Fates and Furies is a haunting look at marriage, and perhaps one of the best contemporary renditions of Greek tragedy. We start the book following the upbringing of Lotto, the son of a bottled-water magnate in Florida. In college Lotto meets Mathilda, a woman who seems to have no past, and together they move to New York, where Lotto becomes a famous playwright. And of course, just as everything seems to be going perfectly for the lovely couple - everything crashes and burns, we learn all about the dark secrets in Mathilde’s past, etc. etc.

The story is an intentional effort to render some of the key motifs of Greek mythology in a modern setting, and some of that works very well. In particular I enjoyed the underground / underwater theme, evoked in Lotto’s mother’s first job, in Lotto and Mathilde’s apartment, and of course in Lotto’s attempt to remake Antigone for the modern stage. There’s also a theme of mysterious origins and unknown parentage, making for a nearly-Oedipal plot arc; I found that mostly amusing and perhaps a touch interesting.

There’s a surprise twist in the book, about two-third of the way through, and that bit very nearly made me hate the book; I guess I read it as a cheap gimmick, too reminiscent of Gone Girl. Mathilde is meant to be something of a dark and mysterious character, a little cold and severe - that is fine, up to a point. But Groff takes the story well beyond that point, so that in the final analysis I just didn’t care very much about Mathilde’s mysterious past. Perhaps in a way that is the point of the book - we are led to care more and more about Lotto, less and less about Mathilde, and Isn’t That A Tragedy. I like and appreciate the feminist undertones, I just thought the artistry surrounding them was sort of tired and unappealing - especially in contrast with the much more considerable effort plowed into the Lotto story line, the development of the screenplay for Go, etc.

As a footnote I would add: I simply did not understand the meaning of the title. I have a pretty thin background in Greek drama, but to the best of my understanding Fates and Furies calls to mind the Oresteia much more than it does the Oedipus cycle - and yet this book is much more clearly inspired by the latter than the former. Maybe I just haven’t properly thought it through.

The bar was set rather high for this book, given that everyone - even President Obama - is reading and talking about it. For me it didn’t quite hit that bar, but it was engaging and interesting, and I’m glad I read it.