A review by serendipitysbooks
Matrix by Lauren Groff

emotional reflective medium-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

4.0

 
Matrix is a feminist imagining of the life of Marie de France. At the age of 17, being unattractive, illegitimate and therefore inconvenient, she was sent from the French court to an impoverished English abbey. Once she overcomes her unwillingness, resentment and bitterness she sets about trying to improve the lot of herself and the nuns. Over time the abbey becomes self-sufficient and then prosperous and Marie herself rises to the position of Head Abbess.

The novel follows Marie from the age of 17 to her death at the age of 72 and is a fascinating, yet subtle and nuanced character study, with the author being content to leave much to the reader’s interpretation. Marie was a complex and contradictory character, a talented and competent leader, but also increasingly ambitious and prideful. Were her visions genuine or were they a means for her to achieve her goals? Was the labyrinth she had constructed necessary to protect the community from outside attack, or a way of shielding herself from scrutiny? How did she balance taking Mass and hearing confessions herself with what that meant for the souls of the women she cared for? By ignoring the mores of the surrounding society and the dictates of the Catholic Church she risked destroying all she had built. I found such contradictions and moral ambiguity fascinating.

I also loved the insights into the workings of the abbey in the twelfth century and seeing how it could offer freedom rather than constraint and repression for women. Freedom from enforced gender roles and the risk of sexual assault. There was space for every woman whether her talents lay in the piggery or bakery, helping with the physical tasks of engineering projects or illuminating manuscripts. And of course the absence of men widened the vista of female love - platonic, romantic and sexual. 
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