The Thousands

It’s taken about nine years for Jeffrey Eugenides to drop The Marriage Plot. Those of you who hold
Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides close to your hearts might be worried to hear that he has dialed
back the weird and that this book is considerably more straight up and breezy. Still, The Marriage
Plot is a charming and witty read that offers a nicely spun take on love and marriage.

The book’s central obsession is a love triangle between three clever, promising, book-obsessed types
about to graduate from Brown University in the early 80s. At the apex of the triangle is Madeleine
Hanna, an English major whose research concerns the ‘marriage plot’ in the novels of Jane Austen
and George Eliot. Like a character from a Victorian novel, Madeleine vacillates between two
potential suitors, one a lot keener, and saner (but less attractive and exciting) than the other. Into
this well-worn tale Eugenides injects literary theory (Roland Barthes is quoted many, many times at
key points in the story) and semiotics, the hippest thing on campus in the early 80s.

Despite tackling some dark shit (mental illness, unrequited desire, loneliness) The Marriage Plot
remains entertaining. I’m predicting that this will be the beach novel of choice for smartypants
this summer.