The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House

Rating: 3 Stars

Review:

This was a quick read, mainly because it feels like an extended gossip magazine, giving the reader an inside look of the ups and downs of the First Families mostly from the Kennedys onward, though there is some mention of earlier Families. I didn't mind the book for the most part, I found it interesting and have a great respect for the difficult jobs the staff have to perform. My biggest complaint is to be found in my updates - the author repeatedly refers to how the staff  'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil', implying they will not talk about what goes on in the White House...in a book about what goes on in the White House. It makes little sense to repeatedly say how discreet the staff is, when within the same chapter you have the Clinton/stitches story, saying many staff members thought Hillary had hit Bill with a book, though he said he ran into the bathroom door. There is a lot of talk of the Clintons, naturally, but lots of it negative. The Bush family appears however to be able to have done no wrong. Nancy Reagan would have driven me crazy and I'd likely have quite too, as one staff member did. And the way she spoke to Ronald? She came across essentially as treating him like a child and telling him to be quiet.

All in all, an interesting, quick read. However, the author would better serve to not be so contradictory. Clearly the staff is not THAT discreet if they are sharing stories with you about the monstrous fights between Bill and Hillary.