From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Marriage Portrait

Maggie O'Farrell

Start date: April 15, 2023

Finish date: May 15, 2023

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Barb

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Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 41 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

Circe - discussion with spoilers
By Jane · 17 posts · 23 views

last updated Sep 06, 2025 04:48PM

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What Members Thought

Apr 12, 2023 Loretta rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobooks

Oh man. I loooooved this book right up until the end. Loved the character and the richness and the voice of this teenager who gets married at 15 and is both incredibly smart and resourceful and also is SO FAR out of her depth.

And I saw the end coming and then yeah, that’s the thing that happened and I kind of hated that choice (the author choice, not the character choice). Keeping it spoiler free but…did not like.

I will still read anything O’Farrell writes because damn, she’s good at it.

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May 02, 2024 Yashoda Sampath rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, historical, feminist-fiction

I adored this book! It was gripping and gorgeous to read.

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May 02, 2023 Jane rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved O'Farrell's book Hamnet, and was ready to delight in this book as well. O'Farrell's descriptions are lush. The telling of Lucretzia's life as a wild child was vivid, and the scene between Lucretzia and the tiger was trance-like. But as I read farther, the constant shifting back and forth in time felt unnecessary, a device to unhinge the readers, as Lucrezia herself is unhinged. I began to feel as though I were on a tilt a whirl.

I didn't like this book on my first reading. The writing th ...more

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Mar 23, 2023 Tony rated it liked it

It's a DNF for me. I liked the writing but abandoned the book at roughly the halfway point. I could not get into the story, and I loved Hamnet. ...more

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