Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.

At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed. With stunning revelations and multiple threads, and in prose that is vibrantly alive and original, Groff delivers a deeply satisfying novel about love, art, creativity, and power that is unlike anything that has come before it. Profound, surprising, propulsive, and emotionally riveting, it stirs both the mind and the heart.

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The word I would use to describe this book is TOO (I know, it’s not an adjective...stay with me…).

This book:

• Was TOO verbose, almost to the point of distraction.
• Tried TOO hard to be something it’s not. The narrative attempted to imitate a classic novel, with its flowery descriptions and unique cadence, but it fell short.
• Tried TOO hard to be shocking. 
• Had TOO many metaphors and similes. Almost every sentence had a metaphor or simile attached to it. It was serious overkill.
• Had characters who were TOO much. The characters were ridiculous, selfish, egotistical, and not very endearing.

I thought the second part of of the book, Furies, which focused on Mathilde’s side of the story, was much better than the first part, which focused on Lotto. I thought that Mathilde’s character was much more developed and more dynamic than Lotto’s character, but I still didn’t find her to be a very likable character. Lotto was charming, but his character development felt shallow and superficial. Not one of my favorites.