Middlesex
Finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides last week. It was recommended to me by several close friends. I enjoyed it a lot. The author makes believable some pretty outlandish things (eat your heart out, John Irving), and he treats his characters with tenderness and realism.
Typically, I don’t go in for the multi-generational, historical epic, but recently I’ve begun to dig them (started with East of Eden, which I adored).
Moreover, this one deals with some themes that don’t typically grab me: sexual identity, the immigrant story, and the “American Dream” to name a few. But it’s a testament to Eugenides style that I kept reading and wound up enjoying it quite a lot.
I’m not sure if I’ll read his other famous novel, The Virgin Suicides, or not. I’ve seen the movie, which was okay, and no one has recommended the novel yet. We’ll see.
