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Read Like a Clinton: A Round Up of Literary References in WHAT HAPPENED

Elizabeth Allen Sep 21, 2017

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Elizabeth Allen

Staff Writer

Lifelong book lover, Elizabeth Allen managed to get a degree in something completely unrelated that she never intends to use. She’s a proud Connecticut native who lives in a picturesque small town with her black olive-obsessed toddler daughter, her prom date-turned-husband, and her two dim-witted cats Penny Lane and Gretchen Wieners. She spends her days trying to find a way to be paid to read while drinking copious amounts of coffee, watching episodes of Gilmore girls until the DVDs fail, waiting for her husband to feed her, and being obnoxiously vain about her hair. Elizabeth’s work can be found at www.blackwhitereadbooks.com, where she is currently reading and reviewing all of the books referenced in Gilmore girls. She is also the cohost of two podcasts discussing the work of Amy Sherman-Palladino (“Under the Floorboards” and “Stumbling Ballerinas”). Basically, her entire goal in life is to be a bookish Lorelai Gilmore. She clearly dreams big. Twitter: @BWRBooks

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After many tears and much relived anger, I finally finished What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton. It wasn’t an easy read. Some of the wounds of the 2016 election are still raw and pulling off the bandage to poke at them a bit hurt more than I thought it could. But it was personally important for me to read. Not exactly cathartic, but something I needed to really begin to work through my anger and towards effective resistance.

This is not going to be yet another thinkpiece about how much right HRC had to tell her own damned story as compared to Bernie and all of the (mostly Y gene bearer) talking heads. This was her story, more intimately experienced by her than any other living soul in our country. Period. There, I just saved you a lot of internet reading and eyerolls.

But, this is Book Riot. So of course, we’re most interested in what exactly this accomplished lawyer, First Lady, Senator of New York, Secretary of State, and first female nominee for President of the United States kicks back with after a long day of fighting the patriarchy. Reading is clearly a big part of the Clintons’ lives. Hillary discusses in her book an intricate book tracking spreadsheet she and Bill use. She talks about watching Bill constantly rearrange their beloved bookshelves. Literature is obviously a central theme to their love story. And HRC proves that through the number of literary references she employs throughout What Happened.

So, if you miss having a literate president. If you aren’t convinced of the genius of The Art of the Deal. And if you’re looking for your next read to inspire you to “resist, insist, persist, enlist,” here is a round up of all of the literary references in What Happened.

But first, I must brag. My 4 year old daughter and I got to meet Hills herself shortly after it was released and got signed copies of What Happened and her new children’s book, It Takes a Village. It was a surreal, touching experience and it (along with her latest book) left me with the confirmation that we all made a very big mistake. But What Happened gave me the motivation to right our nation’s collective wrong. It turns out, I remain forever and always #stillwithher.