From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Marriage Plot

Jeffrey Eugenides

Start date: March 15, 2012

Finish date: April 1, 2012

Discussion: Reading List

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Mar 15, 2012 Ruth rated it it was ok

There was a certain fascination to this book, but not enough to keep me from feeling I was being lectured at. It was as if Eugenides knew or had done his research on three main themes and by golly he was going to make me listen to everything he’d learned.

The first lecture was Deconstruction, something I’ve failed to grasp for some time now. Eugenides did a better job than many in making me understand it, but a lesser job in making me care about his characters. The second subject of our little t ...more

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Feb 01, 2012 Jane rated it it was ok

I was disappointed. I really enjoyed Middlesex. Felt as though it was an utterly surprising and ambitious book--hermaphrodites, Greek history, a coming of age story, a family chronicle. This book felt like think gruel by comparison.

The first chapters had some of the same wit and humor of Middlesex, but I quickly began to lose interest in the characters, and I was so ready for a narrative, for a rousing good story. I couldn't imagine Leonard's appeal. He's smart, but so is Madeleine; and he is p ...more

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May 20, 2012 Courtney Stirrat rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, modernlit, audible

I really don't know what I think. I went from like to love to ambivalence to serious frustration. Conceptually, the book's premise is cool. I knew and felt the two male characters all too well (and apparently Leonard has a big dose of David Foster Wallace), but all the places were the book could have taken a really fab road stopped short. The writing is expansive, which I enjoy and I went through long periods of great absorption. The ending was such a trope, but still a worthwhile read or listen ...more

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Aug 15, 2013 Nanci Svensson rated it really liked it

Shelves: mental-illness, satire-humor, pop-culture, perspectives, coming-of-age

So far, I love every single sentence uttered by Early Adopter of Derrida - Thurston? - god, that guy was in my lit class too, quoting Stabat Mater & generally just sucked.

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Feb 20, 2012 Katy rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

This is a serious, thoughtful look at three individuals, recent Brown grads, working out their identities and their respective destinies in a world that feels very contemporary and somehow hopeful.

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May 07, 2012 Lorna DH rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2012, beautiful-writing, book-love

The beginning was brilliant, the end not so much.

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Jan 22, 2012 Inder rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, 21st-century, books, northeast, read-2012

This was enjoyable, if a bit pretentious and firstworldproblemy (seriously, could these characters be any more privileged? yawn!), but it was no Middlesex, that's for damn sure. I enjoyed the nerdy book-worm aspect, but I expect a bit more of Eugenides. ...more

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