Zac Freeland/Vox
Our pick for July 2020 is Rodham, by Curtis Sittenfeld.
Here’s how the Vox Book Club works: Every month, we pick a book. Throughout the month, we publish a series of discussion posts containing thoughts and discussion questions from Vox book critic Constance Grady, but we also have comments turned on and moderated so you can share your thoughts, too. Talk among yourselves! Post your opinions and questions! Or use our discussion posts as a jumping-off point for (socially distanced) discussions with your own friends and family. And at the end of the month, we gather on Zoom for a virtual live discussion.
After a fantastic June spent discussing William Goldman’s The Princess Bride (watch a replay of the live event here!), in July we’ll turn to Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham.
Rodham is an alternate history that tells us what would have happened if Hillary Rodham had never married Bill Clinton. On its own merits, Rodham is a juicy, scandalous read, with plenty to say about the way American politics have evolved during the decades the Clinton family has been in public life. (Plus, there are some oddly intimate sex scenes that in and of themselves are fodder for endless conversation.)
And because this is Vox and we have access to some of the most detail-oriented politics nerds on the planet, we’re going to bring in some special Vox experts to help us fact-check Rodham’s politics and put the book into context, both as a piece of alternate political history and as a work of political Real Person Fiction.
We’re going to do two discussion posts in July, each with a special Vox guest star. Both posts will assume that you’ve already read the whole book, but they’ll each approach it book from a different angle. The first discussion post for will go up on Friday, July 10.
Come join us!
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Here’s the full Vox Book Club schedule for July 2020
Friday, July 10: Discussion post on political Real Person Fiction and how Rodham fits into the genre
Friday, July 24: Discussion post fact-checking Rodham’s alternate history and examining how the book imagines Hillary Rodham Clinton, the woman, the myth, the politician
Thursday, July 30: Virtual live event, details TBD. Sign up for the Vox Book Club newsletter for more info!
via Vox – Recode