Strong Motion

Strong Motion Jonathan Franzen 2.5 / 5	Published 1992 First Sentence "Sometimes when people asked Eileen Holland if she had any brothers or sisters, she had to think for a moment."
Publisher's Description: Louis Holland arrives in Boston to find that a minor earthquake in Ipswich has killed his eccentric grandmother, triggering a struggle between him, his sister Eileen, and his mother Melanie over the disposition of a $22 million inheritance. During a visit to the beach, Louis meets Dr. Reneé Seitchek, a Harvard seismologist who believes she has discovered the cause of subsequent earthquakes in Peabody. Louis, Reneé, and the Hollands' affairs become entangled with the petrochemical and weapons company Sweeting-Aldren, as well as a pro-life activist commune called the Church of Action in Christ, headed by Reverend Philip Stites...
Dear Reader,  I don’t know why I stuck with this book. It was frustrating in so many ways. But I picked it up at the wonderful Autumn Leaves bookstore up in Ithaca, NY back when I lived there from 2004-2005. I believe it was right around the time I was reading The Corrections, and I figured I might like other Franzen work, as well. This was one of his first publications, and it definitely shows. Every time I read a Franzen book, I not sure whether or not I enjoy it. It’s very odd. I suppose I do ENJOY them to a certain extent, or I wouldn’t read them, but I am not sure whether I like him as an author. I don’t recall much of The Corrections, frankly. Freedom stuck with me much better. But I feel sometimes as if he is a not-so-good John Irving. I may get totally torn down for that, but it’s kind of how I feel. He writes these familial epics which have a ton of promise, but end up falling flat, for me.  In any case, what frustrated me about this book is that Franzen writes well but then shoots himself in the foot but clearly writing like an MFA student who is trying to hard. The section about cars being like mismatched shoes, shuffling around the street? It was painful, honestly. But then he writes gems like: “It was if, in nuclear terms, the configuration of forces had changed and he was no longer an oppositely charged particle attracted to her from a great distance but a particle with like charge, a proton repelled by this other person until they were right next to each other and the strong nuclear force came into its own and bound them together.” I don’t know why, but that struck me. I loved it. Sure, maybe it’s also young-author-trying-too-hard material, and on the wordy side. But it works so well. So I think I kept reading the book because of small jewels like that.  Another frustrating aspect was how confounded I was by the actions of his characters. And he didn’t do this purposefully; they weren’t supposed to be crazy, just normal people. But they constantly reacted in ways I didn’t understand. I kept feeling like I’d missed something. I read books to learn about, get inside, understand other people.I couldn’t do that with this book. I found most of the characters’ actions perplexing in many cases. Someone would suddenly start yelling or acting sullen, and I couldn’t see the impetus. It left me vaguely upset. Like I said, it wasn’t that they were intentionally hard to predict characters. It felt more like Franzen didn’t understand the human psyche as he was writing.  (I’ll admit, my impressions of Franzen may currently be a bit colored by his Iraqi adoption scheme, as well. But I thought this way about the book even before I had heard about that odd little faux pas.) In any case, I have to admit, the book was worth reading (slogging through?) if only for the ending! When the earthquake hit and things started really getting in motion (and storylines began falling into place - and people began acting in more realistic ways!), I couldn’t put it down.  Yet I waffle on whether to recommend this book. I did love the scenes of early-90s Boston, and some of the messages (women's rights, and an interestingly prescient outlook on the equivalent of fracking) from the book. But I can’t 100% recommend someone spend 500 pages on it. Even if the ending really makes it worth it. Yours, Arianna P.S. I began reading this book in April (!) because it was a Franzen book I hadn’t read and we would be seeing him speak at BEA. Well...then I got sidetracked for quite a while from it! And while I tried to read a bit every few days, I didn’t end up being able to pick it up again to focus on until last week. It’s a little weird to think that I’ve technically been reading this book for almost 6 months! Haha.

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Gilead

Gilead Marilynne Robinson 3.5 / 5	Published 2004 First Sentences "I told you last night that I might be gone sometime, and you said, Where, and I said, To be with the Good Lord, and you said, Why, and I said, Because I'm old, and you said, I don't think you're old. And you put your hand on my hand and you said, You aren't very old, as if that settled it."
Publisher's Description: Twenty-four years after her first novel, Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson returns with an intimate tale of three generations from the Civil War to the twentieth century: a story about fathers and sons and the spiritual battles that still rage at America's heart. Writing in the tradition of Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, Marilynne Robinson's beautiful, spare, and spiritual prose allows "even the faithless reader to feel the possibility of transcendent order" (Slate). In the luminous and unforgettable voice of Congregationalist minister John Ames, Gilead reveals the human condition and the often unbearable beauty of an ordinary life.
Dear Reader,  I know I was supposed to love this little book. I found it beautiful, and moving at times. But it was so slow. For such a slim volume, it felt like it took me ages to read. And it was so religious! It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I was able to look past the religiosity because I didn’t feel as if that was the writer’s point, but it was glaringly there all the while, as the book detailed three generations of preachers.  With her spare prose, the author manages to write some very memorable moments. She reminds me quite a bit of Faulkner. I felt the wideness of the prairie and the smallness of the town and of John’s life in every sentence. He never strayed far from Gilead, but that suited him. He was a preacher to a small congregation in a small and weary town, one which had an auspicious history but which now feels dusty and run-down. Quiet. Unassuming. And for John, home.  John Ames had a simple way about him, finding joy and beauty in the world, and I did appreciate that about the book. He found joy in the simple pleasures and noticed the smallest wonders, which is a thing I strive for always, and so I found a kindred spirit in him in this. I think I would have loved to have spent some time just sitting with the narrator on his front porch. I liked the juxtaposition of the town’s beginnings and the book’s ultimate conflict (if that is what Jack’s story amounted to), but I feel as if it just wasn’t enough for me. I got drawn in by the stories of John and his father and grandfather, all three very strong personalities in their own ways. But I found I just stopped caring, and I don’t have much interest in what happens to John’s son, when he finally begins to read the pages. The story was quaint, and sweet, and touching. I’ll give it that. And it had a lot of promise. But I just didn’t feel as if I was able to take anything away from it. And I think that should be the point of any book. Don’t you? Yours, Arianna P.S. Not that it should sway you one way or the other, but, just so you know -- this is one of Obama’s favorite books. P.P.S. Full disclosure: I read this for my book club. Would I have picked it up anyway? Probably. It’s been enjoyed by many. And it's a Pulitzer Prize winner, after all.

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Geek Sublime

Geek Sublime Vikram Chandra 2.5 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "Even if you're the kind of person who tells new acquaintances at dinner parties that you hate e-mail and e-books, you probably recognize the words above as being some kind of computer code."
Publisher's Description: The nonfiction debut from the author of the international bestseller Sacred Games about the surprising overlap between writing and computer coding Vikram Chandra has been a computer programmer for almost as long as he has been a novelist. In this extraordinary new book, his first work of nonfiction, he searches for the connections between the worlds of art and technology. Coders are obsessed with elegance and style, just as writers are, but do the words mean the same thing to both? Can we ascribe beauty to the craft of writing code? Exploring such varied topics as logic gates and literary modernism, the machismo of tech geeks, the omnipresence of an “Indian Mafia” in Silicon Valley, and the writings of the eleventh-century Kashmiri thinker Abhinavagupta, Geek Sublime is both an idiosyncratic history of coding and a fascinating meditation on the writer’s art. Part literary essay, part technology story, and part memoir, it is an engrossing, original, and heady book of sweeping ideas.
Dear Reader, I suppose I should have read the subtitle ("The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty") more closely. I'll be the first to admit (as ashamed as I am) that I skimmed several chapters in this book. I never do that! But my eyes just glazed over every time Chandra got into a deep discussion of Indian religions and beliefs and, well, anything that involved a ton of Indian terminology. I just couldn't follow along! I wanted to, and I really tried to. But all the talk of gods and goddesses just didn't interest me. I couldn't see how it associated with the "code" part of the book, until I realized it wasn't supposed to, but was rather supposed to address the "code of beauty" part. I wish that were something I were more interested in; I think this book must have had a lot to say, and made some beautiful points along the way (I was especially impressed by how coded of a language Sanskrit is!). But, unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it. As another reader pointed out, Chandra assumes you have the ability to remember every italicized Indian term he uses, and then sprinkles them liberally through his paragraphs. If I were able to grasp one concept in a chapter (even that a rarity), the author had already moved on through 20 others. It was frustrating, and difficult, and I admit that for my pleasure reading, I just didn't want to make the gargantuan effort required of me. However, I did really enjoy the other parts of this book, those that covered the computer programming side of things. Perhaps because that is my wheelhouse, I had no trouble following along with those chapters! (But I suspect his explanation of logic would appeal to non-programmers, too.) I particularly enjoyed Chandra's discussion of the similar problems that both women and Indians face when attempting to work within the largely male and American software field. He really understood the kinds of things that make women like me, who really LOVE code and who wanted to have a career in it, leave for other careers. It doesn't work that way with everyone; I know there are plenty of women who have "made it," and I am both highly respectful and jealous of their ability to manage (perhaps compartmentalize?) the environment. (I'm not talking about the jobs I've had in software, just the feeling of inadequacy that "alpha geeking" can bring out.) I was also fascinated by the idea that women who are raised in a culture that rewards hard work (India) are much more likely to succeed in their culture's software development firms; I certainly can understand the feeling of "oh, it doesn't come naturally to me, I shouldn't really try then" that the American culture has imbued in everyone - for a nation that is built on the ideals of Horatio Alger, you'd think we'd have a bit more faith in those who apply themselves, who work hard. But I feel that many get turned away from Computer Science because it doesn't just make sense. Those to whom it does, they have an easier time alpha-geeking in our geeky culture, I think. Anyway! So I did really love the chapters on the beauty of logic and the brief history of computing (which pointed out how programming the computer was "women's work" until hardware changed and could integrate things more smoothly; when the job became prestigious, it was back to the man's domain!). And I even enjoyed the author's discussions about his writing. Being passionate about both writing and computers, I figured I would really enjoy this book. Unfortunately, as far as pleasure reading went, it wasn't quite my speed. Chandra is brilliant, but he is beyond my scope of understanding. Yours, Arianna

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The Book of Strange New Things

The Book of Strange New Things Michel Faber 5/5	Published October 28th, 2014 First Sentence ""I was going to say something," he said."
Publisher's Description: It begins with Peter, a devoted man of faith, as he is called to the mission of a lifetime, one that takes him galaxies away from his wife, Bea. Peter becomes immersed in the mysteries of an astonishing new environment, overseen by an enigmatic corporation known only as USIC. His work introduces him to a seemingly friendly native population struggling with a dangerous illness and hungry for Peter’s teachings—his Bible is their “book of strange new things.” But Peter is rattled when Bea’s letters from home become increasingly desperate: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries, and governments are crumbling. Bea’s faith, once the guiding light of their lives, begins to falter. Suddenly, a separation measured by an otherworldly distance, and defined both by one newly discovered world and another in a state of collapse, is threatened by an ever-widening gulf that is much less quantifiable. While Peter is reconciling the needs of his congregation with the desires of his strange employer, Bea is struggling for survival. Their trials lay bare a profound meditation on faith, love tested beyond endurance, and our responsibility to those closest to us. Marked by the same bravura storytelling and precise language that made The Crimson Petal and the White such an international success, The Book of Strange New Things is extraordinary, mesmerizing, and replete with emotional complexity and genuine pathos.
Dear Reader, Another five star book this year! And yet, I was so reluctant to like this book. Why? Because the main character is a Pastor and the whole story follows him to another planet where he preaches the word of God to the inhabitants. I love anything spacey and science fictiony, much of this book screams "read me!" based on that but the other part went into this book with a weary eye due to the religious tones. All I can say is that NOT once did I roll my eyes or get too annoyed with Peter, the Pastor. It probably helped that Michel Faber is an excellent writer who can cover you with a soft 'word-blanket'. I felt so comfortable reading this book, to the point where I didn't want it to end. Most of the time, while reading a book, I find myself thinking of the next one (especially if the book dips into a low/boring section). My guess is that this book didn't have a boring part, can that happen?! I was captured from start to finish. Peter, the Pastor, has agreed (and selected) to undertake a mission on a strange planet leaving his wife Beatrice behind. What I liked about his character was that you saw him evolve during his journey, at first being the typical born-again Christian but developing into a man who opens his eyes a little more, becomes more inquisitive and takes a closer look at the unknown. I really loved that. I'm not sure if the Author is religious, but woah... was he able to write a transformation within a complicated human being. I would think that planetary travel and alien interaction are not usually the plot devices used to discuss a meaty topic such as religion. I think this might have been the only book I've read that took on the controversial topic of religion in a VERY different way, one that actually welcomed me and probably will/would many others who feel comforted by looking at things from a skewed perspective. The Book of Strange New Things brings up so many questions and I kept asking myself how I would deal with being on a planet light years away, far from home and family. The community surrounding Peter, both the humans and the aliens are examined with a very fine comb, with amazing intellect and writing. I know this will be a book I'll be raving about for a very long time. The aliens, dubbed "Oasans" by Peter, are so imaginative and realistic. I truly believe if another planet or aliens exist, this could very well be what they would look and act like. The interaction between the Oasans and the humans is really believable as well, even though I'd hope we'd be more apt to interact with a different intelligent species... I think too many deep fears and questions get in the way. It's not often you get a pairing of philosophy and science fiction combined with fantastic literary writing, this book is just a winner. I have to caution those who don't like weird, strange concepts though... you might not appreciate it as much as I did. I'd hate to send you down a yellow brick road when science fiction and fantasy don't tickle your fancy. Do I think that this could be mildly sci-fi? Yes, and maybe that could be enough to coax some weary folks to test the genre, maybe Faber is the perfect person to take you across that border into fantasy land. Happy Reading, AmberBug P.S. - Faber also thanks Marvel comics in the acknowledgements, which warmed my heart to him quite a bit. Who does that? He thanks an entire community of writers and publishers as a whole? I'll tell you who, Michel Faber and I love him for it.

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The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen Michael Cunningham 4.5 / 5	Published 2014 First Sentence "A celestial light appeared to Barrett Meeks in the sky over Central Park, four days after Barrett had been mauled, once again, by love."
Publisher's Description: Michael Cunningham’s luminous novel begins with a vision. It’s November 2004. Barrett Meeks, having lost love yet again, is walking through Central Park when he is inspired to look up at the sky; there he sees a pale, translucent light that seems to regard him in a distinctly godlike way. Barrett doesn’t believe in visions—or in God—but he can’t deny what he’s seen. At the same time, in the not-quite-gentrified Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tyler, Barrett’s older brother, a struggling musician, is trying—and failing—to write a wedding song for Beth, his wife-to-be, who is seriously ill. Tyler is determined to write a song that will not be merely a sentimental ballad but an enduring expression of love.  Barrett, haunted by the light, turns unexpectedly to religion. Tyler grows increasingly convinced that only drugs can release his creative powers. Beth tries to face mortality with as much courage as she can summon. Cunningham follows the Meeks brothers as each travels down a different path in his search for transcendence. In subtle, lucid prose, he demonstrates a profound empathy for his conflicted characters and a singular understanding of what lies at the core of the human soul. The Snow Queen, beautiful and heartbreaking, comic and tragic, proves again that Cunningham is one of the great novelists of his generation.
Dear Reader, I don't know why this book didn't review very well on Goodreads; I really loved it. And it was gorgeously written. I have not read anything else by Cunningham, despite having The Hours on my to-read list since I don't know when, but I am okay that I started with this one - it makes me eager to want to read more. He is an amazing writer. His word choices, his imagery, and his characters all really drew me into this book. The premise is interesting enough - two brothers who couldn't be more different, both in the thrall of "the snow queen", who materializes in the form of Tyler's sickly wife, Beth. The brothers' lives dance around Beth while her illness waxes and wanes, and the whole story is tied, ultimately, to this fragile creature. However, there is so much more to this book: Barrett's embracing of religion (in a very detached way) because he experiences a vision after having been dumped unceremoniously by his latest boyfriend; his boss' own complicated love stories with younger men; and the way Tyler comes to terms with his wife's illness and how he sees himself in relation to her. Tyler, especially, intrigued me: he had spent so long being Beth's caretaker that he could use that as his excuse not to create the music that he was born to make, and couldn't define himself as anything other than Beth's husband. I enjoyed watching his evolution through the book. There's really not much to tell that won't ruin what little story there is (that wasn't meant to be a disparaging remark; it's just that this book is more of a character study than a plot!). I loved the Snow Queen's constant presence in the book - either as a bright light experienced in a blizzard, a flake falling on a lonely man's tongue, a frail and terminal angel, or even as the strong and determined woman you see at the end of the book. Would Barrett even have considered himself a "Snow Queen," as a gay man who experienced a vision on a snowy night? Perhaps even his inability to maintain a relationship would lead some to accuse him of being distant, "snowy."  Ah, that's probably a stretch. I'll just say that I'd definitely recommend this one. Reminds me in a lot of ways of the feel of books & movies that came out in the 1990s: I have to admit I was recalling Reality Bites and Our Noise and Angels in America after reading this. Perhaps it was that tragically lonely feel of a group of twenty-somethings. Whatever it was, I really loved it. Yours, Arianna

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Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief Lawrence Wright 3/5	Published 2013 First Sentence "Scientology plays an outsize role in the cast of new religions that have risen in the twentieth century and survived into the twenty-first."
Publisher's Description: A clear-sighted revelation, a deep penetration into the world of Scientology by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the now-classic study of al-Qaeda's 9/11 attack, the Looming Tower. Based on more than two hundred personal interviews with both current and former Scientologists--both famous and less well known--and years of archival research, Lawrence Wright uses his extraordinary investigative skills to uncover for us the inner working sof the Church of Scientology: its origins in the imagination of science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard; its struggles to find acceptance as a legitimate (and legally acknowledged) religion; its vast, secret campaign to infiltrate the U.S. government; and its dramatic efforts to grow and prevail after the death of Hubbard. At the book's center, two men whom Wright brings vividly to life, showing how they have made Scientology what it is today: The darkly brilliant L. Ron Hubbard--whose restless, expansive mind invented a new religion tailor-made to prosper in the spiritually troubled post-World War II era. And his successor, David Miscavige--tough and driven, with the unenviable task of preserving the church in the face of ongoing scandals and continual legal assaults. We learn about Scientology's esoteric cosmology; about the auditing process that determines an inductee's state of being; about the Bridge to Total Freedom, through which members gain eternal life. We see the ways in which the church pursues celebrities, such as Tom Cruise and John Travolta, and how young idealists who joined the Sea Org, the church's clergy, whose members often enter as children, signing up with a billion-year contract and working with little pay in poor conditions. We meet men and women "disconnected" from friends and family by the church's policy of shunning critical voices. And we discover, through many firsthand stories, the violence that has long permeated the inner sanctum of the church. In Going Clear, Wright examines what fundamentally makes a religion a religion, and whether Scientology is, in fact, deserving of the constitutional protections achieved in its victory over the IRS. Employing all his exceptional journalistic skills of observations, understanding, and synthesis, and his ability to shape a story into a compelling narrative, Lawrence Wright has given us an evenhanded yet keenly incisive book that goes far beyond an immediate exposé and uncovers the very essence of what makes Scientology the institution it is.
Dear Reader, This was the perfect type of book to listen to in the car, which is the format I used. I normally like my audiobooks to be non-fiction, I find missing parts of a "story" can get me lost more than "facts" from a non-fiction book. I thought I was going to like this just as much if not more than a book I read awhile back called "Inside Scientology" by Janet Reitman, published in 2011. You can find my very brief review of that book on goodreads, here. The hype was all over the place when "Going Clear" was first published, it was hard to miss it. I was skeptical about reading yet another book about Scientology but caved in when I signed up with Audible again and it popped up on clearance. I do love a good controversial book about crazy people that exist, which is essentially what this book is. I think where this book succeeded was in the details, the Author also made sure we saw both sides and ALL the facts. I love and hate when this is done because when you've been over-bombarded by all the facts, sometimes things get boring and this book had quite a few of those moments. However, this didn't take away the creep factor, that wacky side of the religion that makes everyone laugh. I have to admit that given all the facts, some aspects of the religion started to make "a little" sense. The thought behind getting rid of these "bad" things that hold you back... this is a common idea that fits with many "self-help" ideas. Everyone wants to get rid of those bad vibes, bad emotions, bad memories that hold you back, and Scientology pulls you in with the lure of taking all the BAD away. Who wouldn't think twice about that, especially someone who isn't well informed about the evils of Scientology. Not many people see the whole picture, that the religion will try and suck you dry (of every penny you have), that they will record every confession and then use it against you when you try to leave. They will use every tactic imaginable to keep you, and you'll be so intertwined within the religion at that point (so finally invested as well) that it doesn't make sense to leave. How scary is that? I wish everyone could read this and understand the dangers Scientology brings forth to society. This is one powerful religion, mostly due to the wealth they've accumulated. Not even the IRS could touch them, awhile back Scientology was in a legal battle with the IRS and Scientology won (meaning they will forever be considered a religion (along with any new branch they decide to create regardless of religious base). How convenient, right? The book starts with the history of L. Ron Hubbard, flows into his life and how he discovered and created Scientology. The book ends with David Miscavige, Tom Cruise, John Travolta and all those other celebrities. It explains how the celebrities were coaxed with lavish surroundings, slaves from the Sea Org to cater to them and fantasy retreats for them to escape to. They don't see the side of Scientology that takes someone from the middle class and makes them destitute within a few years. The entire religious scam they have going on angers me and scares me, and this book just heightens all of that. I want people to be aware of this, so I'll recommend the heck out of this book even though I only gave it three stars. Happy Reading, AmberBug

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The Marriage Plot

The Marriage Plot Jeffrey Eugenides 3.5 / 5	Published 2011 First Sentence "To start with, look at all the books."
Publisher's Description: A New York Times Notable Book of 2011 A Publisher's Weekly Top 10 Book of 2011 A Kirkus Reviews Top 25 Best Fiction of 2011 Title One of Library Journal's Best Books of 2011 A Salon Best Fiction of 2011 title One of The Telegraph’s Best Fiction Books of the Year 2011 It’s the early 1980s—the country is in a deep recession, and life after college is harder than ever. In the cafés on College Hill, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels. As Madeleine tries to understand why “it became laughable to read writers like Cheever and Updike, who wrote about the suburbia Madeleine and most of her friends had grown up in, in favor of reading the Marquis de Sade, who wrote about deflowering virgins in eighteenth-century France,” real life, in the form of two very different guys, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead—charismatic loner, college Darwinist, and lost Portland boy—suddenly turns up in a semiotics seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged erotic and intellectual relationship with him. At the same time, her old “friend” Mitchell Grammaticus—who’s been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange—resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his mate. Over the next year, as the members of the triangle in this amazing, spellbinding novel graduate from college and enter the real world, events force them to reevaluate everything they learned in school. Leonard and Madeleine move to a biology Laboratory on Cape Cod, but can’t escape the secret responsible for Leonard’s seemingly inexhaustible energy and plunging moods. And Mitchell, traveling around the world to get Madeleine out of his mind, finds himself face-to-face with ultimate questions about the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the true nature of love. Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce? With devastating wit and an abiding understanding of and affection for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides revives the motivating energies of the Novel, while creating a story so contemporary and fresh that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives.
Dear Reader, This book was NOT what I was expecting, which was an awesome thing.  I hadn't read thing one about it (or, at least, I don't recall anything I did read about it!), and apparently even when I picked it up as an audiobook on CD, I didn't even read the blurb on the back - I just went by the author's name, of whom I am a fan from having read his earlier Middlesex.  I really enjoyed his writing style in both novels, and his often unique approach to the world. This book was a complete departure from his earlier work, which took place in Detroit around the 1960s (but stretched three generations back in order to tell the story).  This one, on the other hand, began with the graduation of the class of 1982 from Brown University, in Providence, RI.  I love that Eugenides selected this time period, not only because I am a child of the '80s (and felt some nostalgia, even though the characters were certainly before my time), but also because it evoked a time of entirely different communications - before cell phones, computers, and the internet - which made for a very compelling story.  In fact, I'm not even sure the story could have happened the way it did were it set further in the future - much of the way life works out for Madeline and the rest can be attributed to the way they are forced to communicate: over the telephone, through hand-written letters, and in person.  And as much as I love my technology, it's a time I also miss: I am still a writer of letters and a fan of typewriters (although it's been years since I used one!).  In any case, I appreciate how the author selected this era: it was modern enough for the way life unfolds for the characters, and yet long ago enough that it evoked a twang of nostalgia for a bygone time. How could it have been told in any other time?  The graduates find themselves lost, entering the adult world at the time of a severe recession (another way I related strongly to this book!).  They are uncertain of what they want to do with their lives; this really was the first generation who was told they could do and be anything, and who felt that subsequent sense of drifting at sea when they didn't feel as if their futures were certain.  One character works at a scientific laboratory which (among other things) explores the relatively young field of genetics, and struggles with the newness of diagnosed mental illness combined with the administration of experimental medications.  Another decides to travel abroad on almost no money in order to see the world; this is no longer the purview only of the rich and spoiled children who graduate from Ivy League universities, but of all liberal arts students.  All of the characters find themselves struggling to self-identify (some with their sexuality, some with their vocations, some with their religion); they spar with the legacies of their parents and yearn to define themselves separately. I am not sure I really liked any of the characters entirely, but they were all very human, and you wanted to embrace them, flaws and all, as real people.  There were plenty of surprising moments in the book, but most surprising of all was that this was not a love story.  The title made me worry that it might be (I thought it might mean that the book outlined a scheme to get two people hitched).  Then the explanation of what "the marriage plot" actually referred to (the way Victorian-era novels revolved around getting a woman married off, as if she were nothing as a spinster) also threw me, as I thought this might be a modern-day take on the idea.  Which, I suppose, ultimately it was - but the ending will surprise you.  It did me, and pleasantly.  It certainly took an outdated ideal and updated it in a very real and appropriate way, I think.  And with enough of a modern twist that it ended up being a pretty feminist novel, I think. These characters and their stories will stick with me for a while to come, I think, which is always the mark of a good writer, to me.  If you can create these characterizations who come to almost feel like people you used to hang out with, then you've done something right. Yours, Arianna

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