The American Wife: Stories

by Elaine Ford

“Elaine Ford’s collection roams the territory between the intellect and the heart. She writes of the human condition with precision, in language that is both grave and conversational. Her characters step out of the real world onto the page, where she develops them quietly, but with compassionate fullness. This writer grips the reader with her keen knowledge of the psyche of individuals-—their motives and secrets—and also with the surprising things that happen to them.”
—Laura Kasischke, judge, Michigan Literary Fiction Awards

Of Elaine Ford’s novel, Missed Connections, the Washington Post wrote that it is a work “of small episodes, of precise sentences, of unusual clarity.” That same clarity proves an unsettling force in Ford’s stories, where precision of prose often belies uncertainties hidden beneath. In the title piece, an American woman in England, embroiled in a relationship doomed to fail, discovers how little she understands about her own desires and impulses. In another story, another American wife, abandoned in Greece by her archaeologist husband, struggles to solve a crime no one else believes to have been committed.

Throughout her stories Ford touches on the mysteries that make up our lives. Each story in itself is a masterpiece of such detail and power as to transform the way we see the world.

Genres: Fiction

182 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2007

Reviews

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The American wife (recommended by S.) is the first person account of Laura Bush (in the story Alice Blackwell, nee Lindgren) and has a fascinating and captivating first half. Though I admit once I worked out (thanks, too, to S.) that it was the story of George W. I stopped being able to enjoy it quite so much. I just couldn’t respect my narrator anymore.

I had trouble with her narration for other reasons - a sort of prescience that felt out of place - and a self-effacement that didn’t feel genuine so much as performed to elicit sympathy.

The realist narrative (in the style of Richard Russo or Philip Roth) is a bit jarring at first - it’s been awhile since I read something that attends to the kind of jam spread on multigrain toast, or the colour of earrings and matching handbag) but is, ultimately, satisfying to be so thoroughly encouraged to enter a world.

I’m not going to say I *didn’t* like it. I tore through it, (happily my commute takes 40 minutes and is easy - I’m commuting against traffic and so always have a seat and it’s never noisy or crowded - and so I can read for a full hour and a half each day) and enjoyed it for the most part. But the George W part became very, very distracting in the later half and the somewhat indulgent narrator irked me. So… if you’re a Republican, read on?

[Ronnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok for quick reads, nothing too challenging but ultimately unmemorable

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting story line. Makes you think about how often a wife may not support her husband's political beliefs

[Edmund Vale · Rating 4 out of 5]

The American Wife felt to me like a careful study of identity, loyalty, and the quiet tensions within a life that looks comfortable from the outside. What stayed with me most was how Ford portrays the subtleties of marriage and social expectation the ways habits, compromises, and unspoken understandings quietly shape a person’s choices over decades.
I appreciated how the novel explores the interior life. The protagonist isn’t heroic in a conventional sense; she’s reflective, sometimes flawed, often negotiating between desire, duty, and circumstance. That made her feel real. The story reminded me that much of life’s drama is internal private decisions, withheld thoughts, and the small, accumulative pressures that define daily existence.
Reading it felt intimate and contemplative. The novel doesn’t rush or demand attention with spectacle; it rewards observation, patience, and empathy. In the end, it lingered with me because it recognizes that understanding oneself, and others, is often a quiet, lifelong project.

[Evia Ballav · Rating 3 out of 5]

The insights given in the book about the mindset and psychology of the protagonist both as an individual woman and a politician's wife makes it an intriguing read. But the storytelling and writing style were not empathic and I was not able engage in the experience as a reader and an empathizer and remained somewhat distant and eventually bored.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Split into three sections I found the narrative of the first two quite interesting but the third was introspective and slow. Somehow it didn't ring true which was a shame. I didn't realise it was about Laura Bush when I read it - maybe that would have made it more interesting? I agree with a previous reviewer, not a particularly memorable read.

[Alexis Hartz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. A collection of previously published stories. Unusual characters and most stories had unexpected -- haunting --endings. The author writes "by the book" -- holding fast to writing and grammar rules. A good read if you're interested in writing technique.

[Ruth Jalfon · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautifully written and thoughtful