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A review by lauraborkpower
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
2.0
I wanted to like this book. I heard Richard Russo talking about Groff's book on NPR, and specifically about her chutzpah in writing this story. And I like Russo's writing and trust his judgment, but his middle-aged-male-writer's patronizing of Groff really pissed me off. I wanted to read this book because she is a young woman--a "girl" to Russo--and I wanted to see if she deserved her seat at the table, regardless of her age or gender.
And I don't know it she does.
Groff's style is just so...precious. Every sentence is laden with metaphor--like she tried to jam in every single figurative detail she possibly could. And while there are some poignant bits throughout, it's just so much to wade through.
And I didn't like Lotto at all, nor did I sympathize with why Mathilde loved him so much. He was just kind of a tall, privileged asshole who stole other people's stories. And, oh, god, the summaries of Lotto's plays. The plays themselves were so pretentious; and it's not at all interesting to read someone's explanation of a work of "genius."
Thankfully, Lotto's story is over halfway through, and Mathilde's story is more interesting. But it still wasn't enough to pull me into it--because Groff's writing style doesn't let up, not for one second. A quarter through the book, Mathilde comments on something (I can't remember what), that "on and on it went, forever." And I frequently felt that way about Groff's writing.
I might have liked this more had I read a hard copy instead of listening to the audiobook, because I disliked both narrators ('Fates' was read by Will Damron and 'Furies' was read by Julia Whelan--both narrators read this like they were reading the secrets of the universe). But the long and short is that it's an overwrought story about characters whose real personas are clouded by strings and strings of metaphors. You will be exhausted.
And I don't know it she does.
Groff's style is just so...precious. Every sentence is laden with metaphor--like she tried to jam in every single figurative detail she possibly could. And while there are some poignant bits throughout, it's just so much to wade through.
And I didn't like Lotto at all, nor did I sympathize with why Mathilde loved him so much. He was just kind of a tall, privileged asshole who stole other people's stories. And, oh, god, the summaries of Lotto's plays. The plays themselves were so pretentious; and it's not at all interesting to read someone's explanation of a work of "genius."
Thankfully, Lotto's story is over halfway through, and Mathilde's story is more interesting. But it still wasn't enough to pull me into it--because Groff's writing style doesn't let up, not for one second. A quarter through the book, Mathilde comments on something (I can't remember what), that "on and on it went, forever." And I frequently felt that way about Groff's writing.
I might have liked this more had I read a hard copy instead of listening to the audiobook, because I disliked both narrators ('Fates' was read by Will Damron and 'Furies' was read by Julia Whelan--both narrators read this like they were reading the secrets of the universe). But the long and short is that it's an overwrought story about characters whose real personas are clouded by strings and strings of metaphors. You will be exhausted.