Recent Book read: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

I finally finished this book, oh it seems like forever. it was about 580 pages of fine prints, and I liked it :) 
On the fist page of the book it is written:

      "American Wife is a work of fiction loosely inspired by the life of an American first lady. Her husband, his parents, and certain prominent members of his administration are recognizable. all other characters in the novel are products of the author's imagination, as are the incidents concerning them." 

I had no idea what so ever that the book is actually inspired of a real first lady but when I started to read and the story well progressed it was very clear to me that the first lady in the book (Alice) is very close to Laura Bush. and now that I finished the book; at the end ; in conversation with author section, she claimed that the her book idea came form Laura Bush's life. 

The story starts form the childhood of Alice till around 61. for most of the book Alice is shown as an "perfect wife"; who has unquestioned loyalty to a husband with values very different from hers. at same time the book shows a mixed image of US president; quite chilling though! 
In my opinion, the fist chapters of the book were stronger, it seems that after they moved to white house the author wasn't very focused; she described  the characters and emotions in more details at first three sections but not the same in the last part.  also there is too many flashbacks at last section where I really wanted the story to go forward. 

One of the most interesting points of the book was that Alice ( before meeting his husband) was free thinker and then she transfered to an obedient wife and then when they got famous to very likable first lady. there were parts in the book that Alice seems selfless to me which I did not like at all.

When I was reading the book so many questions went through my mind like: if you become a political wife and disagree with your husband's politics are you thus responsible for his actions as a leader if you believe they are morally corrupt ? Could you close your eyes to things that you think are wrong because you love your husband and don't want to ruin your marriage by discussing those points?!or could you  have married a man with such different in a first place?

It was one the most absorbing  and thought-provoking books I have read in a while. during my read I taught about the characters and kind of thinking how I would react or behave in those conditions; the fact that we shouldn't judge anyone before knowing and understanding their story was also shown beautifully in this book. 

So here is my take on my recent read which I highly recommend, have you read any interesting book recently?