The Marriage Plot

 By: Jeffery Eugenides

Genre: Fiction

Stars: 5 out of 5

It’s the early 1980s – time for three college graduates to figure out what they want to do with than lives. Madeleine Hanna is an English major, infatuated with the nineteenth century world of Jane Austen and George Eliot. Throughout her college career she meets two very different guys that teach her the premise of her thesis: the marriage plot. Mitchell Grammaticus is the boy you bring home to your parents; kind and polite from a decent background, every way the gentleman. Studying the world of Christian mysticism, Mitchell is the classic “friend” that falls head over heels obsessed with Madeleine and wants to take their relationship to beyond friendship. On the other hand, there is Leonard Bankhead. Dark and mysterious, he is the classic loner who has a past that most women are attracted to. The year after they graduate, the lovers are introduced to the real world: Leonard suffers from manic depression. Madeleine tries to hold the relationship and Leonard together while Mitchell travels around Europe realizing Madeleine is the one for him. Will this modern love triangle turn out the way a nineteenth century story ends, or will it have a different ending this time around?

I was first introduced to Jeffery Eugenides spectacular style of writing when I read his first book The Virgin Suicides and was impressed. When I heard about his new book that came out I was excited and quickly picked this book up. I was not disappointed particularly because it relates somewhat to my life. It was easy to identify with Madeleine in not knowing what she wants to do with her life and being an English major fresh out of college – I am indeed in the same boat. It’s a great story that goes back and forth between the past four years of college and Madeleine’s relationship with these two men that enter her life and the present where Madeleine must face the reality of her decisions made in college. I enjoyed the language and the structure of this novel as well as the story. I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone especially if you like Eugenides’ other works The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex.