Join Jeffrey Eugenides to talk about our April Book of the Month, THE MARRIAGE PLOT, on Thurs 3 May, 9-10pm

[TillyBookClub]

'To start with, look at all the books'. So begins the very first sentence in our April Book of the Month, THE MARRIAGE PLOT by Jeffrey Eugenides. And books are everywhere in this novel: Victorian love stories, literary theories, philosophical tracts, holy scripture and all sorts of writing in between.

It is 1982, and three undergraduates are about to leave Brown University. Madeleine, an idealistic and romantic English Literature addict, is infatuated with Leonard, her mercurial and scientific boyfriend. Meanwhile, theology student Mitchell is convinced that he and Madeleine are destined to be together. Full of idealism and ideas, all three embark on a journey of discovery that reveals adult life is definitely no fairy tale - nor a classic Jane Austen novel.

THE MARRIAGE PLOT crammed with energy and intelligence; it makes you think big and bold. But more than that, it is funny, warm, tender and understanding. Eugenides' writing is seemingly effortless; it amuses and beguiles and thoroughly entertains. And it is full of those small, telling details that are perfect in their perception of human emotion, and in understanding the fallibility of human nature. A true modern classic.

You can find out more at our book of the month page, and read an interview with Eugenides here.

4th Estate have 50 copies of the book to give away to Mumsnetters. To claim yours, please go to the book of the month page and fill in your details.

We'll post on the thread when all the copies have been sent out but if you're not lucky enough to bag one of those, you can always get your paperback or Kindle version here.

We're delighted that Jeffrey Eugenides will be joining us to talk about THE MARRIAGE PLOT, and his other novels, on Thursday 3 May, 9-10pm.

Whether you've read this book, previous books, or just want to ask him how he started writing, come along and join in.

Meanwhile, do keep posting your thoughts and any advance questions on this thread.

Looking forward to it...

@sfxmum

very exciting I so love the Lisbon sisters must get on and read this one, as I got it for Christmas

vvvvvvv

Hi! I read the Marriage Plot and liked it. I have two questions for the author which he may or may not answer. Why is Mitchell Grammaticus, the Greek "hero" called Grammaticus? Is this a reference to Grammar or to a book? Also I've read Middlesex. To me the part that resonated was not about sexuality but ethnic identity. Cal was brought up as American but there is this deep undercurrent of his Greek identity, which cannot be denied and comes to the fore in adulthood and he is neither here nor there, but in the middle. Were you aware of this? It also made me read up on Smyrna and its history. Thanks for a very interesting read.

Hi Jeffrey,
I really enjoyed this book although I did initially find it difficult to get into. I liked the way the same story was told from the perspective of different characters. This also enabled me to understand the manic depression theme from both the sufferers viewpoint and those people around them. It seems as an author you understood both sides is this purely from research? or do you know people personally who have or had MD?

Oh I just logged on thinking this had happened today and its happening later YAY I will be here.

kittybam I agree with what you say about Middlesex being about ethnic identity as well. It was very much so, as well as a coming of age story, and a history lesson. When I said up the thread that I loved it as a family saga I thought afterwards that that sounded a bit trite as it is such a richly layered book. I found the various historical contexts fascinating - knew nothing about Smyrna or Detroit before I read that. The account of the immigrant experience sounds very true (though I haven't had that experience first hand I've lived abroad and know how alienating it can be) and the way that a strong cultural tie can be both comforting and suffocating at different times of life. But at the end of the day it could be the story of any family - a saga in the Norse sense - dig deep enough and someone before you will have made an epic journey to change their life, broken the law, fled a war zone, overcome horrendous hardship. Then you add decades of the chores of daily life, the smoothing, wearing effect of telling yourself and others how things are and the truth gets buried or left behind somehow. At the beginning of Middlesex I found the incest storyline pretty shocking - by the end Lefty and Desdemona are just like any other aging couple, worn out by life and clinging onto each other and you had almost forgotten who they were and what they did. They seemed at peace with it, but if their descendants uncovered the truth it would set off a bomb in all their lives. So true of so many families I'm sure.

Sorry not to have read the Marriage Plot, I stumbled on the book of the month too late, what an opportunity missed!

Anothrr question - as a pulitzer prize winner, what / who is the most important person for you to get recognition from for your writing?

Evening everyone

We've featured many great books this year, but I have to nail my colours to the mast, put aside my usual neutrality and say out loud that THE MARRIAGE PLOT has been my favourite so far. It might be because I studied English Literature, it might be because I was already a huge fan of Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides. Or it might just be that this is (to me) the perfect combination of big, complex, philosophical ideas and small, vivid, psychologically spot-on detail. And funny, to boot.

So I am thrilled that Jeffrey Eugenides is here tonight to throw light on the inspiration and research behind his book, and to talk about his previous novels and his writing career.

I feel there is a huge amount to squeeze into an hour, so without further ado...

Jeffrey, firstly, thank you very much indeed to taking the time to join us. And many congratulations on such a wonderful book and such a successful writing career. We'll kick off with the advance questions from further up the thread. And then we'll aim to get through as many new ones as possible over the next hour (although getting through all the posts above may take a good chunk of that...)

I'd also like to add our two standard MN Bookclub questions (which we like to ask all authors, and will be archived on the site):

Which childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give anyone attempting to write fiction?

Over to you...

Hi Jeffrey, I haven't read any of your other books but I really enjoyed the marriage plot. It took a while to get into but by the 2nd half I was hooked.
I have a professional interest in the theme of bipolar disorder and was impressed by your representation of Leonard's illness. The difference in how this might be treated in the US and UK was highlighted by the reference to using medication in order to get patients discharged before their insurance runs out! No real questions as such just thanks for the free book and the opportunity to read something I probably wouldn't have picked out in a bookshop.

I was lucky enough to receive a free copy of the Marriage Plot, via Mumsnet. Not managed to read it all yet -blame having three kids and a part time job- so hope I'm not going to come across many spoilers by taking part in this tonight.

Hi Jeffrey,
Just wondering what you're working on at the moment? How long does it take you to write a first draft and do you stick to your original plan, or does the writing take on a life of its own?
Have you ever tried to write for children?

thanks

I loved The Marriage Plot as much as Middlesex and read it the same way - as quickly as possible because I was dying to know how it ended. I've been wracking my brain for a question but I think I'm still digesting it. A great book, thanks to the book club for nudging me to read it!

Did you play with the pace f the marriage plot in the same way as Victorian writers which you refer to in th novel? For me marriage plot is a successful novel which is less complex and deep than Middlesex. I wonder how much you played with the reader with developing a less substantial plot?

Hi Jeffrey, just wanted to say I really enjoyed your book, I must admit when I saw how focused on the subject of "advanced" English it was I was a bit nervous about reading it, but i thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Must admit I felt a bit sorry for Mitchell, and really hoped him and Madeline would get together, but on reflection it was great to have a more realistic ending.

Thanks for a great book, I will definitely be reading your other books.

Nice to have you, mum2jakie - and I promise that even if there are spoilers, it's well worth reading anyway. I sneaked a peek at the ending way before I finished it, and it didn't change my enjoyment of the book at all.

I'm going to add another question for Jeffrey:

An aspect of the book that I found fascinating was the switch in perspective between the male and the female, and the truthfulness of their more extreme inner thoughts about relationships/sex/love etc.

Which female writer do you think writes the most truthful male characters?

And who are your main literary influences, or does it change depending on what you are writing?

Sorry, that's two more. Am being greedy now.

DH is jealous that I'm all Jeffrey Jeffrey tonight, so his question is Do you know how to cook?
Mmmmhhh very deep that, no?

Just checking all ok with Jeffrey, will keep you posted...

I've been in email contact with Jeffrey since 7.30 this evening, and he was all ready to come on, so I can only assume that his internet has gone down.

Keep posting questions here and hopefully we'll resume radio contact as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, I'll keep investigating what's happening...

Perhaps we scared him off! ;)

No luck so far. I've been emailing to no avail, so I expect it's either the internet playing up over in the US...

Or we're speculating that the UK/US time difference has got muddled (with British Summer Time) and he might be on at 10.00

So if you want to wait then please do, otherwise I'm sure Jeffrey will answer the questions at a later time and we'll let you know either when the new chat will be, or when he has sent us his answers.

So sorry, I know many of you have been looking forward to this, I'm keeping fingers crossed that it's some kind of a timing issue and we might still hear from Jeffrey in ten minutes or so....

Hello! I was lucky enough to receive a copy of this book. I found it fascinating. Will Jeffrey be here? I am emailing from a meal out, I was so passionate about this book.

Hi Tilly, are you going to let us have more details of the next Book of the Month tonight? Thought it was going to be after the 'on line' chat with Will Jeffrey?

Hi Jeffrey,

I'm loving the book so far (started it on Monday, so I'm only 1/4 of the way through), but am finding it very compulsive - my poor kids are having to vie with it for my attention!

How long do you spend researching and writing your books, because it's been a while (about 8 years?), since 'Middlesex' appeared. Have you been working on this book all that time? There are authors out there who churn out book after book, but you turn out one finely crafted piece and then appear to take a break - so do you go off and do something else for a bit?

DaxR, yes, I'll be posting the thread about the next Book of the Month tonight.
May's book is Night Waking by Sarah Moss. And it is excellent. I sort of made it a rule not to pick books about motherhood, but made an exception for this one as it is so dry and well observed. And not just about mothers, either, but it is definitely her descriptions of domestic life that made me laugh hardest and longest.

Parrish, so sorry that Jeffrey not here, we don't know quite what has happened as he was all set to go, and then there has been no word. Hoping that he might be on in a minute, but if not, we'll reschedule and keep you posted on the new date.

Nope, I think we have to call it a day.

I'm so sorry, everyone. We'll let you know what's happening as soon as we hear from Jeffrey. Hopefully we can reschedule, or else Jeffrey will come on and answer all these questions in his own time.

Meanwhile, get ready to grab your May book once the page goes live tomorrow.

So sorry he has had problems. :(