Spoken by the Heart by Laura Bush

January 30, 2010

This memoir covers the life of First Lady Laura Bush from her childhood in Midland, Texas to her adult years ispent in Houston, Austin and later the White House, and culminates at their family ranch in centeral Texas.

This is the second First Lady's memoir I have read, the first being Hillary Clinton's memoir.  I was intrigued to learn about both their childhood and early adulthood; however, more so with Laura Bush since she grew up in Texas.  While she briefly lived in Houston, she unfortunately does not describe this period in detail.  In fact, I was later surprised and disappointed that she did not provide more details about her courtship with Pres.George Bush.

She does provide a more in-depth account of their years in the White House, which personalized their roles of President and First Lady.  Unfortunately, the media typically provides a skewed view of all Presidents and First Ladies, focusing more on the same political issues and giving us little opportunity to understand their "human side".  Memoirs, such as this one, allows us to better understand them not only as political leaders but enables us to also relate to them more personally as daughters/sons, wives/husbands, and mothers/fathers.

As Laura Bush clearly pointed out throughout the book, the media and general public are often insensitive to the First families feelings as indicated by their prevalent criticism, insults and mockery.  Obviously, and rightfully so, Laura was deeply hurt by the disrespect directed towards her husband (and also towards herself & her children).  Regardless of our individual political beliefs, first and foremost the President should be respected as our Commander-in-chief.

I was moved by Laura's deep love and committment towards her husband, which mirrors our marriage and the feelings for each other:
"We do not have to speak,; ours is a language not just of words but a shared presence.  We take comfort simply from knowing that each one is in the room.  We are anchored to each other.  And if it is my nature to be calm, it is also George's to steady and buoy me.  We are two symbiotic souls"

I also felt a connection with Laura over her youth , as we were both significantly younger than our classmates (she began college at 17, while I began at 16) and our shared passion for reading which began at an early age.  She shared a memory from her childhood in which she lined up all her dolls as if in a classroom and played the role of a teacher.  I did the same thing, with the addition of taking several "class pictures" of  my inanimate students.

Throughout the book, I gained valuable insights into Laura Bush's social advocacy and philantropy both in the U.S. and abroad.  She helped AIDS victims,  abused women, provided teacher training programs for women in foreign, rural areas, established literacy programs- to name a few.  Again the media failed to shed light on her social activism and was more concerned with her wardrobe.

While there were several occasions in which I felt she glossed over chapters in her life (i.e., she just stated the facts, providing minimal details if any, and revealed little about her emotions at the time), overall I enjoyed the book.  Laura Bush appears to be a kind, loving, strong and principled woman.