[amazon_link id=”0374203059″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Title : The Marriage Plot
Author : Jeffrey Eugenides
Genre : Literary
Publisher : Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages: 416
Rating : No rating – did not finish book

This is kind of a short review since I couldn’t finish the book. I have stopped on page 213, after doggedly slogging on (I hate giving up on books) but I have to say I’m relieved to not have to finish this. I had started with much anticipation, but the tale of three young people in an off-and-on love triangle hasn’t proved interesting.

Madeleine Hanna is in love with (or so she thinks) with Leonard Bankhead. Mitchell Grammaticus is in love with Madeleine. All three students face imminent graduation but on graduation day, all is awry. Madeleine and Leonard are no longer together, which makes her very sad. Grammaticus is still pining for Madeleine but she has eyes for none other than Leonard. Apparently it goes on, but I can’t tell you more (for obvious reasons).

I found this novel very slow – too many words all going nowhere. I don’t want to use the word “pretentious” but this book contains 3 very self-involved characters. And while they might be interesting to each other, it is hard work reading about them. For they all seem to think and ponder very hard and are etched out in details that I couldn’t care about. They did not seem to be moored in the real world – they are lost in Semiotics/other artistic ventures. Pages and pages of expository writing slows the plot down, and I come away with a notion of self-indulgent meanderings on paper, all bound together and presented (rather deceivingly) in a smart hard-cover.

So, alas! I have stopped. On the other hand, I am now free to pick up something which hopefully reads better.