BookPlate Book Club discussion

Meeting 6th June 2012

Marriage plot is a term used, often in academic circles, to categorize a storyline that recurs in novels most prominently and more recently in films. Until the expansion of marriage rights to same-sex couples, this plot centred exclusively on the courtship rituals between a man and a woman and the obstacles that faced the potential couple on its way to the nuptial payoff. The marriage plot became a popular source of entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries with the rise of the bourgeois novel. The foremost practitioners of the form include some of the more illustrious names in English letters, among them Samuel Richardson, Jane Austen, George Eliot and the Brontë sisters.


Discussion points!!
• Were you rooting for either Leonard or Mitchell to end up with Madeleine?

• How would you describe The Marriage Plot?

• In your opinion, were the literary references a help or a hindrance?

• What did you think of Madeleine’s parents?

• Why do you think Eugenides chose to have the novel take place during the 1980’s instead of in the modern day?

• What do you think Mitchell is searching for? Where do you think he'll end up?

• The film is rumoured to be being made into a film. What do you think about that? Who do you think should play the characters?

Having finally finished reading this (blooming dissertation!!) i can now 'discuss' this. firstly Madeleline annoyed me, she was very selfish as if she had no conception of what other people would feel and she just concentrated on herself. Depression is a hard thing to deal with and she, like so many people, had no understanding.
I liked all the literary references, it felt to me more like Derek Walcott, where you had to find out what the reference was in order to understand anything. it kind of felt like an extra piece of literary discovery- for instance reading a little bit of Roland Barthes discourse on love was an interesting insight. Towards the end, however, i did feel slightly frustrated at my lack of literary knowledge and ended up feeling as if the author wanted to make me feel as if im completely stupid! Mitchell was an interesting character, mainly because the aspect of religion is not something widely discussed. His journey of religion felt to me like a journey of self dicovery, something that modern gap year goers do (just minus the religion).
Overall i enjoyed it as a distraction from my dissertation, as to the idea of it being a film i find it quite difficult to understand what will motivate the plot other than leonards manic episodes, surely it would be uncaptivating to watch? Not sure about that one...

Thanks Stacey, you've pretty much gone along the same lines as we all did - especially with all the literary details! I liked them, but Karen said that they made her feel a bit 'left out' as she hadn't studied any literary theory. She really didn't like the book, but Kate, Rob and I did, so it was good to have another perspective :-)