This book was not what I expected from a novel entitled “The Marriage Plot”. It was so much more than I could have dared hoped for! For those who love Jane Austen and the traditional ending to a story in which the monied gentry eventually marry the meek, mild and worthy, or the focus of a marriage is related to the reader in terms of how the plot’s events affect the female in question, then think again. The plotline follows the trials and tribulations of not one but three main characters, Madeleine, Mitchell and Leonard, who become inextricably entwined, albeit unwillingly and unconsciously, from the moment they begin studying for their degrees through to the time a year or so beyond their graduation. However, Jeffrey Eugenides provides a very different take on the traditional love triangle and the motivations of the respective protagonists. Eugenides has a way of writing which searches the souls of his characters and, as a reader, you find that yours is unwittingly searched, too. Here is a novel which fits an ideal model of twenty-first century egalitarianism in every way and is realistic in the truths it reveals about attitudes to society, religion, sex and mental disorder. Although this book is set in the early 1980s, the prejudices, preconceptions and hypocrisies are just as relevant today as at any other time in history. Most importantly, it holds up for inspection the age old concept of being in love. It asks whether the whole concept of love and marriage is the best thing for a person if that love is non-productive and even destructive. This is an altogether wonderful, sometimes funny and often moving and disturbing novel which I have no hesitation in recommending to potential readers. For those who have ever studied for a degree, there are so many scenarios with which to identify, particularly if you have been a student of English Literature. There is initially a fair degree of literary theory spouted by various characters, but do not let that put you off continuing to read! For fans of One Day, this is a fabulous account the emotion which makes us essentially human, and how life gets in the way of the dream those Victorian novelists would have had us believe is the mainstay of existence – the marriage plot.

Eugenides knows his stuff. Not unlike David Nicholls’ university based novels, this American college centred story is engaging and daring, no stone unturned. The intimacy is at times unbearable. The smooth tilt of time, back and forth, is a balm to our insecurities. Our earnest, bookish heroine (they’re all bookish in this one) is doubly pursued and romantically confused. This is more autobiographical than Eugenides’ first two novels. It explores the complex relationships people have with books. They are a status symbol, succour and the last word in sex. If you squint. It’s a small shock to see beloved British and European classics transported to an American college bookshelf. But their words and their bodies furnish these characters’ lives. The story harks back longingly to bygone, non-functioning eras, not fit for lazy modernity. The flaws in the class system are also commented on, no less tricky and perilous in their modern incarnations. The story suggests love is something prescribed to us by greeting cards. So far, so good. Following on in this vein, the romantic nostalgia of the nineteenth century marriage market should be revealed to be just as devastatingly prosaic as today’s disposable relationships. But our heroine longs for traditional avowals and institutions of love, finding them more instinctive and truthful than modern, mainstream displays of liberation. The classic novels, in their paper form, can be ordered in a way her relationships simply can’t. It’s tricky to sympathise with our main characters for much longer than in your average romance. They are doggedly consumed by art, academia and religion; in one instance wasting away from depression as melodramatically as possible in the 1980s. At times it reads almost like a thesis, bordering on pretentious. But Eugenides can afford to be a little self-congratulatory. The Marriage Plot shows uncommon knowledge of us all. Expect no comfort here. Love is alive, coming ready or not.

The first time I tried to read this I was tired and simply couldn't keep up with the almost stream-of-consciousness style of the novel. When I gave it another go, although the literary criticism alluded to within the text was rather daunting (and made me feel badly read), once I got going I found it surprisingly engaging. Facets of each of the three central characters provided something to which I could relate and, although the college situation sometimes slips into cliché, the individuals feel very real. The viewing of scenes through multiple perspectives is sensitively done and with a distinct emotional awareness. Most importantly, at the key emotional moments and turning points the feeling is conveyed very absorbingly indeed. This meant that the unhurried nature of the plot was not a problem for me. The comedy is sprinkled throughout and pretty meta in places, as I suppose is suggested from the title (though I didn’t realise this upon starting). It is very funny – a lot of the humour derives from the difference between characters’ perceptions of themselves and their actions and fortunately Mr Eugenides has a wonderful turn of phrase. I haven’t as yet read any other of Mr Eugenides’ books (though I will now off the back of this) and so can’t say if the style it is written in is something he has employed elsewhere, but it is very distinctive. Eschewing chapter breaks, it seems to divide more into acts, which leap about in time and place as well as following different characters. This all creates a bulky text which made it tricky to put down at a natural break – but luckily it was thoroughly compelling! It flows very lucidly and seamlessly, almost without you noticing a shift in focus. Given that the scenes can flit from a remote research facility to humming Calcutta (each of which feels very distinct and tangible) this is quite a feat. All in all, although not a light read, it is very winning and rewarding. I loved it.

The traditional love story and the eternal triangle - Mitchell loves Madeline but Madeleine loves Leonard, so familiar yet Eugenides has made this novel about so much more. It is an intelligent and insightful look at the complexities of human personality, at the effect that our experiences during our formative years have on our expectations of adult relationships. It is about the decisions we make as we try to forge those relationships and the consequences of those decisions. The setting is a year in the early 1980's and Eugenides recreates that time with great feeling and accuracy; the atmosphere, the music, the fashions. But this is no easy, lazy, read for there are complicated issues to deal with and unfamiliar settings - the American collegiate system, the rarified atmosphere of the research laboratories in Cape Cod, the grim realism of the Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta and above all the increasing depression and mental illness of one of the members of our triangle. I found the literary and religious references challenging and some of the darker passages made for a difficult read at times. But there is such wonderful characterisation in this novel and such a creation of empathy with all the characters and their situations that I would wholeheartedly recommend this book. Most adults will find passages that speak to them personally - the pains and uncertainties of growing up, the experiments and the mistakes, and above all the intensity of feeling that comes with the search for that 'certain someone' to spend your life with. Above all I came away with the feeling that what we think we want out of life is not always what we really need or get. Education and literature promise to teach us allot about life but they only provide part of the 'plot'. Eugenides tells us that it is you who has to live your life and only your experiences and decisions, right or wrong, will decide how your own story will be written.

Three novels in eighteen years makes being a Jeffrey Eugenides fan frustrating, but if The Marriage Plot is as good as Middlesex then there won't be many complaints. After the epic sweep of Middlesex, The Marriage Plot seems much less ambitious, focusing on the love lives of three college students in the early eighties. Both college life and and the book's central character, Madeleine are somewhat idealised and less interesting for it, but the book picks up in the second half when Eugenides explores his flawed male leads, manic-depressive biologist Leonard and Mitchell an aimless academic in search of a religion. It's a little disappointing after Middlesex and a nine year wait, but still a fine read if you're already a fan.