Meh. I'm not much of a fan of political nom de plumes anyway. Most of the ones I've read have been hackish and substituted the sort of "is it who I think it is or not" guessing game for actual literary merit.

Anyway, I'd so rather not think about the presidential sex life. At all.

This just seems creepy and very mean - and good writing doesn't excuse that.

Sure it’s disrespectful but the author holds no allegiance to Laura Bush and the parameters of her life which could very well fit many other individuals’ identities other than her own.

what happened to writing fiction books about fictional characters? Have we no imaginations anymore?

"what happened to writing fiction books about fictional characters?"

EXACTLY!!!

I hate those Hollywood novels, too.

Oh, and I meant roman à clef, not nom de plume :embarrassed:

I mean, Dostoevsky never felt the need to write his stories "based loosely" on real Russian people.

I think it's laziness on the part of so-called "authors" who know that a salacious potboiler people can associate with real public figures will probably bring them more profit than the effort it would take to craft actual characters and story, greed on the part of the publishing houses, and a general decline in the standards of what remains of the reading public.

Its too bad too because I really liked her book Prep!

Sex sells. Celebrity sex sells more.
'Nuff said.

Have the things I read offend me and others, I still read them though...how else can I comment on something unless I know what I'm talking about ... but it is distasteful.

This is gross.

I feel like you just don't go there with Laura. she hasn't done anything really, except go around being ladylike, having book fairs, being mother of the bride, etc.

I know it's fiction, and it's any writer's prerogative to create fiction from whatever is in their imagination, or intrigues them, even if some of the things in their imagination are based on real life facts. But, it doesn't seem like Laura Bush is really fair game. And she's the First Lady. I think we need to bring some respect back to the White House, despite our feelings about its inhabitants.

Kris I agree. Not sure what Laura has done to deserve this, but whatever. To me this is just a desperate plea from an obviously desperate author.

I think it is just very disrespectful. Regardless of what one thinks of George W. Bush, I believe many would agree that Laura Bush has handled herself in a very respectful manner and there is no reason to attack her.

In my opinion at least one of the motives for writing a book of this nature is society’s general underlying annoyance with seemingly puritanical figures. In an age where public personas offer scandalous unethical behavior absent of the most basic moral standards is not only becoming the norm but God forbid cool. We see figures such as Laura Bush who have spent decades making the choice to hold her self to certain standards in the face of the temptations that we all face a prime target of our discontent with her tranquility as a person. She is now the odd ball because unlike so many other public personas whose current or past flaws we can relate to we are desperate to make her like them and or of us. If we can not attain her standard than her standard nullified and brought down to ours. I would say leave the poor women alone she’s already married to George.

HA!

Huh. I find this interesting, just because I think Curtis Sittenfeld is a pretty gifted writer and wouldn't really peg her as someone who would have to, y'know, do this sort of thing for new material. Maybe a bout of writers' block caused her to go this route?

and... how is this disrespectful? it's a fictional novel--the character's name is not laura.

what has laura bush done to earn our respect anyway? she ran over an ex-boyfriend with her car as a teenager and married the nation's village idiot.

sounds like novel fodder to me.

krampalicious, I didn't realize you were a saint and you were the moral compass on sugar. I guess I didn't get that memo. As a lowly normal citizen, I do not have a problem with Laura Bush because she does a lot of great charity work without publicity and she seems to have good intentions. You can change a name of a character and still know who the book is based off of.

syako: "I mean, Dostoevsky never felt the need to write his stories "based loosely" on real Russian people." FYI - there are plenty of examples of fictional characters in literature who have not so subtly been based on true-life people:

-- corrupted populist politician Willie Stark from "All the King's Men" by Robert Penn Warren is often compared to Louisiana governor Huey P. Long

-- Nicole, a destructive, mentally ill woman in "Tender Is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is often seen as a fictionalized version of Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda

Just b/c Radar ran some salacious sex scenes doesn't mean the whole thing is trash. Sittenfeld is one of the best modern fiction writers working today and I bet this will be a great book.

Hmmm...interesting point on whether or not this is "disrespectful". What constitutes "disrespect"? And if it is "disrespectful" is it OK to dismiss the book as purely salacious material?

wow. is she your friend?

All I was saying is that I, personally, enjoy reading fiction books about FICTIONAL characters.

...but you also kind of have to wonder about how "ficional" certain characters are, too. You know? Like how crazy would it be to read a book someone you know has written and find a character that is essentially, well, you?

Sorry, I blame HarmonyFrance for the cookie icon. I can't stop using it.

that would be creepy and a bit invasive, em!

I'm assuming from your comments Laura's your bff?

I agree with many points here. I'll take the word of the article that it is obviously about Laura Bush. It is disrespectful but at the same time it’s perfectly o.k. because it’s legal and fair game in our society. The book will do well because Americans love drama and scandal. Having the added cherry on top of being based on the life of the first lady won't hurt it either.

how did you know!

Speaking from a technical point of view, there is a difference between characters obviously and intentionally based on famous public figures and characters based on, say, someone the author knows. With characters based on famous public figures, the lazy author (I'm speaking in general, not talking about Sittenfeld specifically) has less work to do, because the audience's own knowledge of the public figure can be relied upon to flesh out the character in the reader's mind.

that happened to a friend of mine. she found out a whole chapter was written about her, and that he, the author actually used her first name. Not even a pseudonym. it was no bestseller by any means, but still.

I just find it continually fascinating that people spend so much time sitting around contemplating the life events of a person they have never met (say Laura and how she ran over someone, or any celebrity today) and can pass judgement on it. I mean it can be spun any direction. you can say Laura was an evil little temptress, who committed premeditated murder. or someone else could say it was a terrible, terrible accident, and a difficult time in her life. who really knows? and who cares? people have been wrong about me plenty of times, so I'd say there's a good chance I've misunderstood others.

of course some people consider that entertainment.

If you're going to do a study of the person, then use their name and write your non-fiction book. Then the person can respond without having to deal with the whole 'oh it's not you' charade.
Writing a thinly veiled novel, in which you add details and responses of your own creation is, I think creepy and mean. I know it's done and sometimes done well. But it still airs intimate details of someone else's life while attaching interpretations to them, without acknowledging what's been borrowed. The subject then has to deal with people who don't know what is fact and what is your embellishment.
Laura Bush isn't my favorite person, and she chose a public life with Doofus, but she's done a good enough job as first lady and has generally been publicly respectful of people who don't agree with them.

Kris, that's crazy about your friend! And like syako said, it would be creepy and invasive...but, not surprising. I think you'd be shocked to find out how many people are that interested in finding out about your life, even if you're just a regular Joe Schmoe. Hell, I have a stalker who has tried to talk to me and even admitted to trying to track down my train. Invasive much??

I blame "reality" entertainment for stuff like this. Obviously people will always be interested in other peoples' lives--human nature and all that--but it's just so much more magnified now, IMO.

I think he embellished quite a bit but it sounds interesting. I may borrow it from the library.

This sounds pretty lame. No matter if you like her husband or not, this is just tacky. I agree with what you have said about literary merit, Jude.

Sy you crack me up!

I'm going back and forth on the appropriateness of this, but one thing I do know: I will not turn to Curtis Sittenfeld next time I need an erotic-fiction fix. Those excerpts sent me into giggles. Which perhaps is the point, this Stepford-esque character trying to talk about sex.

I really dislike roman a clefs when they're too obvious. I could never get on the Jennifer Weiner bandwagon because one of the minor characters in Good in Bed was so obviously Minnie Driver. I mean, every single detail. And the character's name: Maxi Ryder. Come ON.

If I was Laura I would buy a copy, and use it for toilet paper.

I'd hardly call Laura Bush fascinating.

Not to mention, with everyone knowing this was based loosely on her life, the mixing of fact and fiction could really be a type of slander. the general book buying public wouldn't know which events were true and which weren't. This is tricky ground and tacky to say the least. I am so tired of authors and stupid, stupid hollywood just regurgitating old ideas. Heck, Hollywood doesn't even try to play it off as something new. Just remakes and comic books.

Oh, every writer uses some inspirations from real life, and I really like books by Curtis. I'm all for it!

Not like this.

"how could he possibly be an unscrupulous politician with such a cute little butt?"

Is there a "cringe" emoticon???

all this is doing is drumming up great publicity for the book, bad publicity is good publicity. Some moron said they wrote to Random House and said they would never buy another book again if this was published, umm yeah cos Random really gives a flying flip about your $20 contribution a drop int he millions of dollars they will get. Who actually said it's based on Laura did the author say that or did the media assume that she did so because there is a bumbling president with a quiet wife?

all this is doing is drumming up great publicity for the book, bad publicity is good publicity. Some moron said they wrote to Random House and said they would never buy another book again if this was published, umm yeah cos Random really gives a flying flip about your $20 contribution a drop int he millions of dollars they will get. Who actually said it's based on Laura did the author say that or did the media assume that she did so because there is a bumbling president with a quiet wife?

Sounds like crap (just like Prep) I'm sorry but that book just sucked. She tried to be relevant by capitalizing on something trivial (the gossip girl book induced preppy-wasp craze) with Prep and now she's trying to sell books with an even trashier hook. She came to my creative writing class to talk about Prep so I really wanted to like it, but I could not take it or her seriously.

No. I find the life stories/gossip of political figures and celebrities utterly boring. Hence, why I don't frequent the Popsugar.

I may not purchase your poorly scribbled ficto-biography, but I shall defend to the death your right to make millions peddling it. Who am I kidding? I'm going to run out and buy it now!

This is a load of horse manure. Trashing the President has become so passe that now we have to bash the first lady, even if it is only loosely similar. I'll stick to my historical non-fiction.

I have no beef with Laura Bush - she always struck me as the pleasant PTA president next door who baked cookies, held down a part-time gig at a respectable company and seemed normal in a sea of crazy. I'm positive that she's nowhere near that mental image, but still, she promotes it pretty well. Ehhhh...there's no way you can really stop this book from coming out but it just seems in pretty poor taste.

One more thing, i wonder if the general consensus would still be contemptuous if it were a book based on Hillary Clinton...?

The Clintons had 'Primary Colors' to deal with, the book and movie.