Rating: 
Summary: The author of this book is awful!
Review: Don't waste your time or money on this book. I am a big fan of the President and the First Lady, but it is clear that the author is not. I lost interest after the first two chapters. Not only does the author patronize the First Lady, but she also patronizes the President. While some of the information MIGHT be valid, the author offers her opinion and describes Texas in a demeaning way. I couldn't stand to read much more.....note to the author>>>Put your pen down and take up a new hobby. If you can't say something nice about people, you shouldn't say anything at all.
Rating:
Summary: Condescension not biography
Review: Gearhart apparently thinks it's impossible to be intelligent, as she considers herself as a member of the elite, and to be a Republican, pro-life, pro-family wife. She simply can not accept that anyone from the South, who is religious, and obviously loves her husband, could be her equal. Noone who can't divorce himself from his biases should be writing biographies of members of the other side. Gearhart simply is incapable of presenting facts without showing that she, personally, is holding her nose as she writes so no reader can possibly think that she, an elite, could agree with the subject.
There are some people, many of whom Goldberg described in his
book, BIAS, who should just stick to writing about their friends,
and Gearhart is one of them. If you want to read something by her, make sure it's about Hillary Clinton.
Rating: 
Summary: Tire tracks....
Review: Gerhart is a brilliant reporter, gifted with the eloquence of a Samuel Johnson (or at least an Alice Walker) as she tells the story of Laura Bush's vigorous climb toward power. For me, the most interesting part of the book was the story of Laura's astonishing escape from the law, after running over her boyfriend 17 times in the driveway of his new lover's home. Anybody else would have been arrested in a moment but Laura -- even before she seduced George Bush -- managed to talk her way out of it. I was thrilled! Gerhart is cautious in her retelling of the family's drug-running -- and who wouldn't be? But her energy comes through. This will likely be the great book on Laura's early career -- and it is a tale to rank with that of the Borgias.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody's perfect but everyone's got a story!
Review: Gerhart's book is neither a puff piece nor a hatchet job. Readers seeking either will be disappointed. Gerhart instead presents a balanced, factual account of Laura Bush. And if you read between the lines, you will realize she's more complex than she appears. First, as other reviewers noted, the most astounding piece of Laura's history is her car accident at age seventeen. There's no evidence that she had been drinking, yet she mysteriously ran a very visible stop sign. Even more mysteriously, the city declined to prosecute. She didn't even get a traffic tickert for running a stop sign and smashing into a truck, instantly killing the driver. Later she realized she had killed a good friend. I can't help wondering where Laura Welch (her maiden name) would be today if she had been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Would she have gone on become an SMU sorority girl? A teacher and librarian?
Maybe the real lesson isn't that Laura got away with something but that we shouldn't be too quick to punish someone for a one-time mistake, however tragic. And while Laura never talks about the "accident," there must have been long-lasting impact. Did this experience contribute to her shy, self-effacing qualities? Relatedly, we get a sense of the Bush family dyamics. In his younger days, Bush did his share of drinking and partying. Laura had memories of her tragic accident. when Twins Jenna and Barbara grow up to be self-absorbed, uncontrollable brats. An analyst would have a field day with this family. And there's the unspoken question. How does Laura Bush, a smart woman with mostly liberal friends, separate her husband's political persona from her own values? She does what she can and doesn't even try to impinge on her husband's territory. We also learn about Laura Bush's book programs, where she invites authors to read and contribute. Most authors, being liberals, are reluctant to accept, but soon they are won over by Laura's intellect. She's a real reader. And she's hardly a doormat. Barbara Bush would be a formidable mother-in-law but Laura avoids yielding. Nor does she take the easy way out. Barbara's issue was literacy, so Laura makes it clear her approach will be different. I'm reminded of stories of another big Texan president, Lyndon Johnson Indeed, Laura refers to Johnson when she compares herself to other first ladies. Like Laura, Lady Bird knew when to push and when to back off, and she retained her own integrity. After reading the book, it's hard to see how Laura and George came together so successfuly. They're opposite in many ways. Gerhart hints of disagreement on key political issues. Laura reads; George doesn't. Laura is devoted to her children; George flew to Florida for a planned vacation while Jenna underwent an emergency appendectomy. In the end, Perfect Wife isn't about politics. It's about a family that, with less wealth and public scrutiny, might be termed dysfunctional.
Rating:
Summary: The Perfect Wife
Review: I agree with the reader who called her Ann Spearheart. A real arrogant writer. Typical elitist snob. VERY poorly written it jumps around and is hard to follow. Spearheart only wanted to list every negative she could think of. SO sorry I bought this book! The landfill is where it rests now.
Rating:
Summary: VERY Misleading
Review: I am so upset I wasted money on this "book". The title and jacket description are so very misleading. The author talks out both sides of her mouth praising Mrs. Bush with one and bashing her husband with the other. I don't want to pass it on, I don't want to take it to Goodwill where someone else will purchase it and be mislead also so I just might mail it back to the publisher. I will be very careful about any books published by Simon and Shuster again because they let this get to print without properly identifying it as a liberal piece.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I bought the book hoping to truly learn about the woman with the creepy stare and wierd smile behind the President. However, I still don't feel I know anything about her, except that, in her youth, she suffered from temporary insanity when she violently smashed her car into that of her boyfriend's at 55 miles per hour, killing the youth and injuring her female passenger. I also would have liked to know more about Mrs. Bush's and Ted Kennedy's quiet bond they share and how it effects their relationship with one another. You've got to be pretty deranged at the time to do something like smash into a boy's car, kiling him, but the author really only skims over that and mentions nothing about how the paperwork involving the killing "disappeared," much like her husband's records involving his tour of duty with the Texas Air Guard when he went AWOL for nearly two years (his dad was in Congress at the time, so I guess those papers were burned. This may have taken place during "the coke years," I'm not sure). I am also disappointed that she and the President didn't wait until after marriage to begin having sexual relations with one another and others. I was hoping to find out she had been a virgin, it would have really made the whirlwind romance a lot more special. As it is, I felt a little dirty reading about the details of their relationship. All said, it's a quick read, but not quite a story worth reading. I'll probably pass on the Lifetime Network made-for-t.v. version of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Wife - NOT!
Review: I enjoyed the book, but the title seems to be a diss to other first ladies. How can a woman that killed her boyfriend by running a stop sign be perfect? How can something like that in your background make one perfect? Nor do I think putting up with a heavy drinker and exposing the Children to that, for years is a good trait! It just goes to show ya, that Put up and Shut up in reality is what most Republican men finds attractive in a wife. Sad!
Rating: 
Summary: Borrow it from the library ...
Review: I found that this book seemed to be put together, not from in-depth interviews the author has conducted with Laura Bush, but from various articles and interviews done by someone else. There was a serious lack of substance. The author even repeats several quotes throughout the book as if she was at a loss for material. I don't feel that she has any more insight into the life of Laura Bush than anyone else out there. Yes, she does go into meticulous detail in describing certain aspects of Laura Bush's life in Midland, but who most of those descriptions fall into the "Who cares?" category. The book was disappointing and I wouldn't spend my money on it. Not that Laura Bush is not a good subject for a book but this one in particular is not up to par.
Rating:
Summary: Just a correction...
Review: I know someone else has already posted this but people keep bringing this up so I'm going to post it again. Laura Bush did NOT drunkenly run over anyone. She had an accidental collision with a high school friend, something that could have happened to anyone. She doesn't like talking about it because it's too painful for her, a sign of remorse. No charges were filed because it was completely an accident and there is no sign to believe it wasn't. Other than this her life is pretty much a clean slate. Other than that, I'd have to say that this is a pretty boring book. I personally think Laura Bush suffers from the Beyonce Knowles/no personality disorder.
| 
