A review by writersrelief
Matrix by Lauren Groff

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
Following the success of her novel FATES AND FURIES, author Lauren Groff turns her attention in a surprising but not unwelcome direction. MATRIX, set in the twelfth century, follows the imagined life of the very real Marie de France. There’s not much known about Marie beyond the lais (poems) she wrote, so Groff has taken what bits we do know and constructed the rest to suit the book’s narrative. 
 
In MATRIX, Marie is an intelligent, bold, and physically unappealing seventeen-year-old. Unsuitable for any men of the court and in love with Eleanor of Aquitaine, Marie is sent off by Eleanor to a remote royal abbey. The abbey is in a horrific state when Marie arrives and the nuns are barely surviving, but Marie sets out to change all that. 
 
Though her dedication to the sisters and to the abbey seemingly lies more in her drive to succeed than it does to serve God, Marie’s influence and power grow steadily. The abbey flourishes under her direction and from the nuns’ hard work. But Marie doesn’t stop there: Aided by “holy” visions and her determination to build a place where women can thrive, she begins to manipulate the world of men to her advantage. Marie utilizes the way she and the sisters are overlooked as a way to outmaneuver the men who stand above them. Marie’s plans for a “female utopia” grow ever grander, culminating in the construction of a forest labyrinth  around the abbey. Creating this labyrinth requires both hard labor and feats of impressive engineering not often accomplished by women in stories of these times. 
 
But is Marie’s success due to her dedication to keeping herself and the women around her safe, or is it due to her drive for power and control? Or is it both, and is that okay? Marie herself understands the divide, noting on her deathbed that, “greatness was not the same as goodness.” But in the world she and her nuns are born into—one ruled entirely by men—does it even matter how it is that these women find their own power, strength, and safety? That’s one of the many questions you might find yourself considering when you finish this book. 
 
As always, Groff’s prose is inventive, vivid, and gorgeous. The scenes of Marie’s visions are particularly impressive, and though the pacing feels uneven in spots, Groff’s ability to make her words feel alive on the page is ever-present. Marie is both a simple and a complex character: She overcomes nearly every obstacle without much trouble, but her motives and inner desires—as well as how these interact with her actions and the world around her—are complex. And with a distinct absence of any notable male characters, it’s hard to deny that reading this book feels like a brief, welcomed moment away from the male-dominated world that surrounds us even today. 
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