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The Senator's Wife
by
Sue Miller
Once again Sue Miller takes us deep into the private lives of women with this mesmerizing portrait of two marriages exposed in all their shame and imperfection, and in their obdurate, unyielding love. The author of the iconic The Good Mother and the best-selling While I Was Gone brings her marvelous gifts to a powerful story of two unconventional women who unexpectedly cha
...more306 pages
Published
(first published 2008)
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The first word that comes to mind is 'uncomfortable.' This might have to do with reading it on the absolute most hellish plane ride ever, but it also had to do with the general content. This book was one of those - wow it would be so good if she would just x,y,z and the rest of the alphabet ...
The plot was set up well enough - couple moves next to aging woman who has been 'the senators wife' for ages, in that she has watched her senator husband cheat on her repeatedly and stuggled with standing...more
The plot was set up well enough - couple moves next to aging woman who has been 'the senators wife' for ages, in that she has watched her senator husband cheat on her repeatedly and stuggled with standing...more
Life Doesn't Change in its Fundamentals"
I've read enough work by Sue Miller to say with complete confidence that she's a brilliant writer, and a master at character development. The Senator's Wife is a gray tale of two couples, neighbors sharing an east coast duplex in an upscale neighborhood. In the story, Miller brings in the focus so tightly, that it feels a little voyeuristic prying into the everyday thoughts, feelings and actions of these characters. Said characters are ordinary, but at the...more
I've read enough work by Sue Miller to say with complete confidence that she's a brilliant writer, and a master at character development. The Senator's Wife is a gray tale of two couples, neighbors sharing an east coast duplex in an upscale neighborhood. In the story, Miller brings in the focus so tightly, that it feels a little voyeuristic prying into the everyday thoughts, feelings and actions of these characters. Said characters are ordinary, but at the...more
Sue Miller honestly drives me crazy. I love her writing, it's very personal and raw. This is the third book I have read of hers, and while the books have all kept my interests, their endings either leave me unfullfilled, or freak me out. The Senator's Wife falls into the latter category. I didn't really know what to think of this book. What was it trying to say? You have poor dedicated Delia, stuck in this love trap with her philandering husband. You have Meri-who I just couldn't figure out. Who...more
11 likes · like · see review
Oh, literary women's fiction. So much of you feels so much the same. You drip with relationship drama and way overly descriptive language. The way someone peels an orange and then sits on a chair and feels the wood beneath her and smells the air and etc etc etc does not tell me much about her character. But I tend to devour you anyway, you literary comfort food, you. You are a cup of tea in bed on a cold day, or maybe those Oreos I treat myself to after a healthier dinner.
The senator's wife, Delia, is faithful to a fault. After her adultrous husband has embarrassed and humilated her numerous times, she still lives in a la-la, fairy tale land of denial. Delia is delusional in thinking that by running away to Paris for a few months, it puts everything into perspective. Add to that, the fact that she is a raging alcoholic. Her three kids, in varying degrees of disgust, offer some advice to Delia, which she categorically ignores. Meri and Nathan, Delia's next door ne...more
3 likes · like · see review
I always like Miller's writing style and this was book was no exception to that. Also, I've always liked her perspective on the minds of women who are disinterested in traditional women's roles/expectations.
In terms of the story, though, several parts of it were left unresolved, in my mind at least. For example, Meri struggles with the above throughout the story, but by the end is enjoying domestic bliss and is seemingly a different person---how or why this transition took place isn't clear to m...more
In terms of the story, though, several parts of it were left unresolved, in my mind at least. For example, Meri struggles with the above throughout the story, but by the end is enjoying domestic bliss and is seemingly a different person---how or why this transition took place isn't clear to m...more
2 likes · like · see review
I've had the same experience with both of the Sue Miller books I've read... this one and While I Was Gone. It starts out great, and I really do like Miller's handling of language, and then it all just goes wrong.
Another reviewer put it best... "uncomfortable". That's where these books take you -- to an uncomfortable place. And not the kind of uncomfortable where you think, "Oh, this is good for me, I need to learn something." No. It's just wrong somehow.
In both cases I've ended up completely d...more
Another reviewer put it best... "uncomfortable". That's where these books take you -- to an uncomfortable place. And not the kind of uncomfortable where you think, "Oh, this is good for me, I need to learn something." No. It's just wrong somehow.
In both cases I've ended up completely d...more
Re: _The Senator's Wife_ by Sue Miller
CAUTION: I think it's best not to know too much about this story before you read it. So beware of reading the reviews until after you've read the book. With that in mind, I've tried not to over-tell anything about the story in my review below. Instead I've given my over-all impressions of the story and the writing as a whole.
I wouldn't call this book compelling, but for some strange reason I wanted to keep reading it. I usually don't like books which describ...more
CAUTION: I think it's best not to know too much about this story before you read it. So beware of reading the reviews until after you've read the book. With that in mind, I've tried not to over-tell anything about the story in my review below. Instead I've given my over-all impressions of the story and the writing as a whole.
I wouldn't call this book compelling, but for some strange reason I wanted to keep reading it. I usually don't like books which describ...more
Jun 17, 2008
Jenny
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Women
Recommended to Jenny by:
A lady in the library
Disregard all my other 5 stars for this one. It was amazing. If you are a woman, read it! It was my first Sue Miller book and she is a very talented writer. I felt that the characters were very real. It was an extremely peaceful read and sometimes when something catastrophic is about to happen, an author will go into ridiculous detail right before it happens (ever notice that?) And a couple times she goes into extreme detail and you find yourself holding your breath and then you slowly let it ou...more
1 like · like · see review
I think the book cover for The Senator's Wife says it all - boring and unimaginative. Miller's latest tells the story about Delia, the wife of a former Washington senator, who hasn't lived with her philandering husband for decades. But, it is also the story of Meri, a newly married 38-year old who is pregnant with her first child. Meri and her husband Nathan move in next door to Delia, and Delia and Meri strike up a seeming friendship. My initial difficulty with the characters is that Meri is wr...more
After finishing this book, I realized I didn't really like any of the characters. At first Delia, the senator's wife, seems to be an interesting person. She appears to be a graciously realistic, secure older woman. As the book progresses, she becomes less so. Cracks appear in her seemingly flawless presentation, and in the end, she crumbles.
Meri never seems to have it all together. She is more real with her doubts and insecurities, but after what happens in the end, it's hard to like her. She i...more
Meri never seems to have it all together. She is more real with her doubts and insecurities, but after what happens in the end, it's hard to like her. She i...more
Sue Miller dives deep into the personal lives of two women - neighbors is all they are -- to reveal a whole world of surprising parallels, needs, and desires that allows the reader (but not always the characters themselves) to appreciate that each woman's thoughts and experiences align with, overlap, and even sometimes threaten the other's. The book is also a portrait of two marriages, and it does a nice job of capturing the difficulties inherent in making peace with a situation that is, in some...more
Jul 19, 2008
Karen A.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
my girlfriends
Shelves:
general-fiction
I enjoyed this book immensely. It is a dually narrated story that goes back and forth between the two lives of Delia and Meri. Delia is an older woman who is the wife of the well known Senator Naughton. She lives alone on one side of an old New England duplex. Meri and her husband, a professor at the local College, move into the other side of the duplex. Meri is instantly intrigued by Delia and wonders as does the reader where her husband resides if not with his wife. Both women's stories unfold...more
1 like · like · see review
Another story of betrayal. The loves we know better than. The lies we tell other people to protect how we see ourselves.
Jun 16, 2008
Mamasoo Reichert
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Probably no one
Recommended to Mamasoo by:
Saw it in the Library
A book appropos of the political times- politicians cheating on their wives, destorying families and their careers. If more of these women left their cheating husbands and made examples of them, maybe the next philanderer would learn. My frustration grew with Delia. I don't understand the "stand by your man" attitude.
And please don't get me started on Meri.
This is the first book I've read of Sue Miller's. Are all her characters this shallow, whiney and self-absorbed? Let me know...I have The Go...more
And please don't get me started on Meri.
This is the first book I've read of Sue Miller's. Are all her characters this shallow, whiney and self-absorbed? Let me know...I have The Go...more
1 like · like · see review
Delia is the Senaotor's wife who lives alone after ending her marriage with her philandering husband. Yet, despite his many affairs and betrayals, she stands by him at the cost of her own freedom.
Meri is the woman who has moved into the duplex, next door to Delia. She is a newlywed and we see her move through her struggles with marriage, pregnancy and their life after the birth of their child. She and Delia strike up a friendship, even though both of them are at different points in their life....more
Meri is the woman who has moved into the duplex, next door to Delia. She is a newlywed and we see her move through her struggles with marriage, pregnancy and their life after the birth of their child. She and Delia strike up a friendship, even though both of them are at different points in their life....more
For me this book was about the expectations women bring to marriage and to friendships. Delia is married to a philandering husband. She knows this about him, but she prefers not to acknowledge it. So long as she does that, she can keep up the illusion of a close family unit with a husband she both loves and will help in furthering his political career. Meri, who moves next door to Delia, is a mess. Because she has no clear idea of what being a wife and mother demands of her, she begins to look t...more
I wanted to read this book for a while since I have read several of
Sue Miller's other novels and especially enjoyed her book, "For Love".
In this novel, there are actually two wives whose lives are depicted.
The first is Delia, the wife of a former Senator, whom we meet
when she is in her early 70's and living on her own for many years although still married to Tom, the former Senator. The other wife is the 37 year old Meri who is recently married to Nathan, a university professor, and they are exp...more
Sue Miller's other novels and especially enjoyed her book, "For Love".
In this novel, there are actually two wives whose lives are depicted.
The first is Delia, the wife of a former Senator, whom we meet
when she is in her early 70's and living on her own for many years although still married to Tom, the former Senator. The other wife is the 37 year old Meri who is recently married to Nathan, a university professor, and they are exp...more
Reading the reviews is so interesting - some very negative reviews of this book were surprising and I wondered if the readers needed some years - or decades- to appreciate it. Or maybe it's just not everyone's cup of tea. I found The Senator's Wife sometimes uncomfortable, deeply thought provoking, and almost always interesting. The wind up at the end felt a bit quick for a minute, but the events leading to the retrospective look were emotionally hard enough that the end allowed me to exhale. Al...more
This book is like a long character sketch. It is certainly more character-driven than plot-driven.
I enjoyed the story and read it eagerly, but there are times when Miller goes into minute detail about what people are eating or wearing and it slows down the pace. Sometimes she describes an aspect of the setting and I'd think, "Now, that has to be significant", but then it turns out to be just more detail.
Also,the main characters are frustratingly flawed at times. It made me want to shake them a...more
I enjoyed the story and read it eagerly, but there are times when Miller goes into minute detail about what people are eating or wearing and it slows down the pace. Sometimes she describes an aspect of the setting and I'd think, "Now, that has to be significant", but then it turns out to be just more detail.
Also,the main characters are frustratingly flawed at times. It made me want to shake them a...more
The vicissitudes of marriage....
In this novel, Sue Miller uses her delicate pen to bring to life the ups and down of the passionate, long-time marriage of Delia to Tom through an introduction by Meri, a newlywed neighbor.
If literary fiction is "about boring people doing nothing"--yet a story that enfolds you and takes you with it all the way through--Sue Miller has done an excellent job in keeping my interest. I could sympathize with Delia, I could understand her, even as, like her daughter, I...more
In this novel, Sue Miller uses her delicate pen to bring to life the ups and down of the passionate, long-time marriage of Delia to Tom through an introduction by Meri, a newlywed neighbor.
If literary fiction is "about boring people doing nothing"--yet a story that enfolds you and takes you with it all the way through--Sue Miller has done an excellent job in keeping my interest. I could sympathize with Delia, I could understand her, even as, like her daughter, I...more
I'm not totally sure why Sue Miller doesn't get the credit she deserves. Or maybe she does and I'm unaware of it? I feel like she gets classed in that genre of books that includes Maeve Binchy and Rosamunde Pilcher and Jodi Picoult. Snob that I am, I've never actually read any of these authors. They are published as mass market paperbacks and their covers always involve a lot of pastel and flowers and seem destined for airport bookstores. (There is, of course, a related genre that is directed at...more
two women at opposite stages of life who face parallel dilemmas. Meri , the young, sexy wife of a charismatic professor, occupies one wing of a New England house with her husband. An unexpected pregnancy forces her to reassess her marriage and her childhood of neglect. Delia, her elegant neighbor in the opposite wing, is the long-suffering wife of a notoriously philandering retired senator. The couple have stayed together for his career and still share an occasional, deeply intense tryst. The wo...more
This was one of those books I randomly picked up while wandering aimlessly in Barnes and Noble.
In any case, I decided I was ready for something new. I did start a book that was so horrendous, it put me off books for a whole month. The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller, however, totally brought me back. I liked this book.
The story is told from two perspectives, Delia and Meri, with Delia jumping back and forth in time. Meri moves in next door to Delia, who is an older woman and wife of a famous ex-se...more
In any case, I decided I was ready for something new. I did start a book that was so horrendous, it put me off books for a whole month. The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller, however, totally brought me back. I liked this book.
The story is told from two perspectives, Delia and Meri, with Delia jumping back and forth in time. Meri moves in next door to Delia, who is an older woman and wife of a famous ex-se...more
Sue Miller is an author that I love. Her writing is elegant and sophisitcated and every so often she'll turn a phrase that is so lovely that I read it over again a few times just to savor it. That being said, the plot of this book, which I would summarise as being about betrayal, is not very engaging. It is almost an ant- page turner--it meanders through situations over years and seems a bit bloodless, passionless. Which is strange because the book really is all about passion, so it doesn't real...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Sue Miller. The Senator’s Wife. New York: Vintage Books, 2008.
It was a good enough story and well enough written.
Page 265: Delia hadn’t lived with her husband for many years. He had been a U.S. senator, who cheated on her many times. They had three children together. During their prolonged separation, she learned to be satisfied with her life and independent – she spent part of her year in New England and the rest of the year in her Paris apartment. When her husband, Tom, had a stroke she left...more
It was a good enough story and well enough written.
Page 265: Delia hadn’t lived with her husband for many years. He had been a U.S. senator, who cheated on her many times. They had three children together. During their prolonged separation, she learned to be satisfied with her life and independent – she spent part of her year in New England and the rest of the year in her Paris apartment. When her husband, Tom, had a stroke she left...more
You know you have run into trouble when you finish a 320 page book and it only takes you two sentences to summarize the plot. The-Whole-Entire-Blooming-Thing. For those who don’t have the time to read this book, here is the Sparksnote version:
“…Inexplicably devout wife of philandering former senator learns that a massive stroke will not prevent a playa from remaining a playa. Meanwhile, next door, an ordinary couple in their mid-30s, awaiting the birth of their first baby, bore each other to the...more
“…Inexplicably devout wife of philandering former senator learns that a massive stroke will not prevent a playa from remaining a playa. Meanwhile, next door, an ordinary couple in their mid-30s, awaiting the birth of their first baby, bore each other to the...more
This is a good book though not great for me since I still cannot relate to somethings she talks about because I myself have not experienced it.
Meri:
Meri and Nathan are a newly wed couple who are house hunting due to Nathan's recent promotion to a tenure track professorship position. While Nathan is in a hurry to get settled to his new job and new life, Meri seems unsettled by the move from one of her version of the perfect life to one of domestic boredom. She seems to be reluctant to settling do...more
Meri:
Meri and Nathan are a newly wed couple who are house hunting due to Nathan's recent promotion to a tenure track professorship position. While Nathan is in a hurry to get settled to his new job and new life, Meri seems unsettled by the move from one of her version of the perfect life to one of domestic boredom. She seems to be reluctant to settling do...more
There were many unflattering reviews for this book but I enjoyed it (after a bit of a slow start). The characters were compelling even if I didn't like them very much sometimes. The book went back and forth between Meri a young newlywed and Delia an elderly woman, both living in a duplex. I felt invested in the characters and their lives and found the relationships fascinating. The story seemed to be about life choices that everyone makes and the reactions of those around you to those decisions...more
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Sue Miller (born November 29, 1943 in Chicago) is an American writer who has authored a number of best-selling novels. Her duties as a single mother left her with little time to write for many years, and as a result she did not publish her first novel until 1986, after spend...more
More about Sue Miller...
Sue Miller (born November 29, 1943 in Chicago) is an American writer who has authored a number of best-selling novels. Her duties as a single mother left her with little time to write for many years, and as a result she did not publish her first novel until 1986, after spend...more
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“Do you remember when everyone thought Bush (sr) had a mistress too"" he asks in the course of a Clinton era conversation. "But she was rumored to be someone wealthy and Waspy, of course...The problem here is the goddamn Democrats, who sleep down, you see. They love that white trash...And white trash loves publicity,so the Democrats are the ones who get into all the trouble. As opposed to the Republicans. They sleep up...Up, where all is Episcopalian and quiet as death itself, and no one ever has to hear a thing about it”
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