Fates and Furies
Lauren Groff
Riverhead Books
September 15, 2015
4/5 stars
What a difficult time I have had formulating what to say about Fates and Furies. I put off writing this review, hoping that extra time would unravel my thoughts about Groff’s novel into traceable threads, with beginnings and ends. That hasn’t happened yet, and I don’t think it will. In a way, it is only appropriate that I feel such ambivalence towards Fates and Furies. It is a novel of opposing views, of the distance between the reality of something and the idea of it.
The thing about Fates and Furies is that it isn’t about the plot. It is about the novel’s construction, its broad swath of narrative styles and how seamlessly they flow together. Lotto is a chameleon, always shaping himself to best charm the people around him. Ever living in his head, Lotto is flighty and unreliable; life happens to him. Mathilde is the function behind Lotto’s ego, the controller, the doer, the planner. Groff begins the novel in Lotto’s voice, with rambling, decorative, dramatic prose. Her words force you to feel his emotions intimately, in a way you would not though description alone. When Groff switches to Mathilde’s voice, about half way through, the novel becomes something very different. Mathilde’s story is precise and unadorned, rough. Her emotions never come as a surprise to her, and she wears them with skill. Both narrative voices are compelling, but it is the contrast between them that make them beautiful. Groff’s narrative style successfully peels away the secrets of their marriage and life, exposing the distance between impression and actuality and how easy it is to be known and unknown simultaneously.
All that being said, the truth is that I was somewhat underwhelmed by Fates and Furies. It is a superbly executed work of art, but I never could lose the sense of Groff’s intentional construction of the events at hand. The prose is undeniably beautiful, but the negative qualities of Lotto and Mathilde just weren’t realistic. The secrets in their marriage were too big to ever have been truly repressed without serious consequences. For a life as messy as that of Lotto and Mathilde, the story wasn’t nearly messy enough, and that kept me from finding true connection to the characters.
***Bottom line*** Read it. Admire the prose, it is deserving. Just don’t read too much into the surrounding hype. If you love Shakespeare and greek mythology, Fates and Furies may hold extra weight for you. And PLEASE feel free to disagree with me! I'd love to hear your thoughts.