Customer Reviews

The Marriage Plot

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Instead of the three generations featured in Eugenides' Pulitzer winning "Middlesex," "The Marriage Plot" presents three individuals: Madeleine Hanna, an attractive, unconfident WASP; Leonard Bankhead, her on-and-off brilliant and brooding boyfriend; and Mitchell Grammaticus, a Michigan Greek who yearns in alternation for Madeleine and for God. The novel opens on the day the three graduate from Brown, returns to back story, then follows their first year in the "real world". Seeking sanctity, Mitchell heads to Europe and India; the other two keep house on Cape Cod, where Leonard studies yeast in a genetics lab and Madeleine applies to graduate school.

The novel contains a marriage but concerns itself neither with matrimony nor love; at heart, it is a coming-of-age drama that possesses the joys and pains of lived experience. With sympathy, modulation and deftness, Eugenides gives immediacy to Mitchell's struggle with spirituality, to Leonard's battle against mental illness and to Madeleine and Leonard's tenuous relationship. But, despite a wry, engaging and beautifully constructed story, "The Marriage Plot" sells its characters short. Mitchell's religious exploration grows tedious and ultimately gets dismissed as a sublimation of his desire for Madeline. And, though the novel's point of view alternates, Leonard receives only a single section before it virtually shuts out his voice.

Madeline, the supposed protagonist who initially seems to be on an interesting journey to maturity, eventually recedes behind Leonard's needs. No journey comes to fruition; she never discovers her vocation, which leaves the reader unable to imagine her as an adult. Perhaps that's the point of this deconstructionist novel but, if so, such obscurity comes at the cost of a truly enjoyable read.

I was really looking forward to diving into this book - made it to the 1/2 way point and just couldn't go on.
Tedious is the word that comes to mind.

I surprized my wife by getting her this book. She loved it. The library didn't have enough copies so she is passing it to her daughter to read.

OMG -- So Eugenides!!! And Eugenides should be used as an adverb!!! This Man is such an incredible author, kinda like Wally Lamb and others whom we could wish would produce more frequently!!! But obviously not, as it takes more time to produce quality rather than quantity!.. Jeffery, I live for your every novel. You speak to the human condition. Thank you for The Marriage Plot. I live with many people with bi-polar disorder alias manic depression. In a world of lithium induced mental states we are meant to realize the true impact of the disorder -- the way it was back then -- before today's pharmaceuticals. The impact this has on today's survivors -- are we producing zombies at the expense of levelling the mood of society? Society needs to understand the impact of mental illness, how it affects all of us and how to develop strategies to help survivors cope with mental illness. We cannot continue to sweep mental illness under the rug -- it affects all of us in some way, shape or form.
Jeffery -- I sooooo wanted Madeleine to be with Mitchell!! Seemed that they would be so perfect together. Henceforth, they sought out their own journeys and hopefully in the end would ultimately find themselves, but find each other.

This is a very enjoyable book with interesting characters and a good story. I found it very well written and have already recommended it. The trick is that you can't compare it to Middlesex as you read since it is nowhere near that level of genius. That said, it is definitely still worth reading and I'm glad Jeffrey Eugenides is still writing.

My loving of this book was probably helped by re-reading Middlesex a year ago.
I was fascinated mainly by the quality of writing: the way different scenes are intertwined, going back and forth, clarifying facts and situations. I read it in a weekend; couldn't put it down.
Don't read this book if you expect a plot: there is none, only life with ups and downs, joy and ugliness, coming up to age, brilliantly painted.
This book, together with Unbroken (Laura Hillebrand) and Dovekeepers (Alice Hoffmann) were the best three I read in 2011.
Loved it!

An stunning romantic novel about the immaturity, aspirations, love and frustrations of young people back in the early 80s. An amazing writing style that will suck you in and absorb you like the eyes of Medusa. An emotional roller coaster. Simply irresistible. Eugenides did it again!

"Middlesex," the best novel I have ever read, set accordingly high expectations for "The Marriage Plot," which is good, but not that good. Maybe Eugenides was too busy teaching at university (or something) to give the novel full treatment of his prodigious talent. Academia has leached off some of that Eugenides soul.
The twist at the end was a surprise, but true to life. A good book.

...there's a photo of this novel's front cover.

I didn't keep reading this novel to the end because I was compelled to.

I didn't keep reading it out of fascination or curiosity...or even interest.

I kept reading it out of obligation.

I don't regret the time and energies spent, but I can't say they were well-rewarded.

Nothing about the characters moved me. (Save for the illness of one...but because I was so familiar with it, it wasn't as if I was learning anything new.) Nothing about their various tales moved me. And nothing about the writing moved me.

Certainly 'The Marriage Plot' is not a novel I'll look back fondly on having read. And I can't imagine that the author will, either.

To once again quote Gertrude Stein, 'There's no 'there', there."

The writing is unadventurous.

It is practically the same novel as Franzens Freedom, which was very poor.

You do not come away from this novel any better as a person, which is what good fiction does.

The worst part is that its just an average novel that some decent and dedicated amateur would write, but we are being told by critics that it is amazing.

Infuriating.