1. Jeffrey Eugenides is publishing another book titled "The Marriage Plot" available October 11th.
2. He is coming to Houston to speak about it on October 26th.
I absolutely adored his last two novels The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex(for which he won the Pulitzer Prize) and deeply regretted the fact that he's not a very prolific writer. In case of The Virgin Suicides, the narrator observes the enigmatic Lisbon girls in a first person plural point of view. There is not one observer, but rather the collective neighborhood boys who witness the deterioration of the sisters from curtained windows and hallway glances. The movie (directed by Sofia Coppola!) is fantastic (with soundtrack by the French band Air) but reading the book draws in another important sense: smell.
Press play. This is what the movie feels like:
I went with another Eugenides fan S introduced by a mutual friend. We met up at Wortham and took our seats among the mostly middle-aged female crowd. Reading is a pretty solitude act (unless you are reading for a class discussion) and I thought it was interesting to see what kind of people also enjoyed reading Eugenides (sorta like meeting a chat room buddy in real life?).
Jeffrey Eugenides is not as intimidating in person as he looks in pictures. He wore the similar floral patterned shirt as in the book slip, and read an excerpt from the novel (the beginning of Madeleine's relationship with Leonard) in an unexpectedly high and optimistic voice. It was here I realized that I might have taken a wrong approach to this novel- I read it so seriously (well, this guy previously wrote about suicides of five sisters and a confused hermaphrodite who runs away), but you are supposed to laugh at Madeleine's naivety, the typical boy-meets-girl happenings, their private thoughts!
The Marriage Plot has a much more approachable subject and plot- three recent college graduates in a love triangle navigating life- than his previous novels. The novel does not span generations like Middlesex, nor does it keep the main subjects' thoughts hidden as in The Virgin Suicides. Also, contrary to The Virgin Suicides which declares on the first page that all five Lisbon sisters will die, The Marriage Plot kept me guessing until the end: how is it going to end?
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| With Jeffrey Eugenides, starstruck. |
After the Q&A session, we headed up to the second floor to meet Eugenides. The line moved surprisingly fast, and before I was ready, Eugenides was signing my book (spelling my name!). S and I posed for a picture then left, giddy and happy, jumping down the velvet steps and pushing the heavy glass doors to head out of downtown.
Having the author read from the book he wrote felt surprisingly intimate. Since Eugenides wrote from Maddy's point of view a.k.a. as as 22-year-old girl, maybe even more so. During the Q&A he said that he writes from a person's point of view, not a male or a female (especially in Middlesex) and that those very-feminine thoughts, he gathered from observing others. But... many of those thoughts Maddy has, I've never voiced out loud. Power of observation, people.
One embarrassing fact: I learned how to pronounce "Eugenides" correctly from Serena (of all people) on Gossip Girl. I might go back and tackle Middlesex after I re-read The Marriage Plot. Here's a thought I had upon finishing this book & thinking about my own life ahead (this might be a semi-spoiler): You may not "end up" with someone you date, but that person might be what you needed at that stage in life. He may give you the support and confidence you needed to fully realize your potential and grow into the person you are supposed to be.
Not gonna lie, last episode of Nikita inspired me.
cool dude
ReplyDeletethanks dude
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