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Alone again...naturally: a book review of 'The Senator's Wife' by Sue Miller
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‘The Senator’s Wife’ by Sue Miller was a bit of a roller coaster for me in terms of liking the book or not. The story surrounds two couples; one an older couple who have lived a political life and know the power of appearances, and the second a newly married couple in their late thirties – together they share a duplex house. Told from the point of view of the wives, Miller examines the choices they have made and the adjustments that their choices have forced them to make.
I don’t know if I’m the only one who feels like this, but introspective reading doesn’t click in my mind as very summery. In fact, I would say that close to the first half of the book had me appreciating Miller’s use of prose, but not necessarily liking the younger wife much. As far as the senator’s wife, Delia Naughton, I liked her a lot and Miller does a fine job illustrating the decisions she has made, why she made them, and why despite the nagging of some of her children, she accepts things as they are. You see, Delia’s marriage has been shaped by the understanding she has that although her husband is, for lack of a better turn of words, her soul mate (yes, I can hear you gagging) it hasn’t and probably will never stop his philandering ways. Of course he doesn’t realize it until it is too late, but the option of having your cake and eating it too doesn’t really apply in real life – you can only apologize so many times until the words become meaningless.
Meri, on the other hand, is coming to terms with being a couple. Her Midwestern family of origin was not very Beaver Cleverish and she finds herself confused in terms of accepting the give and take a marriage requires. How much can you communicate without saying the words, for instance? To complicate matters, Meri finds herself pregnant, which Miller was able to flesh out the pregnancy, labor, and the first few months a new mother has to adjust to all things foreign and infant like. In fact, I must confess that Miller’s description of the labor almost had me screaming for an epidural. I also appreciated what I thought was the frankness of a woman who borders on resenting her newborn, to then falling in love with the child, to then becoming a woman who embraces her role of mother.
Of course the most interesting character is Delia because we Americans have all wondered about the woman who stands by her politico husband while he confesses his sins to a nation. One has to wonder what sort of emotional cost it must be to stand mute as she listens to his carefully worded speech about how sorry he is and then, during the best of these poignant Greek based tragedies, she, the agreed upon most injured party of the situation, then has to utter words of marital unity at a difficult time. Although there are no such public scenes such as this in the book, the readers understand that Delia has managed to escape such an outward display because her husband dropped out of active politics before the advent of the 24 hour news cycle.
I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of how this novel ended, but I understood Miller’s central thesis. Besides, I loved some of the passages she wrote which almost translated into poetry – especially for someone like me who isn’t the biggest poetry fan.
She watched Evan, his beautiful face lifting in response to Tom, smiling, talking. How much he had changed over the years! – that idealistic, romantic young man become a money guy as he called himself, wearing his expensive clothes, living in his expensive loft in the city, having his children over once every few weeks. And yet the love she felt for him was unchanged, was based on who he’d been and who he still was to her. This is how it is with your children, she thought. You hold all the version of them there ever were simultaneously in your heart. (page, 276)
Due to my conflicting nature about ‘The Senator’s Wife’ I’ll compromise; buy this book now (the paperback is one of Target’s bookmarked reads, which means it currently is 20% off) and save reading it for the late fall or maybe when there is snow on the ground. Though Miller is an excellent writer, she doesn’t bring the funny or light-hearted moments of life into her books, so in terms of books to read by the pool – I say pick something else up for the time being.
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