Editorial Review
Once again Sue Miller takes us deep into the private lives of women with this mesmerizing portrait of two marriages exposed in all their shame and imperfection, and in their obdurate, unyielding love. The author of the iconic The Good Mother and the best-selling While I Was Gone brings her marvelous gifts to a powerful story of two unconventional women who unexpectedly change each other’s lives.
Meri is newly married, pregnant, and standing on the cusp of her life as a wife and mother, recognizing with some terror the gap between reality and expectation. Delia Naughton—wife of the two-term liberal senator Tom Naughton—is Meri’s new neighbor in the adjacent New England town house. Delia’s husband’s chronic infidelity has been an open secret in Washington circles, but despite the complexity of their relationship, the bond between them remains strong. What keeps people together, even in the midst of profound betrayal? How can a journey imperiled by, and sometimes indistinguishable from, compromise and disappointment culminate in healing and grace? Delia and Meri find themselves leading strangely parallel lives, both reckoning with the contours and mysteries of marriage, one refined and abraded by years of complicated intimacy, the other barely begun.
Here are all the things for which Sue Miller has always been beloved—the complexity of experience precisely rendered, the richness of character and emotion, the superb economy of style—fused with an utterly engrossing story that has a great deal to say to women, and men, of all ages.
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Customer Reviews
This would make a good book club choice 
2008-06-10
The Senator's Wife is about two women: Delia is the one who gives the book its name while newly-wed Meri is her new next-door neighbor. Delia's husband Tom was a prominent Democratic senator in the 1960s. The couple now live apart, but still maintain a relationship. The book is about the relationship between the two women as well as their individual marriages. The book is set in 1993/1994, although it has an oddly dated feel, as if it were set 10 years earlier.
Delia is the more likeable of the two women and for some time I felt that Meri wasn't adding much to the book other than another perspective on Delia, but ultimately their lives become entwined and common themes develop. Although Meri is a newly-wed, she is aged in her late 30s (presumably to make some events that occur later in the book more credible), and yet she has the naievity and self-absorption of a younger woman.
Even though I didn't particularly warm to either woman, I enjoyed this book very much and read it quickly. I could feel the tension building throughout and I wasn't sure how it would resolve itself. Some reviews that I had read talked about a twist at the end which I think is over-selling it, but it does build to a climax. However I also felt that the ending was over-explained and that Meri's motivations were spelled out in a way that didn't feel convincing (nor necessary). This would be a good choice for a book club as there's plenty to discuss.
This is the first book that I've read by Sue Miller, but her writing reminded me in many ways of Anne Tyler, whose writing I love.
Stand By Your Man or Stand Up For Yourself? 
2008-06-05
It doesn't take a literati to decipher that the message here is this: despite what your husband/significant other may do to embarrass both you and himself, it's best to keep that dirty laundry in the washing machine of marriage. Delia Naughton, 'The Senator's Wife', is an educated, sophisticated woman. So, why on earth would she allow her husband's philandering to carry on? Unlike Hillary Clinton, she didn't have political aspirations; she didn't need to use her husband Tom like Mrs. Clinton implemented Bill.
Then there's the issue of her young married neighbors, Meri and Nathan. Nathan is completely enthralled with the idea of living next door to a Senator, while Meri subconsciously begrudges the life that Delia Naughton lives, both in the public eye and behind closed doors. Perhaps that is what leads Meri to execute her wiles over Tom, however, that is surreptitiously the point that Delia takes a stand - finally.
While I wasn't one to really be intrigued by the plot, Miller's deft use of language was reward enough to warrior through this one. If you hoped to gain a bit of insight into a political marriage, this may whet your appetite. If you are looking for a page-turner, this one isn't it.
Yikes! 
2008-05-31
Boy, in my opinion this didn't measure up. So, did Nate ever cheat on Meri?? I was so bored that I just skipped around and finally read the last couple of chapters to finish it off
Shows the weakness and strength of women 
2008-05-23
I liked the character Delia, she had her strengths as a strong willed women; willing to put up with a cheating husband, but that could also be considered her weakness. This book is well written, even if we may not agree with a woman standing by her man, this really happens in life. Delia showed her strength when she gets an appartment in France and learns French, she escapes for a short time only be to drawn back into her husbands control again. This was a thought provoking book.
Disappointed and grossed out 2008-05-17
Well this is the first book I have read by Sue Miller and I will have to say she is a very good writer however I found all the characters very sad individuals. Though I am sure there are people like that, the book demonstrates a very jaded look at life. I found the ending shocking and I was totally disgusted by the event that ended the relationships. I will not recommend it to any of my friends and I can't understand why it was on the best seller list for so long.
Stupid Ending. 2008-07-23
I had enjoyed the writing, up until near the end of the book. Made me sorry I had wasted my time. Did the author just not know how to end the book with something plausable? It was annoying.
Unusual and sad story 
2008-07-21
This really was a very strange and sad story. it took me a while to get into the book and, initially, I had no feel whatsoever for Delia. That changed once there were chapters that focused on her, and I found myself liking her, although I could not quite "get" her. I really was unable to understand her motivation to stay in her marriage. Initially, I liked the Meri character, but over the chapters, I came to find her quite unlikeable in her narcissism and selfishness. And both Nathan and Tom felt totally elusive to me. And there seemed to be a total disconnect with the Meri at the very end in 2007.
That said, the novel had a very literary feel, and I agree with another reviewer who commented that it was reminiscent of Anne Tyler. I think this would be a worthwhile read for a book club.
The Senator's Wife 2008-06-28
This was my first experience with this author and my last. I hated the book. I kept asking myself why would anyone put up with a cheating lying husband for 25 years. It was so improbable to want me to beleive that a woman who hasn't lived with her husband for 20 years and has a completely separate life is still so in love with him that she takes him back once in a while to have sex, even into her 60's. What exactly is the love based on if you are not sharing the experiences of life that help grow and bond your life together. It made no sense to me. I kept asking myself why is she staying married I don't see the love between them, only betrayal and lies. Meri's character was so whiny, disloyal and unpleasant I was hoping her husband would just leave her. I didn't see anything about her that was ever happy and she was a devious liar. The ending floored me and made me sick. It was thoroughly depressing. After ruining the lives of two elderly people Meri ends up the happy one with the husband and childern. I guess in this case it pays to be selfish,bitchy, sneaky, and untrustworthy.
Characters are complex, not evil 2008-06-17
Unlike many readers, I found the ending merely sad, not shocking or a sign of Meri's moral bankruptcy. Meri is far from perfect, and what she does at the end is clearly not noble or ethical. But she has lacked love all her life -- her husband seems too self-absorbed to love her -- and she honestly believes that she did it for love. It is sad that such a gesture can cause such harm, but it did, and Meri will have to live with the consequences.
Sue Miller knows how to delineate characters and how to write dialogue. But she has a very annoying, constant writer's habit -- what I would call the fading-away comma phrase. Just in the online excerpt, we see: "this is a coup, an achievement," "the profiles, the three-quarter angles," "a great change, a beginning," "they can find a way to keep talking about all this, a way of shaping their marriage to suit them both." Those last phrases trail away and make the sentences seem precious and affected. On occasion, it's fine, but Miller does it constantly. What about, for example, "the profiles and the three-quarter angles." Or what does "an achievement" add that was not already present in "a coup"?
A big disappointment 2008-06-11
To keep it brief: I read this book because I liked While I Was Gone, also by Sue Miller. Though the heroine of the that book was unlikable, the story was good and rather well-written.
Sue Miller seems to have slipped several notches in the interim. The prose in The Senator's Wife is straight out of Writing 101, with conversations unremittingly punctuated by inane asides: "She took a sip of beer" or "He cut the pizza and put it on her plate." There was also a lot of meaningless detail that served no purpose.
The older heroine is a one-dimensional stereotype of an old lady. The senator husband is worse, maybe half-dimensional. But the worst thing about this book was the young heroine, an utterly amoral piece of work whom the author seems to like and believe moral. Either Sue Miller is off her nut or she's pulling our leg.
I don't recommend it at all.
