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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Jeffrey Eugenides is really such a beautiful writer. Something about his writing just grabs me and doesn't let go. Unfortunately, I had trouble with the characters in this novel, even though the writing kept me going. I just didn't like any of them. I was interested to see what would happen in the story but didn't really care about the characters at the same time. All in all, I still enjoyed this book but wish at least one of the characters had been more likeable.
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I rarely stop before I finish a book, but this was the case with The Marriage Plot. Madeleine is a character that really does not resonate with the reader - especially as a woman, so what is the point after that?
Middlesex is probably my favorite novel. I approached The Marriage Plot with a mix of trepidation and anticipation. I'm not even sure how to review it. This novel follows 3 seniors at Brown the early 1980's. The plot, which is far too complicated to begin to describe, involves a love triangle, a religious pilgrimage to India, cancer research and all sorts of angles of academia.
The book begins with book-loving Madeline, religiously-searching Mitchell and scientifically brilliant but manic-depressive Leonard drawing close to graduation. Madeline's senior thesis on the Marriage Plot asks if there can be a novel now that marriage is no longer really a goal. The first third of the book trudged for me. Lot's of semiotics references, readings of Barthes' A Lover's Discourse and general collegiate angst. Then they graduate and things take off. I started caring about the characters and they started taking on a life of their own. The possibility of love, the role of religion and the whole notion of figuring-out-your-life are handled in a quick moving, well written narrative.
If you decide to read it, hang on in there.
The book begins with book-loving Madeline, religiously-searching Mitchell and scientifically brilliant but manic-depressive Leonard drawing close to graduation. Madeline's senior thesis on the Marriage Plot asks if there can be a novel now that marriage is no longer really a goal. The first third of the book trudged for me. Lot's of semiotics references, readings of Barthes' A Lover's Discourse and general collegiate angst. Then they graduate and things take off. I started caring about the characters and they started taking on a life of their own. The possibility of love, the role of religion and the whole notion of figuring-out-your-life are handled in a quick moving, well written narrative.
If you decide to read it, hang on in there.
Got bored before I had finished the first chapter. Obvious it was written by a man. The main character (or at least the one we meet first) wakes up with a bad hangover, but she is so beautiful that she doesn't even need to brush her hair before she goes out to breakfast. And she doesn't brush her teeth that morning, although she is meeting people for breakfast. Really?? For the record, I gave 5 stars to Middlesex (same author).
I've loved the other Eugenides novels I've read, but I give up on this one. Halfway through and I just couldn't trudge through the rest. It's hard to read a book where the main character is female but the story barely passes the Bechdel Test. A woman who is supposedly smart and an intellectual who just graduated from an Ivy League does nothing but think about two men in her life, how interesting they are, and her struggle to write her thesis. We don't get to explore her intellectual mind or actual take on the marriage plot; we only go into her mind to find out what she thinks about her love interests.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Amazing, descriptive writing as always from this author, but the plot is odd. This is definitely worth reading and enjoying, but it's not something I would read again.
Nearly all of the characters are unlikeable but I enjoyed the story.