The Marriage Plot -- 9780374203054

So. I didn't dislike The Marriage Plot...I just found it to be a bit of a disappointment based on what I had been hearing from nearly everybody else I had talked to who had read it and loved it.

Let me start off by saying that I generally enjoy the way Eugenides describes things and people and moments. I thought the entire first half of Middlesex was great and everybody seemed so real to me. With The Marriage Plot, there was just something that was off about the pacing, characterization, and something else I can't put my finger on because it's after 10 and therefore past my bedtime...

Madeleine was an "everygirl" and I found her to be a little too two-dimensional and developmentally stagnant for a protagonist for my tastes, to a point that's almost insulting (but not really) since she is *the* everygirl and i am...*A* girl and I hope that's not how guys really think girls are (even though, sadly, many of them are...just not the ones worth writing a novel about). Though, now that I think about it...this leads into what I'm going to touch on with Mitchell. In viewing her as the everygirl, I could see some attributes of myself in there, i guess, but a much more self-involved, selfish, sluttier, and yet more confident version of me...so quite a stretch. I found her largely unlikeable -- which is generally fine, i love to hate my characters, but I think I was supposed to sympathize with her rather than dislike her, and mostly I couldn't. Also, The Bachelorette's Survival Kit...wtf? Who does that? Especially sending it to a 14(?) year old! Ew. 

Mitchell reminded me of a more introspective Gatsby, minus the American dream, self-made-man thing. Madeleine is his Daisy, his ideal which can never be obtained and then inevitably disappoints. I liked the way their relationship ultimately played out, because if things had become perfect for both of them, suddenly, i think i might have thrown up on the bus while i was reading or at least pulled a muscle rolling my eyes. However, even with the resolution of their sexual tension (maybe?), Mitchell's story felt unresolved to me. I dunno. It also seemed to be present mostly so we could have the book end the way it did. I'm also confused where the part about him and Larry having too much to drink and then the weird "was it a dream?" thing and why that was there, aside from being an introduction to Larry's coming out (but only in Europe?). 

Leonard reminded me of a friend I had in college aaand THAT might be the reason why I'm so harsh with Madeleine -- cuz my situation played out so different because of who i am vs who she is (among other reasons). So quite possibly that hit a little too close to home but then manifested into something I couldn't realate to? I dunno. I liked Leonard as a character, most of the time. I like how his story ultimately played out though not necessarily how he got there. I think he is the character I cared the most about but got the least from, in terms of his point of view. We get a very short snipit of his perspective around 2/3 the way through. I thought that either should have been expanded or removed entirely. I liked having Madeleine's romanticized view of Leonard opposing Mitchell's disgust (just having these views would give Mitchell's existence more purpose). I thought the honeymoon mania (with the Casino and where it went from there) was a little over-the-top. I would have liked the focus to have been a little more on the strain you would think that the not-entirely-consensual sex on pg 357 would have had. Less fireworks than the big expensive police scene, i know, but more realistic and disturbingly typical, sadly.

Additionally, while I again generally like Eugenides descriptions, there were a number of really weird ones that felt forced or just completely out of left field. I'm way too lazy and tired to pull up any references right now, but I know there were parts that had metaphors that either didn't make sense or didn't need to exist -- especially in Mitchell's sections. 

By far, my favorite parts of the book were sitting in on the Semiotics class (though not so much reading the accompanying semiotics texts). I miss getting annoyed by the kids who were trying too hard to share their uniquely meaningful insights with the class to impress everybody (especially themselves). i laughed several times from things they said and did. I miss school. 

Anyways...I'm very tired and generalizing so I don't ruin some great mystery in the book for people who haven't read it. If you want to actually discuss the book with me instead of reading my criticisms. I'd like to stress again that i did not dislike the book! i just only "thought it was okay" instead of "absolutely adored every word and thing that happened.