The Marriage Plot

The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides

Adult Cd Book Eugenides


During her senior year of college, Madelaine Hanna, a lover of British
novels by Jane Austin and George Eliot, is embarking upon her senior
thesis on the marriage plot, a theme that runs through the works of these
writers. Then she takes a class in semiotics where she meets the
charismatic Leonard Bankhead. Beginning as an intellectual relationship,
it quickly becomes erotically charged and wildly unpredictable as
Leonard's manic depression cycles from mania to depression.



Throughout this relationship, her friend from freshman year, Mitchell
Grammaticus, like Eugenides from Detroit, resurfaces. He's been reading
Christian theology, saying his mantra, the Jesus prayer, over and over and
is planning a trip to India to work with Mother Theresa. Mitchell has been
madly in love with Madelaine since freshman year, but has never been able
to get anywhere with her, which has caused him a great deal of self
loathing.



With this love triangle, Eugenedes writes a marriage plot of our time that
has humor but long bouts of depression as Leonard tries to find his way
through his mental illness.



I listened to the audio book, performed ably by David Pittu. He did a
remarkable job with the many voices, only failing in pronouncing a few
foreign words. I highly recommend it.