The Marriage Plot

EThe Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I bought this book because it was $5 and had the words Pulitzer Prize on the front. (Also I thought it was a book whose glowing review I had read, but I was mistaken: upon double checking, that book was The Newlyweds). The first 100 pages or so are almost unbearable. I believe one of the goodreads reviewers used the word Pretentious. It opens on graduation day at Brown and you are introduced to a bunch of Pretentious 80's intellectuals who base their relationships on what obscure author they are reading or what philosophical class they are taking. Since no one, even the "poor" students have a job, they can sit around and theorize about all sorts of crap. But because I can never not read a book once I've started, I slogged along and it actually got a little more interesting. Mainly because a couple of the characters had to actually deal with real life; namely, manic depression, and a religious exploration. I found both of those story lines well told and thought out. I especially appreciated that an author would allow a smart, Pretentious youth to search for meaning in religion. The ending was also satisfactory and refreshing. I never did like the Pretentious heroine though. And the book had more sex in it than needed to be there.

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