Reviewing the novel in the "Roswell Daily Record", American journalist Christopher Lehmann-Haupt called "The Marriages" one of Lessing's more accessible books because, in his opinion, her tendency to philosophise works better in fantasy than in other formats. Author Lucille deView was more critical of book. Writing for "The Christian Science Monitor", she complained that "The Marriages" is not as romantic a novel as it could have been. She said that the fate of the book's mismatched lovers did not interest her and that their love came across as forced instead of passionate. What could have been an emotionally charged romance became "a calculated intellectual game". DeView also criticised Lessing's characters, saying that they "have the familiarity of childhood fairy tales with a little Walt Disney thrown in".