Lotto’s narration has a dream-like voice while Mathilde has a more practical and furious tone to it. Mathilde’s narrative is much more fragmented and skips around different periods of her life. Long periods of Lotto’s life are conveyed through the plays he writes. Lotto’s memories are happier while Mathilde’s memories are dominated by her struggle to pay the bills and her sacrifices and misery. In Lotto’s memory, Mathilde says yes to his proposal instantly and they have sex for the first time. It modifies itself in the mind of the host as time passes. In addition, Lotto’s friends and his family members make appearances for brief intervals in the novel. She loves to cook and clean and edit my work, it makes her happy to do these things.” Lotto describes Mathilde as “ She gave up her job years ago to make mine run more smoothly. Mathilde supports him financially by taking a job at the art gallery and socially by being the perfect hostess at parties.

Although both Lotto and Mathilde had aspirations, it is Lotto who succeeds to become a well known playwright after a failed stint as an actor, his initial career goal. She doesn’t have many (or any) friends and steps into the role of an ideal wife very easily. Mathilde, on the other hand, is glamourous but quieter. Their love is sudden and intense and he gets married to her, whereby Mathilde is introduced to Lotto’s group of close friends and their get-together-parties. He finds solace in several sexual encounters until he meets Mathilde and falls in love. Although he comes from a privileged background, Lotto experiences a difficult childhood.

His aunt and his parents believe he is destined to be someone great. Read : 12 books revolving around marriagesĪ man named Lancelot or “Lotto” struggles to succeed in life. In the second part of the novel, we hear this story of a happy marriage from the perfect wife that Mathilde was. The couple complement each other and remain physically intimate without breaking apart, much to the surprise of their friends who gamble on how short lived their marriage would be. In turn, Lotto gives her stability and care: things which she craves for. Lotto has big dreams which Mathilde can support him in realizing. In Fates we hear the story of how Lotto and Mathilde fall in love and end up in a hasty marriage. Groff couldn’t have ordered the narration in a better way. The book is divided into two parts, Fates, that tells the story from Lotto’s perspective and Furies, which tells the story of the union from Mathilde’s point of view. Fates and Furies tells the story of the love, creative struggle and secrets that bind them together.įates and Furies is the story of a marriage.

Their relationship is a mystery to their close friends and family, but Lotto and Mathilde seem to be madly in love even after decades. When he meets Mathilde he instantly falls in love. Lotto grows up in a privileged household but he has a difficult childhood.

Fates and furies