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Rodham

A Novel

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Rodham

Written by: Curtis Sittenfeld
Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
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About this listen

 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of American Wife and Eligible . . . He proposed. She said no. And it changed her life forever.

“A deviously clever what if.”—O: The Oprah Magazine
“Immersive, escapist.”—Good Morning America
“Ingenious.”—The New York Times

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • NPR • The Washington Post • Marie Claire • Cosmopolitan (UK) • Town & Country • New York Post

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.

Brilliantly weaving a riveting fictional tale into actual historical events, Curtis Sittenfeld delivers an uncannily astute and witty story for our times. In exploring the loneliness, moral ambivalence, and iron determination that characterize the quest for political power, as well as both the exhilaration and painful compromises demanded of female ambition in a world still run mostly by men, Rodham is a singular and unforgettable novel. Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Marriage Law Arkansas Student
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I'd read mixed reviews of this book before listening, but I was intrigued by the premise: what would Hillary Rodham have become if she had refused Bill Clinton's third marriage proposal? Author Curtis Sittenfeld offers us a smart, relatable narrator in Hillary, striking the right balance throughout between her ambition in her career and her desires as a woman (including many sex scenes, which some reviewers were squeamish about, but which to me did not seem all that graphic).

Perhaps it was because the whole thing is wonderfully narrated by Carrington Macduffie, whose voices for Bill, Donald Trump (yes he's in here) and many others really make the storytelling come alive. Her "normal" voice as Hillary is warm and mature, and makes this whole what-if fantasy more realistic and believable than it might be if read on the page.

I was sad as I saw the minutes ticking down - I didn't want this book to end. Highly recommended - a thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Fantastic performance of a great story!

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First of all - I must say that I find Hillary Clinton fascinating as a human being. The fact that she is so universally panned, so polarizing, so CONSUMED by the media that it is like she has ceased being an actual human being along the way, and has become a character on this reality tv show we call life. I cannot imagine what a day in her world must look or feel like - quite frankly I hope I never have to find out, as I don’t think I could handle that level of pressure.

This odd juxtaposition of her seeming very unreal and real is exactly what I loved and struggled with when it came to this book.

On one hand, I LOVED the re-imagining of her life, of what she could have achieved and accomplished had she just left Bill after his first indiscretions with her early on in their relationship. How focused and powerful she really could have become, had she not ended up in the shadow of the Clinton name. How differently Bill’s trajectory might have been had he not had her steadying and strong force to ground him back to earth. I loved how this story unfolded, and I LOVED that Curtis wrote it to feel very much like a memoir. The characters were all to real to me, and Hillary’s voice was spot on - confident, assured and brilliant, while still being vulnerable and human.

I love that Hillary’s “character” in the story still faced the same issues that she does in today’s world - specifically the unbelievable scrutiny over the fact that she is a woman, in politics, who is ambitious enough to believe she can be president. I appreciated that Curtis didn’t shy away from this or sweep it under the rug, instead taking these topics on head first, and giving Hillary the voice that I’m sure at times, she wishes she could use to set straight, once and for all, that she is no less qualified to run this country just because she has ovaries.

I loved the way Curtis evened the playing field - yes she tackles the sexual harassment issues with Bill, but she tackles them with Hillary as well - no one is immune to accusations, especially those on a public platform.

I even loved the fact that Donald Trump plays prominently into this story - his character is so thoroughly believable here, but perhaps that’s just because everything that man does seems like it has been ripped straight from fictional headlines.

The part that I struggled with most prominently with this book, is that this is a re-imagined story of someone who is very much alive, living their life, involved in these politics and married to the man she left behind in the book. More than any other part of the book, I didn’t care for the elaborate and graphic sex scenes - particularly when it came to Hillary and Bill. These became too voyeuristic for me, it felt wrong to so fly so close to that particular intimacy. I felt a little pulled out of the story and wondered how Hillary would feel should she ever read something so detailed about such an intimate and private corner of her own life. I cannot imagine it would be something she would consent to, and for that reason, it was not something I could be complicit in enjoying.

Outside of that one small piece, the book was a deeply satisfying read. Entertaining, intriguing and thought provoking, certainly a book that has stuck with me from the minute I finished the last chapter and wondered, what will come next for Hillary, in this world and the fictional world.

Interesting

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Way too much detail about sex with Bill Clinton…. Just tell the story of the first female president

TOO MUCH INFO

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