Marriage Plot

Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

I could hardly believe the negative reviews of a book by this author. I so enjoyed The Virgin suicides and Middlesex, it just couldn't be true. Could it? Surely, these disgruntled readers have it wrong.(Or so I thought) As I read along and got deeper into the "story" (one of the problems is just that: where is the story?) I came to realize all the reviewers were pretty much correct. Oh Jeffrey! Jeffrey where did you go? Nothing ever really takes off--the scenes, meant to be humorous, are pathetically bad. I mean, AWFUL! I'm almost ashamed to say I finished it!

The story is about 3 Brown University seniors in the 1980's and their first few years after college graduation(little bit like St. Elmo's Fire). A Coed with brains falls in love with a brilliant guy who is severely bipolar. The best part of the book is how Eugenides describes the extreme difficulties which bipolar disease brings to the sufferer and those close to him. (Very accurate)

When I finally finished the story I was glad about two things; one I was thankful that those days of post-adolescence are long over and two, I was thankful the story was over!

Here's hoping the movie version of this story is better!