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lilpotatobird's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lindsayaunderwood's review against another edition
3.0
No where near as good as Middlesex, my fave Eugenides book. This one didn't have as much drama and I couldn't muster the ability to care deeply about the characters. That said, the last 100 pages were very emotional and helped finish the story strong.
meatspaceproblems's review against another edition
Better than I thought it would be after the first few chapters. The author excelled at the sections “narrated” by men, but clearly has no idea how to write women. A love letter to boomer/genx boys becoming the men they have to be that is warm and honest, but a shallow and disappointing acknowledgment of the lone girl depicted who may become a woman, but will remain an inscrutable mystery like all women apparently are according to Eugenides.
elbierly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.5
khornstein1's review against another edition
4.0
Through the misty goggles of time, I sometimes remember reviews that appeared in the teen magazines of my youth. In particular I remember one of a once-popular TV show: "Eight is Enough: A Heavy Brady Bunch?" Indeed it was. Both shows dealt with blended families. But I seem to remember the mistress of the house in "Eight is Enough" looking out a window with depressive tears in her eyes and Willie Aames looking pensive...
I would contend that "The Marriage Plot" is a heavy "St. Elmo's Fire." Both deal with post-graduate life in the early 1980's, a time that I now often view with rosy-glassed nostalgia, as it is "my era." St. Elmo's Fire, the movie, attempted to touch on the serious--cocaine addiction, betrayal in the midst of young love, the disillusionment of being a social worker, but it was mostly a showcase for the hot brat pack actors and actresses.
At first, and after reading some of the online reviews (full confession: I have not yet read "Middlesex") I felt this was another "St. Elmo's Fire"--rather one-dimensional characters whining about youth, and making the usual mistakes. Plus there's the fact that they are all rather well-to-do Ivy League students (here, at Brown)that makes them all somewhat annoying.
But somewhere along the way, I got really caught up in this story. Maybe it's my age--I am approaching the point at which I might be any of their mothers. I was hooked. Would Madeline really become a Victorian studies scholar? Would Leonard find a way out of the awful grip of his bipolar illness? Would Mitchell figure out what to do with his interest in religion? Although supposedly according to reviews, Mitchell's interest in religion has to do with the sublimation of his love for Madeline, I found it a refreshingly open-minded trip view of a young mind reading about Christianity for the first time.
This book has much less to do with marriage, and much more to do with being in your 20's. And for those of us of a certain age, it's filled with nostalgic bits--waiting at home for phone calls on your landline, typing on a manual typewriter, and a time when women didn't attend Columbia U., and not so many years removed from a time when women went to college to learn to talk to their husbands about intellectual subjects (I kid you not. I'm paraphrasing from a college catalog here.)
If you have some time, give it a try. I'm off to tackle "Middlesex."
I would contend that "The Marriage Plot" is a heavy "St. Elmo's Fire." Both deal with post-graduate life in the early 1980's, a time that I now often view with rosy-glassed nostalgia, as it is "my era." St. Elmo's Fire, the movie, attempted to touch on the serious--cocaine addiction, betrayal in the midst of young love, the disillusionment of being a social worker, but it was mostly a showcase for the hot brat pack actors and actresses.
At first, and after reading some of the online reviews (full confession: I have not yet read "Middlesex") I felt this was another "St. Elmo's Fire"--rather one-dimensional characters whining about youth, and making the usual mistakes. Plus there's the fact that they are all rather well-to-do Ivy League students (here, at Brown)that makes them all somewhat annoying.
But somewhere along the way, I got really caught up in this story. Maybe it's my age--I am approaching the point at which I might be any of their mothers. I was hooked. Would Madeline really become a Victorian studies scholar? Would Leonard find a way out of the awful grip of his bipolar illness? Would Mitchell figure out what to do with his interest in religion? Although supposedly according to reviews, Mitchell's interest in religion has to do with the sublimation of his love for Madeline, I found it a refreshingly open-minded trip view of a young mind reading about Christianity for the first time.
This book has much less to do with marriage, and much more to do with being in your 20's. And for those of us of a certain age, it's filled with nostalgic bits--waiting at home for phone calls on your landline, typing on a manual typewriter, and a time when women didn't attend Columbia U., and not so many years removed from a time when women went to college to learn to talk to their husbands about intellectual subjects (I kid you not. I'm paraphrasing from a college catalog here.)
If you have some time, give it a try. I'm off to tackle "Middlesex."
katykelly's review against another edition
3.0
Was expecting something... more. It was good, well written, but nothing special. Didn't feel the 'marriage plot' idea of Victorian novels was fully utilised.
jenny_hedberg's review against another edition
3.0
Ahh, I don’t know what to think absolut this novel. I read the first half with some enjoyment but then got bored. It was just more of the same, page after page. Thankfully, the chapters alternate between the different characters and Mitchell’s POV gave me some reprieve from Madeleine and her train-wreck relationship. Even so, I don’t want to anyone to think this novel is without strengths for the characters have real weight to them, but does that make up for a boring narrative?
lastpaige111's review against another edition
4.0
Literate, satirical, entertaining, clever. Characters are so not flat.
aadkatti007's review against another edition
3.0
icl got bored half way through and left it for a week before finishing it