View from the East Wing: A Memoir
Dr. Biden’s book reflects an insular White House where loyalty was prized and Mr. Biden’s feelings were prioritized. In her book and in interviews, she has emphasized the pain that has been inflicted on her family ... Now 74, America’s most experienced living political spouse has closed a remarkable and turbulent chapter of her life by telling the reader what she saw, just not necessarily how she felt.
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A memoir that is at turns delusional, sappy, resentful and—in a weirdly irresistible way—revelatory of the former first lady’s agitated state of mind ... There is no dearth of blithe banalities ... But there’s anger, too. Her book’s title can be read as a spitball at Donald Trump, who has torn down the East Wing ('may it rest in peace') where Mrs. Biden had her first lady’s office ... It is Mrs. Biden’s mulish unwillingness to face up to the evidence of the president’s obvious cognitive decline in 2024 that is striking.
I guess the question is: What are you expecting? Are you reading a Jill Biden memoir in some delusion that she’ll be willing or able to hold her husband accountable for his poor performance against Trump 2.0? ... Maybe you, like me, love the feeling of boredom ... View From the East Wing says almost nothing of consequence but, in a few moments, takes great pains to remind the reader that, actually, Joe was not so sleepy after all! ... In yet another first lady memoir, you’re certainly getting what you paid for. It’s just that the whole thing could’ve been a Facebook post.
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