Fates and Furies is, first of all, a good read. Lauren Groff is a brilliant wordsmith, lending poetic phases to her stories. They could be about the simplest things and entertain you. So it is with this novel, except there is a twist, it is two stories. The first story (Fates) is about Lott, a lovable guy, smart, but always out of place among peers. Acting is where he feels comfortable, but acting is not comfortable with him. He’s just too thin and too tall. But creating the words for actors is where he finds his footing and becomes a successful playwright. His life with his wife Mathilde and the few friends of theirs is the basis of the book. There are not many characters to track.

It is the second story (Furies) fills in the blanks about Mathilde. It is her story and there are many blanks to fill in although the reader of Fates would never suspect it.

There are a few sections that seem unneeded. One about Lotto and a young man at a writer’s colony could be dropped with no impact on the story. The author bio notes that Groff attended a writer’s colony and one wonders if that compelled her to write about one, needless as it might have been to the story.

I recommend if you want fine words to entertain you for a while.