Reviews

I read this in two parts, because I had to return it to the library just before a vacation, and I think that actually helped me enjoy it more. Groff is a good writer but can tend toward the pretentious turn of phrase - and seems to insert unbelievable plot points merely to titillate (and I found the ending disappointing after such buildup). It was an interesting read and did keep my interest while reading, but I felt like last year's acclaim may have been overrated.

sctittle's review against another edition

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2.0

Oh please. This is not a novel about marriage. It's about two narcissistic people who happen to get married. The first part is about the male, who's arrogant and clueless, and who gets sent away to prep school then college (Vassar) and never returns home again. Instead he falls in love with someone and gets married before they graduate and so his momma is pissed and disinherits him from his millions and he never sees her again. Instead he implausibly lives in a West Village apartment with his beautiful wife and, although he doesn't succeed with an acting career, he does succeed as a playwright--no, not just succeed but becomes world-famous. Then he dies. The other part of the book is about the woman he married, about whom he knows nothing except that she is beautiful and cleans her own toilets and is perfect. Of course, she's not, because she holds many dark secrets about her past, including being a courtesan, burning down her childhood house, and re-writing her husband's plays so that they will succeed. After her husband dies she seeks revenge on the person who she feels is responsible in part for his death by hiring a lesbian investigator who uncovers a Bernie Madoff-like ponzi scheme (of course) that will of course bring down the entire American economy, but then she decides not to, for reasons I won't go into here. Both parts of the book take pages to end in dramatic, over-written scenes. The entire novel, I would guess, is supposedly modeled after a Shakespeare play and since I don't know my Shakespeare that well I can't say how successful this metaphor/trope is, but I am furious that I spent so much time with this book and really cannot believe what gets passed off as "good writing" these days.

mikawvawn's review against another edition

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2.0

Trite and overly sentimental and mirror gazey cmon dog

kfish's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

briannasix's review against another edition

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4.0

The 4 stars is for the first part, not so much for the second

kelseymf's review against another edition

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5.0

I changed my 4 star review to 5 stars after I saw all the poor reviews. I thought this book was great, I read through it in just a few days and it kept me interested the whole time. The characters are pretentious and not always likable but I don't want to just read about likable people. The characters and their relationships are complex, beautiful, frustrating, and sometimes tragic. I love the depth of the story and the change in perspective was surprising and interesting.

I would definitely recommend it and I look forward to reading more by Lauren Groff.

zmcma13's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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