The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
December 18, 2011 1 Comment
(Just finished this book tonight and thought I’d share my review from Goodreads. It does contain some spoilers.)
Before you read my review, look at this article from Eugenides about what spawned the novel and why he decided to go through with writing it. (And yes, the Dr. Strangelove-inspired article title made me giggle. I love being in on the joke of allusions.)
People have given this book a lot of flak for 1) not being Middlesex and 2) not having what they felt was a satisfying ending.
But if you think about the fact it takes place in the 80s, when people’s lives first started entering an extended adolescence, and you think about the changing times and the coming rejection of marriage as a culmination of one’s life, The Marriage Plot has a fitting ending.
There are parts of the book where the narrative trudged along; but I really enjoyed Eugenides’ depth in describing bipolar disorder, and how he treated the difficulties of being in a relationship with someone who has it. I also enjoyed the Unitarian religious pursuits of Mitchell, and sometimes I wondered if Eugenides slipped something of himself into Mitchell’s character. It felt reminiscent of Cal if he had been describing his experiences firsthand in Middlesex as a framing of his consciousness, rather than a nearly clinical case study of moving from Calliope to Cal.
One of the consequences of a post-modern society is a person can come full circle and start again, when in previous generations that behavior was frowned upon or impossible. The wedding ring/Möbius strip on the cover is no coincidence. The heavy literary foundation of the beginning of the book is no coincidence (especially if you think of the symbolism of the ending). Eugenides has crafted a great story, one that is (conveniently) a liberal arts professor’s goldmine. Hopefully the readers take the lessons of the novel to heart and won’t get bogged down by the scholarly name-dropping.
I gave the novel 4 stars, though it is closer to 3.75. I rounded up.
About problem chylde
I also really enjoyed this novel, and I think Eugenides is an amazing writer, in intellect and in craft. I read The Virgin Suicides when I was a teenager (and loved it — in part because of the intense feeling of a situation being inescapable), but I’ve still never read Middlesex.
I thought the ending of TMP was quite satisfying. I found it deeply sad as I closed the cover, yet also had a strong sense that it aligned perfectly with the trajectory of the book and the reality of our times.