It seems to me there’s a fine line between great literature and pretension. Great literature is great without trying to be. At times the Marriage Plot fits that bill but at other times I’m not sure. It seems to be trying too hard. Sometimes the language was amazing, calling Cape Cod the “spiraling land” but other times it just seemed obscure—easy to zone out while listening. I did I enjoy the story as far as it goes. It takes place in 1982 when the main characters are graduating from college. I graduated in 1979 so much of it hit home for me. I also liked that here was a book about 20-somethings, an age group much neglected in novels. The marriage plot of the story is a new-fangled marriage plot. Not much like Austen, but then, life today is quite different. If I’d been reading instead of listening I’m not sure I would have stuck with it. It suffers from the one malady that kills enjoyment of a novel: characters it’s hard to care about. Lovers of Middlesex beware.

posted Dec 6, 2011 at 9:28PM

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