A review by writersrelief
Fates and Furies 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

 
With this title and the division of the book into two correlating sections—FATES to tell the husband’s story, and FURIES to tell the wife’s—Lauren Groff’s third novel promises an examination of marriage from either side. 
 
In the first part of the novel, Groff tells us the story of Lancelot “Lotto” Satterwhite. From a childhood marked by tragedy and intense highs and lows, to his eventual achievements as a famous playwright, Lotto proves irresistible but self-centered. Lotto is happy to bumble along through a life that seems to unfold naturally along a pre-destined path to greatness—the one his mother swore from his birth he was meant for. He loves his wife Mathilde deeply, but Lotto is uncurious about what makes up her person. Instead, he fashions his own version of her stories, praising endlessly both the purity he perceives in her and the way in which she devotes herself to him, his ambitions, and their marriage. 
 
This is followed by Mathilde’s story of her life and marriage to Lotto. Told from her perspective, Mathilde’s account does much to modify Lotto’s version of things, as expected. What may not be expected, however, is the fierceness with which Mathilde responds. Described by Lotto as a near saint—beautiful, loving, caring, unassuming, and kind—Mathilde also has a past marked by tragedy. But unlike Lotto, much of Mathilde’s is her own doing, and her anger and calculation are always present. Mathilde is far more secretive than Lotto imagines she could be (though he does uncover one of her major secrets near the end of the novel, and it shocks him completely). But she also gives much more to Lotto and their marriage than he realizes, in all his complacency. In short, Mathilde is not exactly the person Lotto thinks she is. Nor is she the person we imagine she is, even with being aware she’s something Lotto can’t…or won’t…or doesn’t care to perceive, given his preoccupation with himself and his own artistic goals. 
 
Through some truly wild plot points and an endless sea of gorgeous, inventive prose, Groff builds one version of a marriage—and then, rather than simply tear down that version through the female perspective, she instead transforms it. Mathilde and Lotto love each other intensely—that much is always true. But the story of their marriage is never simple or black and white, not from either side. And though Mathilde’s version reveals much to us that we did not previously know, it also reaffirms what we may have thought would be contested upon hearing her story. Lush, complex, and above all, gorgeously written, FATES AND FURIES is a book you should savor for all its twists and turns, however slight—or ferocious—they may be from one moment to the next. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings