The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides

I think Jeffery Eugenides should have titled this book differently.  The Marriage Plot kind of sounds off-putting – another book about the disintegration of a marriage.  And in fact, that’s one of the reasons I shied away from it initially.  I have found that books about dysfunctional marriages or sad interpersonal relationships are not what I’d like to read for fun.  Maybe it’s my stage in life or my personality that doesn’t find it entertaining – it just makes my stomach hurt.  Finally, I decided that I should give The Marriage Plot a try.  I had been waiting a long time for Jeffery Eugenides new novel.  His last one, Middlesex was a wonderful story – one of my favorites the year it came out.   I finally decided that if Eugenides wrote it, it had to be better than I thought.   So I took the leap.  I was right.

The Marriage Plot is a story about three college kids at Brown University.  It takes place in the early 1980’s as they are about to graduate.  Madeline is an English major writing her senior thesis on the Victorians and their use of “the marriage plot” in literature.  Think Jane Austen, Henry James etc.  Leonard, her charismatic and rather unstable Biology major boyfriend is destined for a fellowship at the Pilgrim Lab, a fancy research facility on Cape Cod, where he’ll work under prominent scientists to solve questions about yeast cells.  Mitchell, her smart, creative Religious Studies major friend who is madly in love with Madeline, decides to take time after school to travel in Europe and India with a friend and explore religions while the recession rights itself. 

Well, you can see where this is going.  Mitchell loves Madeline, Madeline loves Leonard, Leonard is jealous of Mitchell, maybe Madeline loves Mitchell – it goes back and forth.   As in most Victorian novels, the toxic love triangle is set and the players have to find their way to resolution.  During that time, all of the members in the plot have to learn how to negotiate this intense triad and decide what they want and how they will position themselves as they enter the real world. 

Eugenides is a gifted storyteller.  His character development is not to be surpassed.  You find yourself totally engrossed with the characters who you can relate to and who you grow to love.  I was particularly blown away with his rendering of Madeline whom I could especially relate to.  Her voice was so much like my own at that age.  All of us remember kids like Mitchell and Leonard from our college days.  They are the same archetype that we see in plenty of John Houston films from the same time period, In fact, Pretty in Pink is plotted with the same love triangle.  That’s why we like those films, they are based on the same Victorian plot structure that Madeline is studying and that lives in literature again and again.  The big difference is that Leonard is not quite the cool popular guy portrayed in other novels.  During the course of the book, we learn he is diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and struggles with his medications and abilities to cope with life.  (don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away).  This wrench in the story creates a tension not usually found in a novel of this type, but renders him with the requisite air of unattainability all the same. 

What really struck me in this book was the research that Eugenides did to make these characters come alive.  He must have a herd of research assistants to help him ferret out all the smallest details of each character’s point of view.  Each of the three are brilliant in their field – each very diverse from each other.  Eugenides speaks with a knowledge base of one that has his own graduate degree in each of those areas.  He explains each character’s work in detail, giving more insight into each and helping us understand how these kids can make the decisions they do about the future of their lives. 

In the end, this is a coming-of-age book as much as it is a book about a love triangle.  It’s about deciding how to enter the world after college and how to negotiate the end of that safe place and the beginning of a new life chapter.  About deciding which ties to cut and which to bind as you start your life.  Eugenides does a great job of taking that tender time around graduation and exploring the emotion around entering the adult world that many of us remember.  An intense love triangle provides the fuel that propels these characters into their lives, whatever they may hold. 

I’m glad The Marriage Plot wasn’t what I thought it would be.  Don’t shy away from this book because of its title, embrace it because of its rich content and the craftsmanship of a gifted writer.