Matrix

rmd reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

La vie imaginée de Marie de France

No rating

On ne sait quasiment rien de la vie de Marie de France, première poétesse de langue francaise à la fin du 12e siècle. Aussi Lauren Groff lui a inventé une biographie. Mise de force dans une abbaye anglaise miséreuse par Alienor d'aquitaine, Marie va vite prendre en main le développement du lieu, le sortir de la pauvreté et en faire un refuge pour les femmes, bloquant tout accès à l'abbaye pour les hommes, jusqu'à devenir une menace pour l'ordre en pratiquant des tâches normalement interdites aux hommes.

Derrière ce récit d'une vie illuminée (Marie se sert de visions divines dont on ne sait si elle y croit pour imposer le développement de l'abbaye) l'autrice invente une communauté de femmes utilisant la religion pour se protéger et développer une véritable sororité entre elles, abrités derrière une sorte de Brienne de Torth ayant rejoint les ordres. Sous sa nature forte et inflexible, …

On ne sait quasiment rien de la vie de Marie de France, première poétesse de langue francaise à la fin du 12e siècle. Aussi Lauren Groff lui a inventé une biographie. Mise de force dans une abbaye anglaise miséreuse par Alienor d'aquitaine, Marie va vite prendre en main le développement du lieu, le sortir de la pauvreté et en faire un refuge pour les femmes, bloquant tout accès à l'abbaye pour les hommes, jusqu'à devenir une menace pour l'ordre en pratiquant des tâches normalement interdites aux hommes.

Derrière ce récit d'une vie illuminée (Marie se sert de visions divines dont on ne sait si elle y croit pour imposer le développement de l'abbaye) l'autrice invente une communauté de femmes utilisant la religion pour se protéger et développer une véritable sororité entre elles, abrités derrière une sorte de Brienne de Torth ayant rejoint les ordres. Sous sa nature forte et inflexible, Marie est profondément humaine et tolérante, trouvant des excuses pour ce que l'église considère comme des péchés (comme son amour réel d'autres femmes et le lesbianisme de plusieurs sœurs ou son orgueil) et transforme l'abbaye en véritable sanctuaire pour les femmes, n'oubliant pas pour autant la pauvreté et la maladie hors les murs.

Lauren Groff raconte tout cela dans un style magnifique (la traduction est à la hauteur), mélangeant première et troisième personne, usant du discours indirect libre plutôt que de dialogues directs, nous partageant les pensées de Marie, ses contradictions et ses évolutions sur plus de cinq décennies, nous délivrant des émotions jusque dans les dernières pages dont on ressort ému en ayant l'impression d'avoir partagé une vie hors de l'ordinaire, mettant en scène une pensée actuelle sans qu'elle fasse tache dans la France du 12e siècle. Absolument remarquable.

(seul petit regret : l’œuvre littéraire de Marie de France n'est que peu évoquée)

Sarah reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

holy wowww

5 stars

I am bad at titling my reviews but “holy wowwww” seems to cover it. I loved this. The story of Marie, her efforts to turn the dismal abbey into a fortress, the struggle to defy patriarchy, the love for her sisters that turns into holy love, the carnal and secular love for her various lovers that also becomes holy, just the whole thing. Part way through I came across a review that was so dismissive and childish that it raised all my hackles and the ways in which that review has been bothering me helps me understand why I loved this book so much. If you can’t handle nuance, if you’re not open to the long history of women struggling against what they’re told to believe, then this book is definitely not for you. But it’s full of rage and anger and beauty and love.

sarah reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

holy wowwwww

5 stars

I am bad at titling my reviews but “holy wowwww” seems to cover it. I loved this. The story of Marie, her efforts to turn the dismal abbey into a fortress, the struggle to defy patriarchy, the love for her sisters that turns into holy love, the carnal and secular love for her various lovers that also becomes holy, just the whole thing. Part way through I came across a review that was so dismissive and childish that it raised all my hackles and the ways in which that review has been bothering me helps me understand why I loved this book so much. If you can’t handle nuance, if you’re not open to the long history of women struggling against what they’re told to believe, then this book is definitely not for you. But it’s full of rage and anger and beauty and love.

Laura reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Life and death in a 12th century monastery

4 stars

A novel about women, power and belief. It's historical, not fantasy, yet contains a lot of magic.

no <3 reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Review of 'Matrix' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

the writing style is a little weird, but once you get used to it it is very beautiful

jaymeb reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Review of 'Matrix' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I almost gave this book three stars, but it really is well-written. I just couldn’t connect with the character of Marie.

airdog reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Sadly usual anachronical vision of the middle-ages

2 stars

Very well written with a vocabulary that does make you feel you're somewhere around 1160. But the premises of the novel are not very believable. For instance the hero, a 16 years old teenager doesn't believe in God. Don't forget that not only was the church back then very powerful and very present in everyday life (mass every day, many saints birth and death days were celebrated every week) but also science was obviously still in infancy which means that people back then didn't have obvious explanations for many aspects of life such as illnesses and natural events such as floods, forest fires, etc. Believing in God then was easy and not believing was not very likely. Add to that the fact the this young lady transforms an abbey from starting to super rich with nuns fighting and winning against villagers and you realize that this doesn't make for a …

Very well written with a vocabulary that does make you feel you're somewhere around 1160. But the premises of the novel are not very believable. For instance the hero, a 16 years old teenager doesn't believe in God. Don't forget that not only was the church back then very powerful and very present in everyday life (mass every day, many saints birth and death days were celebrated every week) but also science was obviously still in infancy which means that people back then didn't have obvious explanations for many aspects of life such as illnesses and natural events such as floods, forest fires, etc. Believing in God then was easy and not believing was not very likely. Add to that the fact the this young lady transforms an abbey from starting to super rich with nuns fighting and winning against villagers and you realize that this doesn't make for a very plausible story. If the work would have been meant as pure super hero fantasy this wouldn't have mattered. But that's not how it presents itself and not how I read it.

Bridgman reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Review of 'Matrix' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

The blurbs on book jackets aren't usually interesting or trustworthy, but the ones on the hardback edition of [a:Lauren Groff|690619|Lauren Groff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330389831p2/690619.jpg]'s [b:Matrix|57185348|Matrix|Lauren Groff|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617287438l/57185348.SY75.jpg|87447766], which refer to earlier works, defined the writing in this book for me:

"Groff is an original writer, whose books are daringly nonconformist....The prose is not only beautiful and vigorously alert; it insists on its own heroic registration." —The New Yorker

"Groff's command of allusions, imagery, and the puzzle pieces of her characters and plot thrill."
—The Boston Globe

(If I used a phrase like "vigorously alert" everyone would call me a pretentious jerk and they'd be right to do so.)
It would help in reading this is you had some knowledge of church words used in 1200 A.D. and what was going on between England and France at that time, but there're no holes you can't fill with a few online searches and even …

The blurbs on book jackets aren't usually interesting or trustworthy, but the ones on the hardback edition of [a:Lauren Groff|690619|Lauren Groff|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1330389831p2/690619.jpg]'s [b:Matrix|57185348|Matrix|Lauren Groff|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617287438l/57185348.SY75.jpg|87447766], which refer to earlier works, defined the writing in this book for me:

"Groff is an original writer, whose books are daringly nonconformist....The prose is not only beautiful and vigorously alert; it insists on its own heroic registration." —The New Yorker

"Groff's command of allusions, imagery, and the puzzle pieces of her characters and plot thrill."
—The Boston Globe

(If I used a phrase like "vigorously alert" everyone would call me a pretentious jerk and they'd be right to do so.)
It would help in reading this is you had some knowledge of church words used in 1200 A.D. and what was going on between England and France at that time, but there're no holes you can't fill with a few online searches and even if you don't bother, you'll know what's going on.
Throughout the book, which is about an abbey, Groff makes no direct reference to the male sex. He, his, him, man, men, boy, boys, fellas. Those words are not used even once, even when talking about animals. This kind of thing verges on stunt writing, like [a:Ernest Vincent Wright|682865|Ernest Vincent Wright|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1371286964p2/682865.jpg]'s [b:Gadsby|1454666|Gadsby|Ernest Vincent Wright|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1234140401l/1454666.SX50.jpg|1445436] and [a:Gilbert Adair|15924|Gilbert Adair|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244793381p2/15924.jpg]'s [b:A Void|28294|A Void|Georges Perec|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388699493l/28294.SY75.jpg|2310135], translation of [a:Georges Perec|15923|Georges Perec|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1615651252p2/15923.jpg]'s [b:La Disparition|28336|La Disparition|Georges Perec|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1416833332l/28336.SY75.jpg|2310135], none of which use the letter "e," the most common letter in English, but it works.
There are a few sex scenes, which made me think briefly of lesbian pulp fiction from the 1950s, but that's just me being silly.
Villeinesses are serfs, sort of.

Marie is thirty-eight.
There has been trouble among the villeinesses, and come summer, three of the unmarried women are swelling at the belly like rosehips. They are not nuns, true, they are not sworn to virginity, but Marie feels shame that she cannot control these bodies under her care, what the larger world would think of the abbey if they knew. Great scandal. She would be removed as prioress. Thank goodness she has trained her superiors well with her flattery and competency, they are never here at the abbey any longer to oversee. She speaks to Goda, who explains to her some finer points of procreation by use of animal metaphors, the moment exactly at which children ripen to adults. At last, she has the whole community, over fifty nuns and eighty-one others, gather beyond the garden.

janson reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Review of 'Matrix' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

Little interior and even less respite, trading empathy for majesty. Didn't so much propel but thunder, the surf fierce against black cliffs wet with wind and rain before the dark.

DaveNash3 reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Review of 'Matrix' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I love Goff's short stories and Acadia. This wasn't as loveable. First she skips years very quickly at a summary level, telling not showing. Like in year 3 Marie did X, in year 5 Marie did Y. Goff applied the same technique in What Time Is Mr. Wolf, which I didn't think was here best either. Second, she is writing about Catholic nuns, but it is clear she doesn't care about the religious aspect. In Acadia, the hippie community was of interest to the writer at least there were aspects that you could tell she found compelling. The religious aspect in Arcadia was more personal and less judgmental. Third, there's just a distance with the primary character, I don't know if the time skipping or the repeated use of her name, Marie, Marie, Marie, but I don't feel close.

Kat Trigarszky reviewed Matrix by Lauren Groff

Review of 'Matrix' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

I had no expectations when I started reading this book and knew nothing about it beyond it being historical fiction by Lauren Groff.
And it proved to be an utter joy to read the story of Marie and her life at the abbey. The lyricism of Lauren Groff’s writing is undeniable and sweeps you along as she tells this stunning tale of a young woman cast out from the royal court.
The cast of nuns she shares the abbey with are a joy and you cannot help but be caught up in their lives.