The Marriage Plot: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides

📖 What happens when life no longer resembles a storybook romance?
 
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides, is a brilliant and engaging novel that explores love, identity, and intellectual awakening in a rapidly changing world. Set in the early 1980s, this literary novel offers a modern twist on the classic theme of romantic entanglements and emotional growth.
 
As they prepare to graduate from Brown University in 1982, three students are grappling with questions about love, identity, and their futures.
Madeleine Hanna is a bright, bookish young woman with a passion for Victorian literature and a fascination with the concept of “the marriage plot”—a recurring theme in classic novels where marriage is the endgame. Yet, Madeleine's own romantic life proves far more complicated than the novels she studies.
Leonard Bankhead, brilliant but troubled, enters Madeleine’s life like a whirlwind, sweeping her into a passionate but fraught relationship marked by mental illness and intellectual intensity.
Mitchell Grammaticus, a thoughtful and spiritually curious man, nurses a deep, unrequited love for Madeleine. As he embarks on a journey of self-discovery through Europe and India, he struggles to reconcile his feelings and find his purpose.
In the aftermath of college, the three characters navigate the realities of adulthood, identity, and emotional fulfillment. As their paths intertwine and diverge, Eugenides crafts a witty, nuanced exploration of love, ambition, and the expectations placed upon young people in a postmodern world.
 
Why You’ll Love The Marriage Plot
✔ Literary Depth & Wit – Eugenides plays with the conventions of classic literature, offering a fresh, contemporary take on the romantic novel.
✔ Complex Characters – The book’s protagonists are well-developed and engaging, each facing unique struggles and growth.
✔ Themes of Identity & Intellectualism – Explores themes of mental illness, faith, ambition, and self-discovery with sensitivity and insight.
✔ Award-Winning Author – Jeffrey Eugenides is celebrated for his lyrical prose and sharp observations about human nature.
✔ Perfect for Literary Fiction Fans – A richly detailed, character-driven novel that challenges traditional storytelling tropes.