Review: Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life

Exciting news: guess who's going to see Hamilton in Seattle this Thursday??? 

Let's just say it's put me in a political state of mind... so I'm throwing it back to review a book I originally read about a month ago, about politically-adjacent sisters who grew up in front of a nation. From playing on the carpet floors of the White House to giving the young Obama sisters a tour upon their father's election, Jenna and Barbara have spent plenty of time around some of the country's greatest influencers of  the millennium's first decade... not necessarily in "The Room Where It Happens," but still, pretty close! 

In Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life, Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush - aka, the Bush twins, daughters of President #43 and granddaughters to #41 - give their own account of what it was like, living behind the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and in front of the eyes of a nation. From their presence on election tours with their grandfather, to treading unsteady ground during their education on liberal college campuses, their reflections on everything from a childhood spent in matching outfits, to having youthful indiscretions documented on a global scale, paint a portrait of a sisterhood closely held, and a family legacy they had to grow to understand. 

When they called this book "Sisters First," they weren't kidding: even in the acknowledgements section, they clarify that this book was not necessarily a memoir, but instead, love stories they told to each other, and I believe it. Every page of this book is filled to the brim with adoration, something that's easy for me to understand, having two younger sisters (and a little brother!) of my own.

Naturally, the bond between these two is a little more important, being that their sisterhood played into the cultural history surrounding one of the most impactful positions in our national governance. As the granddaughters of George H. W. Bush, and daughters George W. Bush, their lives have reflected a unique perspective on growing up in not just the public eye, but the epicenter of national and worldwide politics, and it makes sense that they'd want to share that with others... especially when the perspectives that have been shared about them before have been less than kind.

Which, it may surprise you, I did not go into this book knowing! President Obama was elected into office when I was only in the eighth grade, which meant that my political consciousness hadn't been developed all that much during the time Jenna and Barbara's dad was in office. Hearing their tepid acknowledgements of tabloid-documented discretions of years past was a little disconcerting, when I wasn't all that familiar with what they had been doing wrong in the first place.

Still, despite the fact that their college years were less than straight-laced, it is clear that these women are intelligent and well-educated. Their story-telling is descriptive and packed with emotion, and punctuated with letters, emails, and other missives flying between members of their famous family to give it credence. I absolutely believe that these women love each other, and their family.

For the record, I am a Democrat, and a liberal, and all of those other things that don't necessarily align with the Bush family doctrine. However, that didn't stop me at all from enjoying this book. Not only did the sisters put forth their stories with apology, and without judgement, but they acknowledged the places where their lines of thinking, as they grew up, deviated from those of their parents, whether in terms of supporting gay marriage, being pro-choice, or mediating a more friendly relationship with news media. They discussed their friendship with the Obama family. They also made it clear that their support of their own family ran far deeper than any political divide, too.

While I do think the chapters had the tendency to get a little wandering and disorganized, the book's relative lack of structure made it feel very conversational, like they were just telling you these stories over a morning cup of coffee.

Final Verdict: A fun and unique installment in the various political memoirs I've been getting into in the past few years. If you liked Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? by Obama-era White House official Alyssa Mastromonaco, you would probably like this one, too, for their unique portraits of a presidential term, behind the scenes.

Have you read any great political memoirs recently? Do you also have the song from "My Date with the President's Daughter" stuck in your head? Let me know, in the comments below!