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Oct 27, 2015 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

Lauren Groff’s third novel, Fates and Furies, examines marriage and companionship through two lenses, juxtaposed in two separate sections of her book. Lancelot (Lotto) and Mathilde meet in college and marry shortly thereafter. The first half of Fates and Furies tells the story of their marriage from Lotto’s perspective, the second half from Mathilde’s. Personal histories are fleshed out in each character’s respective half. It’s an interesting conceit and one that Groff pulls off relatively successfully, without it reading like gimmick. It is also an easy way for Groff to expose readers to different layers of her story in bits, in revelations, and in doing so she attempts to expose larger truths.

Lotto and Mathilde’s marriage seems perfect when looked at from the outside, Lotto a struggling actor who eventually finds great success as a playwright, and his wife who stands by her man, supporting him through thick and thin. But as backstories are revealed, facts are exposed to the reader that remain hidden from the spouses. There won’t be any spoilers here, but suffice it to say that things are not as rosy as they might appear.

Groff’s prose is conversational throughout. The narrative becomes more interesting toward the end of the book’s first half, Lotto’s side of the story, with the writing becoming more abstract and imagery-filled, and momentum continues through the whole of Mathilde’s tale, making Fates and Furies a page-turner to the very end. Clumsy at times and unnecessarily clever at others, Fates and Furies is ultimately a story about secrets, about lies of omission, about the incomprehensible complications of marriage, about an eternity of hurt, about unlikely forgiveness and the despicable nature of grudge. It’s not a redemptive tale per se, but one can extrapolate. In the end, Fates and Furies leaves you with mixed emotions, questions, and only a few answers. Much like marriage itself perhaps. Or life. A puzzle to the very end.

(www.laurengroff.com) (www.riverheadbooks.com)

Author rating: 7/10