Second Copy

You've been tagged!

Received via the Australian Wishlist Tag Game. Thanks so much.

Travelling on to the next reader. Enjoy

Arrived today as a wishlist tag. Looks interesting.
Thanks jeniwren.

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton and Arcadia, an exhilarating novel about marriage, creativity, art, and perception. Fates and Furies is a literary masterpiece that defies expectation. A dazzling examination of a marriage, it is also a portrait of creative partnership written by one of the best writers of her generation. 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.

“Fates and Furies” is one of those books which polarises readers and garners a wide range of reviews.
I can’t decide whether this book is brilliant or just pretentious, so I’m sitting on the fence. A book in two parts: first is Lotto’s story (Fates) followed by Mathilde’s (Furies). As with many readers, I found part two much more interesting and engrossing. Although I have this paper copy I actually listened to an audiobook version (with two separate narrators for the two parts), which I reckon probably saved it for me. Meaning I could gloss over the boring and uninteresting and unnecessary bits of the first part while doing useful things outside without thinking I was wasting my time. Basically lots of unpleasant people (with a few exceptions) partying, having sex, big noting themselves, and going on and on. Then part two upped the stakes considerably. Perhaps a bit OTT and twisty but made for a much better story. Lots of secrets.

So put the two together and overall it made a whole. Bit like marriage I guess, being mathematical . . . “go in as integers and come out squared”. Anyway, by the time the destination arrived I realised I had enjoyed the journey overall and not sorry to have taken it. Would I as much had I been reading a paper copy? Not sure.


Will try to find a new reader.

Given to my sister (a non BookCrosser).