Reading 1001 discussion

5 stars

Eugenedies writes unique and complex books that are deep character studies. His books are sometimes light on plot but nonetheless keep the reader turning the page with anticipation of what might happen. The expectation, the desire, the wanting builds tension and hope because you care. You care about the characters who are real and flawed and sometimes unlikable. Sometimes you may even question yourself for caring. I love that about his books.

The book tells the story of several people just before and after their graduation from college. There is Madeline who is a literature nerd and an English major who is studying the role of marriage as a plot device in regency and Victorian novels. And her boyfriend Leonard, who is a scientist who unfortunately suffers from BiPolar disorder. He struggles to understand anything outside the labratory. And their friend Mitchell who is studying religion. He is a bit lost in life and spends the months after graduation traveling Europe. He seems to be looking for himself more than anything else. All of their interests and studies play a role in the book because it fleshes out the characters.
Madeline is a bit more knowledgeable of fictional characters than she is of those living humans in her life. (Most readers can understand that problem to some degree.) And Leonard is so focused on his scientific explorations that it becomes the only thing he is capable of discussing. All three characters are likable and unlikable, smart and witty, but lacking in knowledge about the world and life. They are selfish but caring, naive, yet intelligent.

They are like you and I -- completely normal and ordinary.

Read 2015; I really liked this book on so many levels. This is a good author! He has written only 3 books and all are good. Published in 2011 and one of the most recent add ons to the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. All of his books have made the list. The setting is Brown University, three college friends who are graduating and going into their first post graduate year. It's a coming of age book as are all of the author's books. This book could be considered romance, a classic love triangle, a coming of age, a book about books/writing, a book about mental illness and a book about philosophy.

The girl, Madeleine Hanna, was not very appealing to me, in fact I thought her quite annoying. I liked Mitchell and not so much Leonard but the story soon becomes very engaging and the two guys rise to the top and Madeleine, well she pretty much stays the same for me.

This book was set in the 80s so that the characters were forced to communicate through writing and landlines but still late enough that feminism was established and not in its birth pains of the sixties and seventies. Mental health was fairly well described I thought. I do agree that the character would never have been on all the medications listed at one time but having worked in mental health from the eighties to the present, i can see the scenario; to the ER in crisis; shot of Haldol, shot of Ativan to calm the mania. Then committed and on to the state hospital and start Lithium but in the mean time to more quickly calm the mania, a short course of Thorazine (was FDA approved for bipolar) and then it should be removed. They used to try for really high, near toxic levels for control, now I think it is a little more toward therapeutic levels but as low as possible to avoid the not so fun side effects. Author did pretty good research I thought.

I listened to the audio read by David Pittu. He did a good job, I thought. At the end, there was an interview with author where he discussed the time period, research that he did, and I found it interesting.

I would recommend this book to just about anyone who enjoys a well written book. If you don't like a lot of literary name dropping, you might not like it, but Madeleine is an English literature major.

5 stars for me too.

I love Jeffrey Eugenides writing, he is a master story teller. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and it kept getting better for me as I read through the chapters. The story involves three college students; Madeleine Hanna, Leonard Bankhead and Mitchell Grammaticus. The novel explores the perspective of each student which was my favorite part of the storytelling. Reading about how each character viewed the same situation was fascinating to me. The last third of the book was the best and I liked how the book concluded. I look forward to reading more of his books.

Pre-2016 review:

****

Confession: I am a sucker for novels that contain college life (I equally liked The Secret History by Donna Tartt). Put on top of that a meta-story about the end of the Marriage Plot in nineteen-century novels, a dark and tenebrous boyfriend struggling with manic-depression and a possibly better suitor who seeks to find himself in a spiritual trip to India. And the layering of narrative points of view which help you to understand why certain actions/decisions were made at prior times in the story. This all makes for entertaining reading and a severe dose of college nostalgia.