The Marriage Plot
A Novel
Jeffrey Eugenides
Picador
BUY THE BOOK
$17.00
Picador
Picador
On Sale: 09/04/2012
ISBN: 9781250014764
416 PagesA National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Named a Best Book of the Year by
The New York Times Book Review • NPR • The New Republic • Salon • The Seattle Times • Houston Chronicle • The Miami Herald • Publisher's Weekly
"Remind[s] us with uncommon understanding what it is to be young and idealistic, in pursuit of true love, and in love with books and ideas."—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
"A grand romance in the Austen tradition."—USA Today
Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce?
It's the early 1980s. In American colleges, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels. As Madeleine studies the age-old motivations of the human heart, real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes---the charismatic and intense Leonard Bankhead, and her old friend the mystically inclined Mitchell Grammaticus. As all three of them face life in the real world they will have to reevaluate everything they have learned. Jeffrey Eugenides creates a new kind of contemporary love story in "his most powerful novel yet" (Newsweek).
Library Journal Best Books of the Year, Audie Award Finalist, Indies Choice Book Awards Winner
To start with, look at all the books. There were her Edith Wharton novels, arranged not by title but date of publication; there was the complete Modern Library set of Henry James, a gift from her father on her twenty-first birthday; there were the...
Listen to an Excerpt from the Audiobook
Download MP3Watch
Jeffrey Eugenides on Writing, The Marriage Plot, and Nabokov
Jeffrey Eugenides, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Middlesex" and "The Marriage Plot," answers readers' questions about inhabiting his characters, the origins of his new novel, and the one quality every successful writer shares.
Share ThisMore Media Access more related media on the web
Hear Jeffrey Eugenides on NPR's All Things ConsideredPraise for The Marriage Plot
“Eugenides's ability to reinvent the timeless tale of love and soul-searching is swoon-worthy.” —Vanity Fair
“I gorged myself on The Marriage Plot.” —Geoff Dyer
“A masterful storyteller.” —The Seattle Times
“Audacious and moving.” —Time
“Extremely ambitious...surprising, and propulsive.” —Chicago Sun-Times
“Deeply humane and elegantly constructed.” —NPR
“The finale of The Marriage Plot is unexpected, beautiful, and---Dare we hope?---timeless.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“A master of voice.” —The Washington Post
“Wry, engaging, and beautifully constructed.” —The New York Times Book Review
In the Press
THE MARRIAGE PLOT by Jeffrey EugenidesKirkus Book Reviews
Read the Kirkus Review of THE MARRIAGE PLOT . A stunning novel—erudite, compassionate and penetrating in its analysis of love relationships. - Kirkus Reviews
Work in Progress » Blog Archive » Jeffrey Eugenides on the Marriage Plot
At BookExpo America, the annual conference for booksellers, librarians and publishers, novelist Jeffrey Eugenides previewed The Marriage Plot, his much anticipated follow-up to Middlesex. (Astute Work in Progress readers may remember his conversation with editor Jonathan Galassi from our debut issue. - FSG's Work in Progress
Work in Progress » Blog Archive » How to Read a Novelist
Jeffrey Eugenides by John Freeman For the past fifteen years or so, whenever a novel has been published, John Freeman has been there to greet it. As a critic for over two hundred newspapers worldwide and onetime president of the NBCC, he's reviewed thousands of books and interviewed hundreds of authors. - FSG's Work in Progress
Work in Progress » Blog Archive » Editor & Author: Jonathan Galassi and Jeffrey Eugenides
One of the most anticipated new books around the FSG offices (and out in the real world, I daresay) is Jeffrey Eugenides' follow-up to Middlesex. - FSG's Work in Progress