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Buzz Interview: Curtis Sittenfeld, Author of American Wife

BuzzSugar — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 06:30:44 -0700

This week, author Curtis Sittenfeld's new book American Wife hits book stores near you. The book is inspired by the life of Laura Bush, and a few weeks ago, when I was about halfway through American Wife, I chatted with Sittenfeld about the controversial aspects of the book, how this epic American tale is a departure from her previous two books, and what's going on with the movie version of Prep!

Buzz: This character, Alice Blackwell, is intriguing and sexy, and generally those terms are considered mutually exclusive from the first lady. How did you work around people's ideas of what it means to be the first lady?
Curtis Sittenfeld: I think that all people are complicated and all people have inner lives. I think that a lot of times our view of first ladies is that they’re very stiff or proper or formal but I think they’re people like anyone else. When they’re not in public they probably can relax a lot more.

I know that these characters are based on the lives of George and Laura Bush, and when I read some of the sex scenes, I wondered if you had a hard time going there?
Laura Bush was a starting point for this novel, but there’s so much that we don’t know about her even though she’s a very public figure. And so what I did was invent a character who’s loosely inspired by her but isn’t her. I do not see Alice Blackwell as just, you know, Laura Bush is her name change. I see Alice Blackwell as a distinct person. I know that some readers might feel differently but I don't feel like I wrote sex scenes between George and Laura Bush [laughs].

To learn more about her new book and why she might still write about weird, neurotic girls, read more!

My experience reading the book so far has been to forget it’s Laura, and Alice is her own person to me except when I bump into events that I recognize from Laura’s life. It’s a unique reading experience to say the least. Is that the experience you think people will have? Hope they’ll have?
Well, the way that I conceived of the book, there are four major events in in Laura Bush’s life that I included - you know, one in each of the four sections of the book that are real - and then pretty much everything else is made up. So I would say 85 percent of the book is made up. The characters, the situations, the conversations - and I trust the sophistication and intelligence of my readers and I like when I read a book that assumes my intelligence. So I know that it's a kind of weird hybrid book, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

When it comes to women married to men who do things that we don’t agree with, there’s this tendency to implicate them by association. Did you find yourself more sympathetic to a woman like that? This book has made me rethink my ideas of those women’s responsibilities, etc.
Yeah, that is definitely a question that’s really interesting to me, which is: How much is one spouse responsible for another spouse? Or how much does one spouse represent another spouse? And I think it’s an incredibly complicated question and the answer varies a lot from marriage to marriage. But I actually just got married, like, three months ago. So I do think the subject of marriage is probably interesting to me during the time I was writing this. You know, I’m about to turn 33 and you know there are marriages . . . like of course the ideal is to marry for a long time but then sometimes you look at, you know, marriages that have lasted, you know, 30 or 40 years and you think, "Well it lasted long, but I don’t know if I’d want to be in it." But I think it’s a worthy goal for people to try to stay together, but I also think that you have to make compromises.

Yeah, it's such an intriguing question and so far I find myself feeling very sympathetic toward this character who I know will become the first lady and judged by people for her husband. I keep thinking, "Aw, but she's young and falling in love."
Right, well, it’s so hard to guess how anyone’s life will turn out I mean even with, you know people I knew in high school or people I knew in graduate school. Their lives . . . some have taken much different turns than I would have guessed, but you know, that’s what makes life interesting.

Unlike Lee in Prep, or Hannah in The Man of My Dreams, Alice is a grown woman and more mature than either of those young women. Are your characters going to grow up as you continue to grow?
Well, by the end of the book Alice is 61, so she obviously gets to be much older than I am in real life. I think that I don’t feel like I’ll never write about teenage girls or young women again. I mean, I still think that there’s so much material there, so I don’t think my characters will only get older as I get older, although to some extent that will probably happen. I do feel like one of my core readers is probably like the 22- or 23-year-old young woman, and I do hope she does not feel abandoned by this book. You know, like, "What happened?!"

Right! You hit on my initial reaction when the book was in my hands. Which was, "Oh my. This is a big epic book . . . It’s so different from the others."
This is a story and a personality that really captured my imagination, but I’m not determined to only write epics from here on out, you know? I still have room in my heart for neurotic, you know, weirdo girls [laughs].

Oh good - I feel like I can speak for many when I say that’s somewhat of a relief!
Yeah - I promise, I promise!

Finally, are there plans for any of your books to become movies? Do you want that?
Prep was optioned by Paramount, and the option has been renewed, and actually a screenplay exists, which was written by Noah Baumbach - he did Squid and the Whale. I think, you know, it seems like with movies all the stars have to align - every thing has to correspond perfectly for a movie to be made. But I think things are a little bit murky, but I would be delighted if it got made. He is attached as a writer/director. I would be delighted if he were the one who made it. I don’t know, Man of My Dreams was not optioned and this one I think they just started sort of sending it out in Hollywood. I don’t know. It’s not an area where I feel like I have any control, which is kind of liberating.

Source and Source

The Sittenfeld Book Debate: Should Laura Bush Be Off-Limits?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:32:32 -0700

My friend Citizen sparked a lively conversation yesterday around an upcoming book by Prep author Curtis Sittenfeld titled American Wife. The novel follows a character named Alice Blackwell who is based on Laura Bush, and many of the first lady's real-life experiences are included.

I was intrigued by the strong reactions that spread across the Web yesterday, especially after Radar posted several sex scenes from the book that earned the unpublished novel descriptors like "steamy" and "tawdry."

Some folks feel strongly that this was disrespectful to Laura Bush, and that Sittenfeld should have left her alone. The assumption there is that the main character will be trashed in the book, but actually, there is reason to suspect the opposite. In 2004, Sittenfeld wrote an article ("Why I Love Laura Bush") explaining how much she admires Laura, calling her "such an easy heroine to root for - smart and nice but just flawed enough (she still sneaks cigarettes!) to remain likable." There doesn't appear to be malice in Sittenfeld's intentions.

Many fictional characters are based on real people - some famous, some not - but do you think Laura Bush should be off-limits? Or is any public figure fair game for novelists?

Source and Source

January Jones and Diane Kruger Looking For an Unknown White Male

BuzzSugar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:30:07 -0700

January Jones is everywhere right now: This week's Mad Men was exceptionally stellar, her scandalous GQ issue is currently on stands - and the latest news this morning is that she will be appearing on the big screen soon, as well. (Much like some of the other Mad Men ladies.) Jones has been cast along with Diane Kruger in the thriller Unknown White Male. The film follows a man (Liam Neeson) who awakes from a coma to find that his identity has been stolen. Jones will be playing his wife who doesn't believe him, and Kruger stars as a cab driver who helps him seek out the truth.

Hmm, playing the spouse of a guy with identity issues? This shouldn't exactly be a stretch for Betty Draper's alter-ego.

I'm excited about this female pairing. I've always liked Diane Kruger (especially in Inglourious Basterds), and I'm curious to see if Jones can ride her current wave of success into full-fledged movie star status. (And Unknown White Male sounds like a more challenging part for her than say, American Wedding or Love Actually.)

What do you think of Jones and Kruger's new roles? Do you have a hard time picturing Jones as anyone but Betty?

Win A Starter Wife Gift Bag!!

PopSugar — Mon, 28 May 2007 10:21:33 -0700

In case you missed this post from Friday.... Earlier this week we saw Debra Messing looking stunning at the screening of her new miniseries, The Starter Wife. The series, based on Gigi Levangie Grazer's New York Times bestseller, looks to be as fun to watch, as it is to read.

In celebration of The Starter Wife and all things beautifying and empowering, the fabulous folks at USA Networks have given us 5 of these amazing bags to give away to you! The bag includes goodies like the book, yoga gear (to clear the mind), Essie nail polish (to get glam) and more!

All you have to do is leave a comment below and you are automatically entered to win! The contest ends May 30th, and the next day the The Starter Wife premieres on USA! So get commenting before we decide to keep all these fun goodies for ourselves!

To hear more about this fabulous contest and find out all the goodies in the bag just read more

Leave a comment in the comments section below, and you'll be entered in this fabulous giveaway. Just be sure to comment by 5 p.m. PDT / 8 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 30, and we'll announce the winner on Thursday. Please, only ONE comment per person; duplicate comments will be discarded, so commenting more than once won't up your chances of winning. Also, you must be a TeamSugar member to comment, so if you're not a member, please register here for an account. For all of the rules and regulations, just click here. Good luck!

Valued at approximately $250, the Malibu Survival Kit Tote Bag
items in tote include:

Branded Pink Gaiam Yoga Mat
Branded Pink Tank Top by American Apparel
The Starter Wife Pocketbook
The Starter Wife Branded Scarf
The Starter Wife branded nail file
The Starter Wife nail kit w/ Starter Wife branded nail file, "STARTER WIFE" Essie nail polish, toe separators trial size Pond’s Clean Sweep Towelette, plastic pink cuticle pusher
Set of Essie’s Spring 2007 colors
Starter Wife Too Faced Mini Quickie Chronicle
Pond's Clean Sweep Toweletter, 30 ct.
Pond's AgeDefeye
Pond's Time Rewind
Pond's Smooth Perfection
Yoga Pose Cards
16oz reusable water bottle
LA Streetwise map