When I first finished this book, I *thought* I had a lot of strong opinions about it. Like, “Lotto is EXHAUSTING!”, or “These lucky bitches have a Shiba Inu puppy, and what do I have? Nothing!” But now, I’ve sat on it for a week, and all I can really muster for Fates and Furies is a “Meh.” I’m on record somewhere claiming that I love character-driven work, but also elsewhere claiming that a truly compelling plot can make me overlook deficiencies in other areas […]
Furiously Ambitious
I know there are some legitimate issues with this book, but I’m giving it five stars for its pure ambition and energetic writing. I was quite reluctant to read this, actually, because I couldn’t get through Groff’s first novel, The Monsters of Templeton (I should mention that I started it when I was 36 weeks pregnant, so my attention span was not tip top). After seeing this one so consistently on the must-read lists for 2015, I picked it up at the library and couldn’t put […]
Like a Car Wreck or a Couple Fighting
I don’t know how I feel about this novel. On the one hand, there’s no question that Lauren Groff can write and I kind of like the way the narrator of this novel slips into the heads of the characters but then pulls out [often in brackets] to comment on the story from a more omniscient vantage point. As a reader, you’re pulled in and then shoved out and then pulled in again [yes, I know how that sounds.] This is both the story of […]
Marriage IS a blend of Fates and Furies
My friend S introduced me to Lauren Groff after I told her I had given up on Karen Russell’s Swamplandia! S told me she liked Monsters of Templeton a lot better, and after borrowing her copy, I heartily agreed. I also really liked Arcadia and was excited that Fates and Furies was nominated for a National Book Award. Fates and Furies focuses on the making and unmaking of a marriage in two acts. You must have one with the other, and each completes the other […]