PositivePureWowSittenfeld, who is clearly fascinated with the way strong women do and don’t accept mistreatment, is quick to portray Hillary’s shrewd understanding of Bill’s faults ... Sittenfeld’s gift has always been the ability to zero in on the seemingly trivial moments that end up directing our lives, and it’s this hyper-relatability that makes her novels so absorbing ... Ultimately, this fictionalized Hillary emerges as both calculating and compassionate, brilliant and foolish. But she also reflects back all the Catch-22s of modern womanhood. One should be strong but not chilly, pretty but not vain, smart but not threatening ... In real life, Sittenfeld seems to be saying, Hillary was never set up to win
