Fates and Furies

This book found its way to me in a discount bin, and it’s the second of Groff’s I’ve read. Her language and description are addicting! So glad I discovered her work!

I had no idea when purchasing this that it was such an acclaimed novel. It was a tough read, something I had to put down, think about, and continue coming back to. The characters are complex, leaving you with mixed emotions about wanting to see them succeed. Throughout the novel, new layers are revealed, leaving you shocked, confused,and intrigued. This novel is not for everyone, but if you can make it through you will not be disappointed.

A novel of two versions of a marriage from the perspective of the husband then wife. Like the contrails left in the sky from jet planes we move forward in life as our memories of our past slowly fade away.

Lauren Groff's writing is beautiful, and wonderful to read. This book had the potential to be a 5 star read, but fell flat about 75% of the way through the book. I think the hype surrounding the novel takes away from the enjoyment, and makes this novel sound better than it actually is.

The people who stay up to date with contemporary literary fiction are usually the same people beleaguering you with book recommendations when you're trying not to be late for work. Fates and Furies is exactly the kind of book these scarf-wearing, cat-loving types will recommend. President Obama called this book his "favorite book of 2015," meaning that someone (likely an adviser who minored in English) really, really enjoyed this book. The book contains two parts from two perspectives: the wife, Mathilde, and the husband, Lancelot. Because I've been embittered by other books' attempts to make their novel interesting by using gimmicks like this, I was instantly turned off by this book. If not for a good friend whose taste I actually trust, I may have never even given it a shot. Fates and Furies is a book so great that it amazes me someone managed to write the damn thing. Beneath the husband-wife dichotomy and cutesie "marriage" of perspectives, there is a density, a complexity, that astonishes the reader and embroils them in a marriage between profoundly interesting characters. This book will make you examine yourself, your priorities, your relationship -- and it is also, for what it's worth, really fucking good. -jwb