I know we’ve been teasing you for months, but the big week is finally here: Tomorrow, you can buy The Marriage Plot, the first novel from Jeffrey Eugenides since 2002′s Middlesex. The story is a love triangle set in the 1980s on the campus of Brown University, on Cape Cod, in Paris and in Calcutta. The main players are Madeleine, an English major whose thesis is on the Marriage Plot in Victorian novels; Mitchell, a student of religion who loves Madeleine (alas, she does not love him back); and Leonard, the genius and tortured manic-depressive whom Madeline loves. Does that sound complicated? Maybe it is. But it’s a wonderful story and completely engrossing.
This novel is BookPage’s October cover story. Reviwer Robert Weibezahl has many good things to say about this novel, such as:
A gifted writer, Eugenides does so much well. He has a great talent for zeroing in on the perfect delineating detail—he describes Madeleine’s well-bred WASP mother, for instance, as “all hairdo and handbag”—and the intelligent, self-deprecating humor that percolates beneath the characters’ adolescent angst endears them to us, despite their lapses into self-indulgence.
Read the full review on BookPage.com. On a personal note, and I can tell you that both Trisha and I have read this novel, and it ranks among our favorite novels of 2011. Want to see what all the fuss is about for yourself? We’re giving away TWO copies this week.
TO ENTER: The Marriage Plot has been touted as one of the “biggest books of the year.” Leave a comment on this post with the name of your #1 most-anticipated book of 2011.
CONTEST DETAILS: Two winners will be chosen by random.org from among entries received by 6 pm CST on October 14. The winners will each receive a copy of The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. This prize must be shipped to a North American address.
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Congratulations to our winners, Cary and Diane! They are most excited about The Marriage Plot and Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman!
Thank you to all who entered. Contest is now closed.
The Marriage Plot, of course!
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Well worth the wait.
The Night Circus!! Fantastic read and can’t wait for more.
This is it!!! I am dying to read it!
bookingmama(at)gmail(dot)com
I can’t wait to read 11/22/63 by Stephen King.
Zone One by Colson Whitehead
Looking forward to read 11/23/63 by Stephen King.
The Marriage Plot!
Crossed by Ally Condie
The Night Circus, which I read and THOROUGHLY enjoyed!
The Marriage Plot!
Whateverland: Learning to Live Here – Jennifer Hutt and Alexis Stewart.
Bound to be funny and reavealing.
I have waited for the next Eugenides novel for 10 years, so The Marriage Plot has to be the most aticipated. (The Night Circus was a close second and did not disappoint.)
The Marriage Plot…my pick for my fave book club : )
Naturally it is The Marriage Plot!
This one…as well as The Night Circus, Lamb, and Winters in Bloom.
The Marriage Plot is up there my most-anticipated read of 2011, but Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child wins the top spot on my list.
The Night Circus!
Bossypants by Tina Fey
The Night Strangers by Chris Bohjalian, which was great!
“The Marriage Plot” – I loved “The Virgin Suicides” and “Middlesex.”
The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks – due out tomorrow!!!
I am anxious to read “The Tiger’s Wife”, it looks very interesting.
The Marriage Plot! Can’t wait to read it!
Not to be predictable, but this! I’ve literally been Googling ‘Eugenides’ since Middlesex came out on a semi-regular basis and searching to see if there was any news of his next book…
the night circus (more than i could have hoped for). i’m still pining for it, and i finished it months ago.
We are Barbara Kingsolver fans & look forward to her upcoming book Flight Behavior.
The Marriage Plot! The fact that you are having this contest is icing on the cake!
What else but The Marriage Plot! I have loved every single one of Jeffrey Eugenides’ books — read Middlesex twice!
Several of my favorite authors had/ have books coming out in 2011 —
The Marriage Plot,
State of Wonder,
Night Strangers . . .
. . .thanks for your enthusiasm!
Lionheart by Sharon Penman
The Night Circus
The Marriage Plot of course. My book club thoroughly enjoyed the epic Middlesex.
Despite that awful billboard advert, The Marriage Plot is on my most anticipated list. This fall has other books I’m excited to read, including Alan Hollinghurst’s The Stranger’s Child and Don DeLillo’s first published short story collection The Angel Esmeralda .
I’ve been waiting for the Marriage Plot since before I knew I was waiting for it…since the last sentence of Middlesex.
I can’t wait to read “Best of me” by Nicholas Sparks,I love anything he writes and since I live in NC,an added bonus
The Marriage Plot is one I’ve been wanting to read.Can’t wait…then my wife will read and we’ll have a big discussion or argue!
really looking forward to “The Marriage Plot”….I just wish I could read 24/7…
Zone One, Marriage Plot, Steve Jobs’ biography … I am sure there are more.
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
Night Circus
The Night Stranger
Can’t pick just one!
This sounds like a great read, I hope I win it!!
Sounds like most of us like the same authors on here. I also have anticipated this book along with The Night Strangers and State of Wonder.
“Don’t Sing at the Table”
Trigiani
The Marriage Plot!
I am looking forward to 11/22/1963 by Stephen King!
Other than the Marriage Plot, The Kid by Sapphire
The Quest
Yes I am a nerd
The Marriage Plot! MIddlesex was awesome and I was worried he’d never get another book out!
Mrs. Nixon-Imagine a Life-Ann Beatie
Loved Paris Wife and American Wife
Tease me if you will but I’d prefer you to please me…I cannot wait to read The Marriage Plot. I adored “Middlesex” and I’m so looking forward to another meaty read. I hope…I hope…I hope…
The Marriage Plot —- I hope I win!
Anxious for this book! Thanks for this contest.
I’ve been looking forward to this one, as well. Also 11/23/63 by Stephen King, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, Night Strangers by Bohjalian and the newest Three Pines Mystery by Louise Penney. I’m making a list of all the other titles mentioned here, too!
Can’t wait to read The Marriage Plot!
“Mrs. Nixon” – read the excerpt in the New Yorker and really can’t wait to read the whole book!
‘Damned’ by Chuck Palaniuk
“When She Woke” – an updated version of “The Scarlet Letter” which our bookclub will be discussing this year.
State of Wonder was worth the wait. Just picked up Night Stranger from the library and looking forward to reading it. Enjoyed Middlesex and looking forward to The Marriage Plot.
State of Wonder
Just recently it became Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
If I had to pick just one book I would have to say The Night Circus is the book I have been most looking forward to.
bthgordon(at)yahoo(dot)com
Alice Hoffman’s ‘The Dovekeepers’
11/22/63 by Stephen King. Really, really looking forward to that one.
I was eagerly awaiting A Discovery of Witches and was not disappointed…
Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick and Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman
The Rose Garden.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. I pre-ordered it months in advance and devoured it in two days. The anticipation was worth it!
The Marriage Plot is definitely the one I have been waiting for the most… it’s been so long since he’s written anything, and I just loved Middlesex. But 1Q84 is a close second.
I’m looking forward to IQ84 – just a few more weeks now!
This one! Would be one by John Irving but despite my excitement about his two-book deal, I’ll have to hold myself over til he publishes:(.
The new Rin Tin Tin book by Susan Orlean looks wonderful, I can’t wait to read it! Also ‘The Marriage Plot’, of course.
The Night Circus.
11/22/63 by Stephen King is one I’m waiting for. I was also eagerly awaiting Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir. Can’t wait to get my hands on both of these titles!
Im really looking forward to reading the new Stephen King novel..altho I love soooo many books!
The Marriage Plot! I can’t believe Eugenides has only written three books in close to twenty years, and I’ve been dying for a new one.
The Marriage Plot…obvious answer!
I was ridiculously excited for Christopher Pike’s Thirst to come out. It’s a guilty pleasure/reconnect with my childhood thing. And of course, I can’t wait to read The Marriage Plot!
The Infernals by John Connolly!
The Marriage Plot and Night Circus! DUH.
The Night Circus. Anxiously awaiting.
The Marriage Plot
and
State of Wonder