The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green.

This book is: silly.
Other elements: urban fantasy, magic, adventure, saving-the-world, conspiracy theories, humor.
Read it: if you have the right sense of humor (do you enjoy Terry Pratchett? Monty Python?).
Overall rating: 7.25/10

You always know what you’re signing up for with Simon Green. Action, adventure, puns, blood, gore, colorful descriptions, literary references, almost-corny jokes. He is a witty and clever writer who enjoys being witty and clever. He’s very creative, and he goes all out. This is a silly book, but I mean that in the best way.

Simon Green is not afraid of going over the top. He loves the top. If you don’t like his writing, I suspect you’ll hate this book right away.

I wasn’t sold on this book for the first 10 pages or so. The James Bond references were too on-the-nose and the hero’s magical armor was too shiny and impenetrable. An indestructible hero is really boring. Thankfully, Green solved that really quickly with some violent elves and a mysterious, golden-armor-penetrating metal from another dimension. (There was also a UFO and living, cannibalistic cars.) I think you’re getting a sense of the book already.

The universe is the same as our own, except full of magical things that ordinary humans don’t notice. I enjoy that as a starting point. The main character is a member of the infamous Drood family, vigilantes who keep balance in the world with the power of their golden armor. Except, as the hero soon discovers, it may be more complicated than it appears. Expect many kinds of magical creatures, a sex robot, extreme piercings, plentiful violence, spiders and an unexpected romance along the way.

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I liked this book too much to give any spoilers. I think the author did such a good job that no one deserves to tell the story except for her.

My sister will tell you, I can’t watch a crime show (or anything, really) without needing to figure everything out before I’m supposed to. It’s like winning. But actually, my favorite is when the story beats me, when I can’t figure it out. This book beat me. If you had asked me every 50 pages to predict the end of the book, I would have given you a lot of different answers and not been right once. That’s not to say the ending came out of the blue, or was illogical – it works perfectly. I just didn’t see it coming.

On the negative side, it’s possible this story went a little bit over the top. It’s elaborate, complicated, and does not shy away from dramatic plot twists. But there’s nothing wrong with being dramatic, as long as you do it well.

I think the strongest part of this book was the characters. I can’t think of a single character who wasn’t fully formed. They all had quirks, they all had agendas, they all had thoughts. They were craggy and sweaty and didn’t want to tell you their secrets. I hated some and loved others, but they all felt like people. I was also totally freaked out by the one I identified with the most, but that’s something we can talk about after you’ve read the book.

Blogger’s note: I wrote this review minutes after finishing the book. As time passes, I’ve realized I find certain plot elements less believable than I did at first. But I was so caught up in the story as I read it that it took me a couple of weeks to realize I was 93% convinced rather than 100% convinced. Gone Girl is a fun read and I recommend it if the genre appeals to you.

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The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides.

This book is: A book about college and relationships.
Other elements: Some degree of bildungsroman, life with manic depression/life with a manic depressive, how your parents affect who you are, the role of religion in a modern world, unrequited love.
Read it: If you are interested in early prescription treatments for manic depression, if you miss college, if you sympathize with characters having religious crises.
Overall rating: 7.2/10

My feelings about this book are complex. First and foremost, it was a disappointment. But I don’t think that’s the book’s fault, I think it’s mine. Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex is one of my favorite books of all time, and I had high expectations for The Marriage Plot.

The writing was exceptional, as it always is with Eugenides. But I failed to feel any emotional connection with – or even strong interest in – two of the three main characters. The college scenes occasionally verged on trite (the main character belting her Betsey Johnson dress, wishing for coffee to dull her hangover…). And I didn’t like the title. I felt that it was too on-the-nose and it didn’t turn out to mean anything.

Very mild spoilers from this point on.

The main characters:

Pretty Madeline, a girl from a rich family who plays tennis, an idealistic English major of above-average intelligence who is universally admired for her looks. She works to please her parents, her teachers, the men in her life.  Her problems are usually solved by other people. I don’t know about you, but I knew several people exactly like this in college. I didn’t like those girls then and I don’t like this girl now.

Leonard, the strong, popular, man-boy with the lonely heart who tries to solve his depression with women. Also a character I recognize from college, but a more complex one. He grew on me as the story progressed, but he still didn’t grab me.

The third main character – a boy named Mitchell Grammaticus – was wonderful. For me, the story was about him, even though Madeline and Leonard have more page time. Mitchell is in love with Madeline and has been for years, but it doesn’t prevent him from also living his life. He graduates college with no particular direction and a burgeoning interest in Christianity, which scares and confuses him. He takes off traveling, goes through Europe and ends up inIndia volunteering for Mother Teresa, while exploring the forms that religious observation take in different countries and picking up the parts that strike a chord with him. It sounds trite, but it’s fascinating, thanks to Mitchell’s very human point of view.

The story revolves around Madeline. The two boys are both in love with her and she defines their lives. Leonard finally manages some personal growth near the end, with a heroic act for Madeline’s benefit. Mitchell, because Madeline does not choose him, is free to be interesting the whole way through the novel and then experiences major personal growth when he has an epiphany about their relationship shortly before the end.

Madeline remains the same the whole time, but I think her mediocrity might be part of the point of the book. She’s the scenery around which the two male main characters live their lives; she’s not remarkable on her own, and that’s part of the tragedy of Leonard and the strength of Mitchell.

If the reader was supposed to love Madeline also, the author failed. If the reader was supposed to marvel at the bittersweet fact that the love of such a flat, mediocre individual could completely alter the lives of two much more interesting individuals, this book is a resounding success.

As I said, my thoughts about this book are complex. My main criticism is that The Marriage Plot failed to forge the kind of strong, emotional connection to the characters that I felt with Middlesex. But that’s hard to do.

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