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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
I tried three times to get into this book...once via audiobooks and twice via traditional book. It felt too much like work...so I am reshelving it.
Growing up where I did, Detroit has long been a huge cultural reference point for me, and I really enjoyed how it was used as a back drop for this story. I'd heard a lot of that history from my grandparents and their friends, and it was super well written and represented here. I also really liked the immigration/multigenerational stories.
At first, the narrative style was a bit jarring: first person narration of events and feelings about which the author could not have known, switching suddenly to present tense, even while narrating past events, for no apparent reason. After awhile, the style became natural. He narrates events as if describing the actions on a movie scene, which at times makes them exciting and immediate, but at times it also becomes obtrusive, strained. Some of the content was a little too V.C. Andrewesque for me, the historical manipulation a little Forest Gumpesque. But, on the whole, a very good novel - - one that seized my attention from the very first paragraph and (largely) held it through the massive length of the book. The characters were alive, well-developed, unique, quirky, although I cared far more about that narrator's family than the narrator himself. This is the story of a hermaphrodite born to an inbred Greek Orthodox American family, but, ultimately, it is the story of America itself, weaving history in at every turn. However, like most modern stories of "America itself", it dispense with a rather large sector of America, those who live and labor and die in normalcy.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
sad
tense
medium-paced
This is one of my top five favorite books of all time. It came to me in a dire time, I had just finished the first Twilight book and was in a disgusted reading funk. And I read Middlesex and rejoiced.
I love the story of the family through the generations. The characters are real and well-developed. The anecdotes are amusing. I don't really know what to write except— GO READ IT NOW!! Every friend I've ever recommended to read it has loved it.
I love the story of the family through the generations. The characters are real and well-developed. The anecdotes are amusing. I don't really know what to write except— GO READ IT NOW!! Every friend I've ever recommended to read it has loved it.
a great family saga with a captivating narrative voice!
A modern Greek tragedy in the truest sense. Middlesex is a profound read for anyone, but in particular, any Greek-American that fails to read this book is doing themselves a serious disservice. The story, so vividly written, so intricate and heart-breaking in its plot, is full of ideas, lessons to learn, characters to relate to. I really can't remember feeling quite so intensely sympathetic and as close to a character as Callie/Cal since reading the Of Human Bondage in my emotionally heady college years.
This is an original tale of a hermaphrodite with a complicated genetic history. It is a family saga covering several decades and three generations, moving from Greece to Detroit to Michigan. The novel provides the reader some of the basics of the science concerning intersex persons. Many thought-provoking observations are made about gender and identity.
The narrative, told in Cal's voice, is full of humour and feels very genuine. I found it to be an enlightening story about a subject that western society unfortunately still finds very uncomfortable.
The narrative, told in Cal's voice, is full of humour and feels very genuine. I found it to be an enlightening story about a subject that western society unfortunately still finds very uncomfortable.