This novel is set in the 1980s. It revolves around three characters, Madeleine, Leonard, and Mitchell. The book is about their college experience and what life is like after graduation. The marriage plot itself is something both academic and personal. It is the theme of Madeleine's English dissertation, how marriage is handled in literature, and it is also a subject that preoccupies these three characters.
The book goes back and forth in time. Sections are in each character's point of view. It seemed to me to be an effective way for this story to be told. This book to me had a lot to do with perception and discovery. Characters had secrets from each other. There were misunderstandings. Things were easily seen to be a certain way, when the reality was something quite different.
I am not going to go into specifics about things, as this novel is one where the reader should have revelations. It is an experiential novel despite its sometimes academic nature. It was a novel where I did care about the characters. I wanted to find out what happened. It was what you want in a good story.
