52 Book Challenge - Book Ten: The Marriage Plot

The title of this book implies something a little fluffy. Maybe a story about roping a man into marrying you or searching for "the one". Well don't let it fool you. Like Middlesex (another book written by this author) this book is full of dark undertones while telling the story of complex characters with real life struggles. Except their struggles are the types of struggles no one discusses, which makes this peek into what is going on behind closed doors even more enticing, and offers some relief (at least for me).

The Marriage Plot explores a complex relationship between three main characters who begin as graduating seniors with an abundance of intelligence and diplomas from Brown. But if you think in the beginning of the book that this is another story about wealthy intellectuals who have it all, you are sorely mistaken. Not only does it explore the issues faced by being stuck in between childhood and adulthood, but it also makes an interesting commentary on love and commitment as a whole.

Madeline  is a co-dependent woman with no real direction for the future of her life except for to take care of her bipolar boyfriend Leonard. He is literally bipolar and she literally feels obligated to stay with him in spite of all of the messed up scenarious he puts her through. The reader is a fly on the wall through their disfunctional relationship.

In the background of the Madeline / Leonard relationship is Madeline's friend, Mitchell, who is a religious studies guru in hopeless love and hopless resentment of Madeline and Leonard respectively. Mitchell also has not much of a direction in life and hopes to wait out the current recession by travelling around Europe and India.

The story of their relationships devlops based on their character flaws rather than their character attributes. However, I found myself relating to many of the feelings Madeline has towards Leonard and towards life and the future in general. I even found myself relating to Leonard at times (which could say something about me). As I have said before, I appreciate a book that allows me to feel for the characters. I especially appreciate a book that examines the real, flawed side of humanity.

The Marriage Plot intertwines all of these attributes and is puncuated by well written prose which include a lovely use of vocabulary. I can see why this book was reccomended by magazines and other readers.