The Marriage Plot

The Marriage Plot

It’s 1982, and Madeleine Hanna is about the graduate Brown University. The English major finds herself drawn to Victorian literature and its battle of suitors for a heroine’s favor. Meanwhile, her own life is not without parallels. Madeleine struggles with an on-again, off-again relationship with brilliant-but-unstable science major Leonard Bankhead while being pined for by religious studies major Mitchell Grammaticus, whom she hopes to keep as a platonic friend. The prospect of graduation, the stress of the real world, and the expectations of friends and family threaten to bring everything to a head.

Based on both his formidable talents and his infrequent publication, it is easy to view Jeffrey Eugenides as a semi-mythical figure in literature. You may not hear much from him for most of a decade, but every nine years, a new novel shall drop, and it shall be a big deal. The seeds of this reputation were sewn in 1993 when he debuted with The Virgin Suicides, a mixture of coming-of-age and tragedy that featured one of the more ambitious points of view (anonymous third person plural, akin to a Greek chorus) ever attempted. He further established his reputation in 2002 with Middlesex, a sweeping, thematically rich (but stylistically more conventional) family history that netted him a Pulitzer. 2011’s The Marriage Plot now adds another wrinkle to the Eugenides legend.

The defining feature of this book is its intimacy. Whereas Eugenides’ previous efforts were at some remove from their focal characters, The Marriage Plot gets up close and personal with Madeleine, Mitchell, and Leonard. Eugenides, who attended Brown in the early 80s, uses these characters to deftly skewer literary deconstructionism and other elitist fads of the day (backpacking through Europe) with authority. In Leonard’s case, we are also treated to a horrifyingly personal look at mental illness. Watching him struggle – and Madeleine struggle with him – gives the book some much-needed heft; without it, we would be subjected to hundreds of pages of triviality.

Unfortunately, the other two leads are less strikingly defined. Mitchell’s dual quest for Madeleine and for religious truth makes him a compelling character, but our interest is tempered by the knowledge that he is a likely stand-in for the author (Michigan origin, Greek surname, etc.). Comparatively, Madeleine seems almost empty. She has a rich backstory (pseudo-upper class parents, a history of failed relationships, the slow realization that being pretty isn’t enough, etc.), but it is never entirely clear what is driving her. Her interest in Victorian lit comes to the forefront briefly but is a background element for most of the novel. Meanwhile, the depth of her devotion to Leonard seems at times unjustified.

Despite such flaws, The Marriage Plot is a difficult book to put down. We might not be affected as much here as we were by the revelations of The Virgin Suicides or Middlesex, but the immersive settings, fitfully funny moments, and skewering of academic pomposity make it worth a read. Moreover, its slight disappointment is illuminating. Now that we all know that Eugenides is human after all, perhaps the nine-year cycle will end, and he’ll publish more frequently.

8/10