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A review by unabridgedchick
Matrix by Lauren Groff
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I love stories about nuns and forgotten women of history, so a Lauren Groff novel about Marie de France seemed a no brainer. And it was great -- totally captivating -- but such an extended fancy I'm baffled why Groff picked Marie de France to be the figure at the heart of the story.
As a novel about medieval, 12th century monastic life for women, it's brilliant. Groff's narrative style -- a kind of wooden, present-tense, third person that ends up suiting the story, with the rigidity and distance from us in time -- paints vibrantly what life at this once blessed-or-bewitched convent would be like. How a smart, ambitious woman might make lemonade out of lemons. But to imagine it would be how the historical Marie de France -- a figure so unknown to us that scholars can't agree who it might be -- ended up living her life felt a bit like a bait and switch. Marie de France's poetry figures in quite early in the story, and then disappears completely; the rich story that unfolds could genuinely have figured for anyone especially since it articulates the history of a royal abbey we never learn the name of, an abbey that grows to mythic grandeur that it too can't be truly historical.
Still, I liked this book, especially when I stopped trying to search for a poet and lyricist in the pages. I adore novels of nuns and convents, of mystics and abbesses, and this joined the list of those books. An easy read, mostly, with passages tangled and rich with images.
As a novel about medieval, 12th century monastic life for women, it's brilliant. Groff's narrative style -- a kind of wooden, present-tense, third person that ends up suiting the story, with the rigidity and distance from us in time -- paints vibrantly what life at this once blessed-or-bewitched convent would be like. How a smart, ambitious woman might make lemonade out of lemons. But to imagine it would be how the historical Marie de France -- a figure so unknown to us that scholars can't agree who it might be -- ended up living her life felt a bit like a bait and switch. Marie de France's poetry figures in quite early in the story, and then disappears completely; the rich story that unfolds could genuinely have figured for anyone especially since it articulates the history of a royal abbey we never learn the name of, an abbey that grows to mythic grandeur that it too can't be truly historical.
Still, I liked this book, especially when I stopped trying to search for a poet and lyricist in the pages. I adore novels of nuns and convents, of mystics and abbesses, and this joined the list of those books. An easy read, mostly, with passages tangled and rich with images.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault and Animal death