Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

Book Club Discussion Questions for Matrix by Lauren Groff

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Matrix

by Lauren Groff
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 7, 2021, 272 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2022, 272 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this Book

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

  1. Matrix takes place in a twelfth-century abbey and explores the life of a powerful and singular figure, Marie of France, set against a rapidly changing world order. What themes in the book resonated with you as you think about the modern-day challenges we face as a society?
  2. Marie has a complex, nearly lifelong relationship with Queen Eleanor. When she meets the queen for the first time as a child, what are her impressions? How does her relationship with the queen change over the course of the book? Her feelings about Queen Eleanor are described as "terrible love." What accounts for Marie's feelings? Do you see the obsession as mutual? To what degree do these feelings shape Marie's ambitions for herself? For the abbey?
  3. One of the most significant changes Marie makes at the abbey involves shifting how the nuns do their work. Before her arrival, they were assigned the tasks at which they excelled least well, as a lesson in humility. Marie emphasizes productivity and assigns tasks on the basis of inherent skill. Consider how Marie's attitude toward work shapes life at the abbey, and what kind of change it allows for the community. How does it compare with modern views of work? What are the benefits or drawbacks of the change, as seen in the book?
  4. Marie becomes the most powerful figure at the abbey—yet she was ordered there by the queen. She is at once the most powerful and essentially powerless. How does Marie's understanding of power shift during her time at the abbey? What people or forces complicate her understanding? How does she feel about her own power after she begins having visions?
  5. Marie tells Nest that there can be no special relationships between nuns. Why does Marie believe that intimacy between individuals would threaten the abbey's goals? What other examples in the novel relate to the tension between individual expression and collective action? How does Marie herself embody these tensions?
  6. When contemplating the achievements of the Romans centuries before, Marie thinks, "Humanity must be disintegrating to dust, the people of today paltry in comparison to what they had been even a millennium before." What is Marie's view of history? What is her view of progress? What does the novel have to say about the scope of history? What can historical fiction teach us about our contemporary world?
  7. When Marie presents her idea for the labyrinth to the women she trusts, Wulfhild alone is unsupportive. Marie asks if Wulfhild does not love her and Wulfhild replies that she loves her enough to tell her that her plan is foolish. What kinds of love exist in Matrix? What is the relationship between love and devotion?
  8. Discuss the relationship between Marie and Sprota. What does the strain between them reveal about community, power, and sacrifice? What about the relationship between Marie and Wevua?
  9. What does the ending of the novel say about ambition, the value of art, and leadership? What is the legacy of Marie of France?


Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Riverhead Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book:
  Eleanor of Aquitaine

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Absolution
    Absolution
    by Jeff VanderMeer
    Ten years ago, the literary landscape was changed forever when Jeff VanderMeer became the "King of ...
  • Book Jacket: The Message
    The Message
    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    It does not surprise me that Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message is one of the most important books I've ...
  • Book Jacket
    The House of Doors
    by Tan Twan Eng
    Every July, I take on the overly ambitious goal of reading all of the novels chosen as longlist ...
  • Book Jacket: The Puzzle Box
    The Puzzle Box
    by Danielle Trussoni
    During the tumultuous last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a 17-year-old emperor known as Meiji ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

It is among the commonplaces of education that we often first cut off the living root and then try to replace its ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.