“Paradox of marriage: you can never know someone entirely; you do know someone entirely.”
I’ve always been intrigued by stories about marriage, how two people can stand each other for a long period of time. The psychology of marriage is quite interesting and this book examines it really well
Fates and Furies is a novel about a marriage between two people Lotto Satterwhite and Mathilde Yoder. It follows their marriage in the span of 22-23 years, their ups and downs and more. The book is divided into two sections, the first one FATES which follows the story of Lotto and the second FURIES which follows Mathilde. Their marriage is very unusual and they, as characters are also unusual.
Lancelot (Lotto) Satterwhite comes from a wealthy family and when he meets Mathilde in college he can’t help but fall in love with her. She’s tall, beautiful, mysterious and immediately attracts Lotto’s attention. What comes as a shock to people who know Lotto and Mathilde is that after two weeks of dating they decide to get married. In FATES section we find out about Lotto and his struggles of becoming a successful actor, he instead becomes a well known playwright. He believes that he’s destined for greatness and that’s where the name of the section comes from.
Mathilde Yoder is definitely different from her husband and I really don’t know what to say about her without giving away anything and spoiling the enjoyable experience of reading this book. Mathilde is a loving and supportive wife who wants nothing more than to please her husband and help him achieve his goals.
I believe that it’s best to go into this book without knowing anything about it. It will make this read much more enjoyable. Lauren Groff is a really talented author, her writing style is flawless. I’ve only read her short story ‘Ghosts and Empties’ and since then I’ve wanted to read more from her. This book was an amazing read, a great analysis of a marriage and secrets people keep to protect each other. The idea of the book is to make us question our view on marriage, at least that’s how I see it. How after, in this case 20+ years of marriage people can’t know one another completely, there’s always something that a person has to hide in order to protect someone or something. Even though both characters were interesting I found Mathilde’s to be more appealing and fun. I love a strong female character and she was just that.
I would definitely recommend this book to everyone and advise that they don’t get scared off by the negative reviews .
My rating: 
Breathing Through Pages 