Customer Reviews

Hillary's Choice

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

This is neither a flattering puff piece, nor a political attack. It is a balanced view of the first, first lady who acknowledges and pursues her own political ambitions.

The author presents Hillary as intellectually brilliant, but emotionally flawed. She explains a great deal about Hillary's and then Bill's early years and leads logically to where the first couple finds itself today.

Occasionally, Ms. Sheehy can't resist sniping. But, on all critically important issues, this writer remains objective. She explains Mrs. Clinton's famous "right wing conspiracy" appearance on the Today Show neither as a wife deceived, nor as a political combatant. Sheehy presents it as a wife hoping desperately that this time her defense is merited.

Hillary approaches her life and relationships through her head, not her heart. While Hillary has been heavily critisized for this, Sheehey deftly explains how this was inevitable given her background. But, she is not one dimentional. Sheehy tells a story of when Hillary was considering graduate school, she was looking first at Harvard and then at Yale as Harvard's competition. Someone from Harvard responded by saying that Harvard had no competition. Hillary chose Yale.

If you want a book the glorifies or demonizes Hillary, then look elsewhere. But, if you are interested in a book that helps explain this complicated and flawed woman, then Ms. Sheehy's book "Hillary's Choice" may well be what you are looking for.

p.s. It's good plane/beach reading.

I have had the dubious pleasure of reading and rereading quite a number of works addressing the life and times of Hillary Clinton.
While I am not a great fan of Billie, I must admit to sort of an admiration for Hillary. Be-that-as-it-may, I enjoyed this book. It was well written and I thought pretty well ballanced. Many of the "facts" presented, will have to be tested by time, but for now, I feel they are probably as close to the truth we will get.
Ms Clinton is certainly one of the more fascinating individuals of our times and I am quite sure history will continue to judge her as such. She is an interesting subject. In many ways, she is us. The author of this book is an interesting writer and between the author and the subject, we get a very interesting story. Thank you Ms Gail for writing it.

Searching for a selection on this topic I browsed this book and Barbara Olson's Hell To Pay and then came here to read the reviews. It was interesting that the reviewers of Ms. Olson's book who did not like it gave no specifics or facts supporting their negative comments whereas the negative reviewers here were much more specific, detailed and helpful. I have only read about a third of this one and you should accordingly discount my opinions but this book has way too many verifiable factual errors and too many sections where a suspension of disbelief is required. I felt it a waste of money to buy this one and opted to purchase Ms. Olson's book based on the approximate third of it I read and the reviews.

The Clintons' marriage may seem to be worked-over territory. But Sheehy, drawing on interviews with hundreds of subjects -- some of whom have kept silent until now -- breaks new ground in addressing the big question: Do the Clintons love one another -- or is it just a political partnership?

Her answer: Hillary is addicted to Bill. "He is her only rebellion," writes Sheehy, "the one thing she can't logically explain." The author charts the dog days of the Clintons' relationship, when, in the late '80s, Bill fell in love with a blonde Arkansas divorcée and Hillary contemplated divorce. Sheehy also explores Hillary's character -- her toughness, her ambition, her willingness to blame her husband's problems on others -- without suggesting these qualities are less appealing in a woman than in a man.

A woman of addictions and ambitions and an interesting read.

The book reads well enough but it is so factually flawed that the Washington Post has started a "Gail's Goofs" column about this particular book listing all of the factual errors (six days running last I checked). Read Lloyd Grove's Reliable Source column in the Washington Post Style Section before you buy this book.

It must be frustrating for anyone trying to write a book about either of the Clintons. Although Sheehy is successful in humanizing the First Lady, she was unable to reveal anything of a truly personal nature about the First Lady. The personal relationship between the Clintons is opaque to the onlooker. Because they do not tend to give out personal information, the book merely rehashes what has already been surmised about this couple.

Save your money on this one. This book reads like a novel. At times I found myself wondering what was fact and what was fiction. If you want to read a good Hillary Clinton book, try 'Hell to Pay : The Unfolding Story of Hillary Rodham Clinton' by Barbara Olson.

The book needed to put more emphasis on actual interviews and facts than trying to express what is going on in another person's mind. Barbara Olson's book "Hell to Pay" and Peggy Noonan's book "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" were much more accurate in comparison.

I picked this book up as a lark but stayed with it -- it's meaty enough to intrigue but serious enough to inform. an excellent and fair job by another great woman

According to many reviews/comments about this book, sources deny that their input was accurately portrayed. Nonetheless, I found the information about Bill and Hillary's upbringing interesting, if accurate. Though I have not finished the book, it appears only to reiterate what I've read previously about the dynamics of their relationship.

I am a fan of Gail Sheehy's work, but this does not appear to be one of her best works.