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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
I went into reading this book with mixed feelings. A lot of reviewers in the Times and the NYRB were not bowled over by the former Pulitzer Price winner for his latest publication. I'd never read Middlesex or the Suicide Virgins, so I couldn't compare it from that. One person with whom I have freakishly similar tastes in all forms of art told me "I heard it sucks." I was pretty turned off about it from the get-go.
Then I heard an interview of Eugenides on NPR and the interviewer (maybe Gross?) was really tearing into the guy about the fact that Eugenides' male lead seemed based off of the life of David Foster Wallace (one of my top five favorite humans that has ever existed). He defended that the character was not based on such a tragic person, but I was morbidly curious if it were true.
Whether Eugenides meant to or not, on some level of consciousness, Leaonord Bankhead was written to imbibe many of DFW's most public characteristics. It was interesting to read this character and feel like I was listening to the omniscient narrator tell me more about the life of DFW. Despite the completely different upbringings of Bankhead and DFW, they certainly seemed to exude the same larger than life qualities that make DFW such a fascinating person (the public discussion of the severity of his mental illness, his vast and deep intelligence, his ability to cross over to various sections of academia, and oh, the longish hair tied back in a bandana (not to mention the tobacco chew)).
At any rate, besides the whole DFW-doppelganger thing, the story was really great, and Bankhead did not over shadow the well-written and nuanced Madeline or the lovable Mitchell. There were points of religiosity that I was not a huge fan of, but on balance, that aspect was an important "journey" for Mitchell, and led to Mitchell's ultimate state of mind at the end of the story.
On the technical side, it's beautifully written. And like Eugenides' contemporaries, Eugenides has a way of capturing social interaction and values in a really, really funny, satirizing way without being too obnoxious about it (well...sometimes he is).
I highly recommend it! I read it FAST (as a qualifier so you get how readable this book is: I'm studying for the bar exam, and I read this thing in 10 days) It is a fun, easy, and ultimately weighty and thought-provoking read.
Then I heard an interview of Eugenides on NPR and the interviewer (maybe Gross?) was really tearing into the guy about the fact that Eugenides' male lead seemed based off of the life of David Foster Wallace (one of my top five favorite humans that has ever existed). He defended that the character was not based on such a tragic person, but I was morbidly curious if it were true.
Whether Eugenides meant to or not, on some level of consciousness, Leaonord Bankhead was written to imbibe many of DFW's most public characteristics. It was interesting to read this character and feel like I was listening to the omniscient narrator tell me more about the life of DFW. Despite the completely different upbringings of Bankhead and DFW, they certainly seemed to exude the same larger than life qualities that make DFW such a fascinating person (the public discussion of the severity of his mental illness, his vast and deep intelligence, his ability to cross over to various sections of academia, and oh, the longish hair tied back in a bandana (not to mention the tobacco chew)).
At any rate, besides the whole DFW-doppelganger thing, the story was really great, and Bankhead did not over shadow the well-written and nuanced Madeline or the lovable Mitchell. There were points of religiosity that I was not a huge fan of, but on balance, that aspect was an important "journey" for Mitchell, and led to Mitchell's ultimate state of mind at the end of the story.
On the technical side, it's beautifully written. And like Eugenides' contemporaries, Eugenides has a way of capturing social interaction and values in a really, really funny, satirizing way without being too obnoxious about it (well...sometimes he is).
I highly recommend it! I read it FAST (as a qualifier so you get how readable this book is: I'm studying for the bar exam, and I read this thing in 10 days) It is a fun, easy, and ultimately weighty and thought-provoking read.
Just finished The Marriage Plot. Jeffrey Eugenides may be my new favorite author. This book made me want to take another college literature course. Very well written and a offers a compassionate look at bipolar disorder. Now I need to go back and re read The Virgin Suicides.
I don’t think I was the target audience for this novel.
Enjoyed it immensely. Book club was divided, with several people feeling that eugenides didn't like Madeleine very much. I felt like her character was more complicTed than they credited, and more sympathetic. The semiotics section gave me flashbacks.
This book was a rummage sale purchase and I got what I paid for!
Instead of persisting in reading this story from cover to cover, I should have skipped to the last page of the book where Mitchell says to Madeleine...
From the books you read for your thesis, and for your article--the Austen and the James and everything--was there any novel where the heroine gets married to the wrong guy and then realizes it, and then the other suitor shows up, some guy who's always been in love with her, and then THEY get together, but finally the second suitor realizes that the last thing the woman needs is to get married again, that she's got more important things to do with her life? And so finally the guy doesn't propose after all, even though he still loves her? Is there any book that ends like that?
Reading only the last page of this book, instead of steadily ploughing along for months!, would have saved me from ultimately feeling an overwhelming sadness (over the damage that parents wreak on their children) and a profound despair (about the far-reaching effects of mental illness).
I highly recommend this novel to anyone with masochistic tendencies.
Instead of persisting in reading this story from cover to cover, I should have skipped to the last page of the book where Mitchell says to Madeleine...
From the books you read for your thesis, and for your article--the Austen and the James and everything--was there any novel where the heroine gets married to the wrong guy and then realizes it, and then the other suitor shows up, some guy who's always been in love with her, and then THEY get together, but finally the second suitor realizes that the last thing the woman needs is to get married again, that she's got more important things to do with her life? And so finally the guy doesn't propose after all, even though he still loves her? Is there any book that ends like that?
Reading only the last page of this book, instead of steadily ploughing along for months!, would have saved me from ultimately feeling an overwhelming sadness (over the damage that parents wreak on their children) and a profound despair (about the far-reaching effects of mental illness).
I highly recommend this novel to anyone with masochistic tendencies.
i really liked this book - the characters were complex and true to life. I thought he got a bit bogged down at points though.
I turned off my Kindle and sighed in relief, "Phew, glad that one's done." The writing was great. The depiction of someone suffering from bipolar disorder was rich. And the ending was satisfying. But I just didn't enjoy the journey.
call it pretentious call it white, but to say that eugenides isn’t making fun of those things (his brown education, his own elitism) is to have a complete lack of nuance about this novel. it is fantastic. the characters are superb and the narrative structure keeps you glued to the paged. LOVE LOVE LOVE this book.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit probably because 1) I like Eugenides writing in general and 2) I liked the characters. The marriage plot seems still like an odd title. Of course we are past the time when women (primarily) seek marriage and hope to be fortunate to find love along with it as was more common in novels of the 1800s. BUT the quest for love -- that exists, has existed and will continue to exist regardless of the status of marriage. Seeking great love, that is the eternal human conquest. and in the end, was not the earlier focus on marriage merely a practical and socially suitable proxy for great love?
