You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

5.3k reviews for:

Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides

4.14 AVERAGE

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated

This was *a lot* of book, both in volume and in subject matter. It was mostly engaging, and the narrative style kept things light at times when they could have gotten heavy. But it was a long and slow read, essentially three books in one, covering three generations of the family. The storyline would wander off on long, descriptive tangents to the point where I forgot what I had just been reading. The “big terrible secret” of the book that bothered some readers didn’t really bother me. It was just a part of the story. 

This was a book group pick I would not have chosen for myself, but it was an ok read, and there will certainly be a lot to discuss. In my mad scramble to finish before the book group meeting, I listened to some chapters on audiobook, and the narrator was quite good. 
adventurous challenging funny reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I appreciate what the book had to say about gender identity but it was too long and I didn't find the story particularly interesting. 

Far more complex than The Virgin Suicides... and not in a good way. A fantastic premise with unlimited potential, but slowly grows tedious and disorganized as the narrative unfolds. Just a little over halfway through, it stopped holding my attention. When a book starts out this well, I usually plod through the swampy parts. Too much plodding with no promise of exiting swampland, though, and I give up. If anyone feels they can convince me to give it another go, you're welcome to try.

4.5 stars
Dislikes: a bit of a mismatch with the first and second parts but I liked them both so it didn’t necessarily take away from it
I love a lot of things about this book, maybe I’ll add to that thought another time…
Likes: themes (immigration, historical fiction, intersex/lgbtqia+ history), the I is often forgotten within the acronym and I enjoyed reading a story about it
Within the context of when this book was written and taken into account that the author is not a member of the community in any way, I loved it and it’s well done
Author also wrote virgin suicides
challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced
emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

An amazing read covering the intersection of sexual and gender identity. Literally so interesting and the use of the environment in the story telling was phenomenal. 
emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes