![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() THE MARRIAGE PLOT may take place in the 80’s, but it still feels a lot like the present to me: students wanting to change the world and create meaningful lives are graduating into a poor economy that limits their ability to actually achieve their goals. The book opens on her graduation day (gray, cold, generally nonfortuitous) and flashes between her now bygone college years and the murky future ahead. I was a senior in college, treading the same dubious ground as Madeleine. Maybe my particular affection for THE MARRIAGE PLOT is partially due to the fact that I read it at the perfect time. How could a book lover not find this introduction delicious and intriguing? At its core, THE MARRIAGE PLOT is essentially literary criticism in the form of a novel-but rendered immensely readable, with vivid characters and a good dose of humor to boot. ![]() Our first impression of Madeleine is based entirely on her reading log. You will immediately know if this book is for you based on your reaction to the first paragraph, in which Eugenides introduces us to main character Madeleine Hanna by listing the books residing on her shelf-from the “complete Modern Library set of Henry James,” to the New Directions paperbacks of poetry, to the “Colette novels she read on the sly.” “To start with, look at all the books.” So begins Jeffrey Eugenides’s THE MARRIAGE PLOT. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |