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A review by loverofeels
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
i kind of have no idea how to rate this?
on the one hand, middlesex has exquisite writing, wonderfully fleshed out characters, and an unforgettable narrator.
on the other hand, i found the entire first half of this book psychologically disturbing, and a little bit boring.
the amount of this book that is dedicated to describing incest love stories is perhaps necessary, and perhaps well-written, but also extremely unpleasant for me to read.
i also felt a little bit cheated when i got to the end: for so much of the book, the glimpses of cal's adult life were what kept me motivated to keep reading, only for me to find that we don't get to see beyond those glimpses. it would have been nice to get a little less desdemona and milton and a lot more cal.
it's been a while since i read a book that immersed me so fully that i actually felt lonely upon finishing it, though. and i can absolutely see why it might be a modern great american novel—this is a book about which i actually want to have a class discussion.
in spite of it all, it feels criminal to give middlesex less than 4 stars.
on the one hand, middlesex has exquisite writing, wonderfully fleshed out characters, and an unforgettable narrator.
on the other hand, i found the entire first half of this book psychologically disturbing, and a little bit boring.
the amount of this book that is dedicated to describing incest love stories is perhaps necessary, and perhaps well-written, but also extremely unpleasant for me to read.
i also felt a little bit cheated when i got to the end: for so much of the book, the glimpses of cal's adult life were what kept me motivated to keep reading, only for me to find that we don't get to see beyond those glimpses. it would have been nice to get a little less desdemona and milton and a lot more cal.
it's been a while since i read a book that immersed me so fully that i actually felt lonely upon finishing it, though. and i can absolutely see why it might be a modern great american novel—this is a book about which i actually want to have a class discussion.
in spite of it all, it feels criminal to give middlesex less than 4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Dementia, and Car accident