Critical reception
The novel was generally well received by critics. [14] According to Book Marks, primarily from American press, the book received a "positive" consensus, based on eleven critics: three "rave", three "positive", four "mixed", and one "pan". [15] Prosenotes gave it a "A+" (100%) from critic reviews. The consensus says: "A modern interpretation of a 17th-century concept with exceptional prose. The Marriage Plot contains some weighty literary concepts and a slow second act, but overall it is a wonderful third book for the pulitzer-winning author. It’s a Prosenotes Pick!". [16] Culture Critic assessed British and American critical response as an aggregated score of 80%. [17] The BookScore assessed it an aggregated score of 7.7 out of 10 based on British and American press. [18] On The Omnivore, an aggregator of British press, the book received an "omniscore" of three out of five. [19] In January/February 2010 issue of Bookmarks , the book was scored 3.5 out of 5. The magazine's critical summary reads: "But no matter how one reads into the novel, it is an age-old story, well told, about how to live, how to believe, and, not least, how to love". [20] Globally, Complete Review noted a lack of consensus, summarizing that "differing opinions about what he does and doesn't do well". [21]
In The New York Times Book Review William Deresiewicz wrote, "'The Marriage Plot' is a new departure...intimate in tone and scale.... It’s about what Eugenides’s books are always about, no matter how they differ: the drama of coming of age.... It possesses the texture and pain of lived experience." [22] C. Romano called it "the most entertaining campus novel since Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons ." [23]
However, reviews of the novel were not without criticism; Eleanor Barkhorn, writing for The Atlantic , praised the heroine Madeleine as "smart" and in many other ways realistic, but nonetheless criticized the novel for its lack of "believability" in depicting a modern female character whose "relationships [with almost all other women] are characterized more by spite than affection". [24] Barkhorn noted that the book is not unique in this manner, making reference to the Bechdel Test and stating that The Marriage Plot was a prime example of the storytelling trend the Test criticizes: "[t]here are countless other Madeleines in modern-day literature and film: smart, self-assured women who have all the trappings of contemporary womanhood except a group of friends to confide in". [24]
Barkhorn also compared the book to the early female authors of the literary genre that Eugenides references in both the novel and its title, opining [24] that writers such as Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen, in depicting close homosocial relationships among women, were more psychologically accurate than Eugenides. She suggested that Madeleine's lack of such relationships was implausible in context ("If this were the way women really acted with their friends, it would be fine. [...] But real women don't treat their friends this way"; [24] "Women who love books, as Madeleine does, are especially prone to close friendships with other women [...] [i]t seems impossible that Madeleine would have made it through four years at Brown without meeting other women who'd rather discuss literature than men" [24] ), and further suggested that this aspect was detrimental to the book, declaring the plot's conclusion to be an "infuriating, preposterous ending" that "is only possible because Madeleine lives almost entirely in her own head, with no one to give her trusted counsel" and further adding that "[t]here are many ways rewriting the traditional marriage plot might be good for women, but editing out rich, supportive friendships isn't one of them". [24]
