Radar Online, June 4, 2007
Those hoping to find a boozy confessional of Jenna Bush’s misspent youth in the pages of her lucrative first book for HarperCollins, Ana’s Story: A Journey of Hope, are in for a sobering experience.
In addition to the reported $300,000 advance Ms. Bush received for it, the book’s also a key play in her makeover – an image retrofit ripped straight from the Angelina Jolie school of PR. Just as the A Mighty Heart star eradicated all of her Billy-Bob-blood-wearing, smack-shooting, Brad-and-Jen-wrecking past by trying to adopt half of the Third World, Ms. Bush spent a few months with poor kids in Latin America through UNICEF and seems to hope that, by the time the book hits shelves on October 7, everyone will forget about all those times she got hammered at Chuy’s. At least she’s not dirty dancing with Fabian Basabe.
Ana’s Story is in no way Jenna’s “What I Did Last Summer” essay (at least not according to the galley Radar got its hands on). In fact, it has almost no Jenna in it at all. Save for a brief introduction citing her reasons for writing it in the first place (she was inspired by Ana’s “maturity and positive outlook on life”) and a letter to readers at the end, the non-fiction yarn is entirely about Ana, an impoverished HIV-positive orphan shipped from one abusive home to another. At 16 the young woman falls in love with a fellow AIDS orphan and becomes pregnant after one night of unprotected sex. The book is aimed at ages 14 and up and, like a “very special” episode of an ’80s sitcom, is rife with all kinds of useful info (“Ten Myths about AIDS”) and ways to get involved.