The Marriage Plot

THE MARRIAGE PLOT
by Jeffrey Eugenides

 Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2012, Dublin Longlist 2013, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2011

 Date Read: October 28, 2011

 Having loved Middlesex so much, and looking forward to reading it again, I wasn't nearly as blown away by this effort. The Marriage Plot follows three friends from Brown University during their first post-collegiate year. As with many other autobiographical details from this novel, Eugenides graduated from Brown.

 The Marriage Plot is a double-entendre referencing the type of story the novel tells, but also about the device in early 19th century literature as Madeline, one of the main character's, undergraduate thesis is about. Central themes explored here are the inevitable passing of time and the struggles with finding identity in a postmodern world. 

 Critics argued that Madeline's character was less believable because although she was intelligent and self-assured, her relationships with other women always contained an underlying animosity. I found this to make her more believable, rather than less. In the real world, women often sabotage their female relationships in a squabble over a perceived limited supply of power. Rather than drawing each other close, they undermine each other, much to their detriment. Yet Madeleine poses an extreme of this behavior, pushing away close friends and living very isolated in her own head.

 Looking Forward: Middlesex

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