![]() ![]() ![]() Classical Greeks knew all too well how slender and vulnerable that thread could be and how quickly life’s certainties could unravel as a result. The three Fates controlled the thread of a person’s life from birth to death. But, like a squid from the deep, the story had turned itself inside out. In Greek mythology, the Furies were female goddesses of vengeance. Chronologically, the plot is very complex, though there is a central focus on Lotto and Mathilde. Fates and Furies spans a long period of time. “For twenty-three years, he’d thought he’d met a girl who was as pure as snow, a sad, lonely girl. Specifically, discuss Mathilde’s life in France, Lotto’s childhood in Florida, and how these geographical differences affect their union in New York. Eventually, he comes to see the fullness of his wife - and the realization isn’t welcome. In the novel’s first half, Groff paints a convincing portrait of a male genius who perceives himself as heroically individual, prone to forget that his artistic confidence is the joint product of an adoring mother and a devoted wife. (“He looked inside the apartment through the window, where the phone persisted unringing on the mantel.”) Fates and Furies sprawls as it goes, but any potential sluggishness is warded off by Groff’s powerful and exotic prose, which renders majestic even the most familiar moments of everyday life. ![]() In the first half of her absorbing new novel, Lauren Groff allows Lotto to take center stage, as we follow the couple from shotgun marriage to bohemian beginnings to Lotto’s eventual success as a playwright. By comparison, Mathilde is cool and melancholy. They have their own sorts of glamour: Lotto (short for Lancelot) is full of passion and charisma, destined for artistic greatness. ![]()
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