

I had high hopes for this book- and it exceeded them!
What if Hillary would not have married Bill?
What if Bill had never been President?
What if Hillary had?
Answers all those questions and so many more in a very smart and engaging way.
Highly recommend this novel!

I'm sure other readers know the feeling of a book being exactly what you wanted it to be, and that was my experience with Rodham. I wouldn't have trusted this story in just anyone's hands, but as a longtime fan of Curtis Sittenfeld, I knew this had potential for greatness, and it delivered. Oh my goodness, this reimagining of Hillary's life if she hadn't married Bill was fascinating and thought provoking. This one switch made a huge difference in her life, his life, and American politics and I felt like Sittenfeld really thoughtfully considered the impacts and ripples of these differences. This was incredibly satisfying and also a bit heartwrenching. Love, love, love and cannot recommend highly enough.

🍃Review ⁣

This book was my most anticipated read for May. I felt like I had won the lottery when I got an ARC to review. Sadly, I didn’t love it. The concept is novel and it was extremely well written, but I was bored to tears. ⁣
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It revolves around what Hillary’s trajectory may have looked like if she would not have married Bill, both personally and professionally. It begins with Hillary’s early days and the uphill battle, she and other females faced in academia. In meeting Bill, she had found a like-minded partner to share her days. That is, until he was unfaithful on more than one occasion causing the ultimate end to their relationship. From there, it follows her political career, which is about where I started to nod off. ⁣
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The spotlight it shone on the double standard that women face in politics (and elsewhere) was bright and for that, I applauded Sittenfeld. If it would have been shortened, I think I might have even loved it. But, for me, it dragged. I also felt somewhat shameful reading about Bill’s proclivities and they’re affect on their relationship. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and lord knows, I have my own, but this is a couple who is still together. Who made a choice to remain husband and wife. What fuelled those reasons, is between them. It felt like judgment guised as fiction and while it was provocative to read, I felt bad for the real people it was based on. ⁣
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I would be interested to hear other’s thoughts on this alternate reality of Hillary’s life. It is undeniable that Bill’s career and ultimate presidency affected her, but I also hate that even in this fictional version, the man is still in the driver’s seat. That the choices of Hillary’s life were decided / changed only be virtue of their being together or apart. It ignores her autonomy as a person and that even with Bill by her side, she is a badass in her own right. ⁣
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#rodham #curtissittenfeld #netgalley #randomhouse #torontoreads #torontoreaders #bookaholic #ilovereading #sloane_reads #🇨🇦bookenablers #bookstagram #bookreview #goodreads #bookstagramreviews #bookclub #bibliophile #bookworm

I’m going to say right up front that I voted for Hillary Clinton and every single day I grieve that she’s not the one sitting in the White House. I fervently wish her path had been different, allowing her to become our long overdue first female president. But, that is only the beginning of why I enjoyed Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham so much.

Rodham started out true to life, beginning with Hillary Rodham’s graduation address at Wellesley College that landed her in Life magazine. It then moved on to her time at Yale Law School where she met and fell in love with Bill Clinton. Their relationship continued after law school, and she eventually followed him to Arkansas so he could run for office. He proposed to her three times. In her real life she finally said yes that third time. In Rodham, she saw too much heartache in a life with Bill and said no, leaving to make a life on her own.

“The margin between staying and leaving was so thin; really, it could have gone either way.”

But, in Rodham, it went the way of leaving and from that point on, Sittenfeld gives Hillary a life still drawn toward politics, but in her own circle of light. Along the way she cultures great friendships and allies, but also stumbles, making mistakes that opponents use to try to tear her down. Just like in the political world we live in. Hillary becomes a senator and runs for President more than once. Just like in real life. She faces cruel, personal attacks based more on her sex, than her competency. Just like in real life. At rallies for one of her opponents, people chant the cruel phrase, “Shut her up!” Just like in real life. Sittenfeld reimagines Hillary’s life, but she doesn’t reimagine the world she lives in.

Rodham has been one of the few books I’ve read during the coronavirus pandemic that has been able to hold my interest from start to finish. In itself that’s quite an accomplishment! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to see Hillary having a different life, a life of her OWN. The last 10% of the story wasn’t my favorite. I wish it could have been handled a little differently, been a little less smarmy, but I also can’t think of a different way to have handled it. Whether or not you voted for Hillary Clinton, spending a few days with Hillary Rodham will be well worth your time.

Note: I received a copy of this book from Random House (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review.