Felt authentic and written with love

Brilliantly narrated. As for the writing, I felt I really got to know and like and care for Hillary. Made me think about equality and privilege.

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7 people found this helpful

Fanciful re-imagining is "Hillarious" fun

This book re-tells the life story of Hillary Rodham based on fact up a "Sliding Doors" moment in 1975 when, instead of marrying Bill Clinton she decides to make her own way in politics. The story is written in the first person and we hear of Hillary's early life where is a confident and self opinionated nine year old from Chicago.

At Yale where she is the brightest year in her year she meets Bill Clinton for the first time and is lured by his water melons. Although Bill is not her first lover she falls for him despite his philandering even in these early years. "Male urges have made a fool of me" says Bill as he is caught by Hillary with yet another woman.

The majority of men run for power because they want to, the majority of women run because someone suggests they should. In the re-imagined story, Hillary takes several years to reach her potential driven by a wish to talk truth to power.

In the somewhat fanciful re-telling of the Hillary story, she runs against Bill Clinton for the Democrat nomination and, as you would expect by now, wins following an endorsement from, of all people Donald Trump. We are entering the world of complete fantasy as Hillary Rodham (she never marries) becomes the first woman President of the United States beating Jed Bush. Some of the imagined "facts" are hilarious, eg Hillary's 23 minute acceptance speech and a strange episode where she asks one of her advisers to shave her legs in the back of a car.

It is no surprise that a book of this type has been published in the year of the US Presidential elections. Apparently the author has penned a similar story based on First Lady Bush. Although strange, it is more entertaining that I expected.

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9 people found this helpful

Enjoyable easy listen

Nice alternative history exploring what would happen if hilary never married bill. Easy listen and interesting bits of history in with the fiction.

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Incredible!

I loved this soooo much, what a wonderful emotional journey. Curtis I hope you read this - you are my favourite author and your ability to take me to another world has gotten me through so many difficult times in life.

I cried so much at the end of the book!

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2 people found this helpful

A great book 📚

I really enjoyed the alternative reality of Hillary Rodham’s journey to the White House, and all the adventures on the way. I bet Bill and Hillary have also read this with interest and amusement. The delivery by Carrington McDuffy was very well suited to the personality of the protagonist. I listened to the entire book twice over and loved it. Five stars ⭐️

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1 person found this helpful

A great premise let down by delivery

Loved the premise of this and was so keen to experience this parallel history of what might have been if Hilary had never married Bill. Unfortunately, This novel is prevented from hitting it’s full promise. Sittenfeld’s awkward first person inner dialogue gets in the way of all the thought provoking concepts here, further undermined by the narrator’s clunky and stiff delivery.
Hillary’s early years were toe curlingly rendered and I found myself wondering after banality after banality whether this was intended as a hatchet job by an author who dislikes her. By the end, our gal comes good, but I still can’t make up my mind whether Sittenfeld actually liked her protagonist, due to the excruciatingly crass way some of her intimate thoughts and actions are portrayed.

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Mesmerising - loved it

I devoured this book in days (and For almost of that I was looking after demanding kids in lockdown). I couldn’t stop listening and several scenes were jaw dropping. One time I actually was listening at work and gasped out loud so shocking was the story.

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2 people found this helpful

Disappointing

The idea behind this book really appealed to me. I could have been an inspiring story but it never arose above the level of a mediocre novel. I struggled my way to 2 hours before the end and then I couldn’t deal with it anymore. The voice of the narrator didn’t help, that bothered me from the beginning. So it’s the first book in a long time that I didn’t finish.

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Loved it when I did not expect to!

I ended up engrossed in the book when I really didn’t expect to.

The story was so interesting throughout. It was strange to here fiction about real people, but enjoyable all the same!

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Brilliant story

Fabulous story and narration
Sorry it had to end!
Loved it from start to finish

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