Scenes from a marriage

‘Fates and Furies’ echoes a hubristic Greek tragedy

Lauren Groff is a finalist for the National Book Award, a top U.S. literary prize, for her third novel, “Fates and Furies” (Riverhead Books, 390 pages, $33.50). The winner will be announced Nov. 18. The Miami Herald called the mix of history and the supernatural in her first novel, “The Monsters of Templeton” (2008), an “outstanding literary debut.”

It was loosely based on her hometown of Tarrytown, N.Y.

“Fates and Furies” tackles a modern-day marriage from the perspective of the husband in the first half (Fates) and of the wife in the second (Furies). And throughout the book are bracketed commentaries in the author’s voice — or is it a Greek chorus?

We meet Lotto (short for Lancelot), the future husband, as a first-born child of Antoinette and Gawain (notice there are no ordinary names in this book). Antoinette was plucked from her water park job (where she worked as a mermaid) by Gawain, whose wealth was built around the spring water he bottled on his Florida property.

Lotto grows into a lanky teenager engaged in drugs and sex, consistent with the 1980s. When his girlfriend gets pregnant, his mother, now a widow, banishes him to a New England private school, followed by Vassar College.

There, on the eve of graduating, he meets and instantly falls in love with Mathilde, who is also tall, model-like and glamorous. Her childhood in France only adds to her appeal.

They are quickly married, to the horror of Antoinette, who cuts off Lotto’s allowance. He struggles to find acting roles while Mathilde resumes her college job in an art gallery, and they share a Greenwich Village apartment. Lotto keeps hoping they can visit his mother in Florida and patch up their arguments. He also hopes they can start a family.

On both counts, Mathilde finds excuses to delay.

Lotto’s acting career is not happening, but he discovers he can write plays that blend Greek mythology with elements from his own childhood. Mathilde becomes his agent, editor and the secret polisher of his scripts. Fame and wealth follows.

When he gets depressed and drunk following a bizarre accident, she inspires him to try writing an opera. But the death of his mother triggers his own death by drowning, and the story shifts to Mathilde’s version of events.

Unlike Lotto’s privileged childhood, she was sent away from her parents to live with her grandmother in Paris, and when her grandmother died, with an uncle in the States.

He barely noticed her or said goodbye when she enrolled at Vassar. A chance encounter with a wealthy art gallery owner leads to a “contract”: sex for food, clothes, tuition and shelter.

She walks out of his life upon graduation and into Lotto’s unwitting arms. It is her secrecy that shapes her side of this 24-year marriage, even though neither party has an affair. She is Lotto’s muse, but like the Furies of mythology, also his seducer, and life manager. Her grief at his death knows no bounds, and with his estate now hers, she seeks revenge against her childhood abusers and Lotto’s best friend.

“Fates and Furies” is a multilayered exploration of a marriage, of art and power, of the limits and influence of perception. Their love for each other draws from an insatiable hunger.

Like a Greek tragedy, there is hubris here. Whether they come from poverty or privilege, the lovers are indelibly shaped by their childhoods, and watching how that unfolds makes this a good, if not great, read.

Groff spins prose that ranges from the poignant to the salacious. I admire her reach, but it sometimes exceeds her grasp.

I’ll be watching to see if she wins the National Book Award Nov. 18.