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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First off, I probably would have given this book five star but for the fact there was just a little too much whining in it. But other than that, I really enjoyed this book. Caveat: I graduated from college the same year the characters in book did. And, if I was smarter and had a more screwed up family history, they could be me. Or maybe not.
But anyway, the book was pretty fun and not just in a nostalgic way. I found the characters interesting and yet believable. And I thought the writing to be quite good. In particular, the writing where the author is describing the mania of Leonard is quite harrowing.
But anyway, the book was pretty fun and not just in a nostalgic way. I found the characters interesting and yet believable. And I thought the writing to be quite good. In particular, the writing where the author is describing the mania of Leonard is quite harrowing.
I was hoping for another "Middlesex" and while I'm not sure it lives up to all of the hype (my reading list is, after all, a compilation of magazine "must reads" and "shit I should have read that before college" titles), I was entertained. I'm also a fan of unhappy endings. You go Jeffrey.
this novel was highly readable, but i finished with the sense that i gained nothing across its four hundred pages but some brief entertainment and a mild to moderate annoyance.
let’s start with the fact that madeleine, our main character, is insufferable. it seems to me that eugenides has a horrid understanding of women and who they are and how they function. his attempt at a female perspective read like it was written by a man raised in a household of men, with only brothers and a single father, who only has a pornographic sense of womanness, and tried to fill in the rest with vague guesswork. not only does madeleine feel like a caricature, her sister does too (as the nagging feminazi), her mother (as the old crone), a brief appearance by claire (as another nagging feminazi)... the list goes on. not to mention mitchell’s tonally-#NotAllMen rants that, frankly, had me rolling my eyes.
secondly, though i appreciated his interpolation of a character’s mental illness, and his relatively objective, non-stigmatizing reports, the effect he aimed for was offset by madeleine’s constant judgments and worries, as if at any moment the mentally ill character would produce a knife and stab her.
hmm. do i have anything good to say about this? (pretty sure the only reason i won’t one-star this is because of my reticence to give anything one star.) (oh! no. just kidding. i liked the literary bent the beginning took on, as the characters were in semiotics classes—i love academic novels—but then it had to go and become just about their dumb love lives.)
let’s start with the fact that madeleine, our main character, is insufferable. it seems to me that eugenides has a horrid understanding of women and who they are and how they function. his attempt at a female perspective read like it was written by a man raised in a household of men, with only brothers and a single father, who only has a pornographic sense of womanness, and tried to fill in the rest with vague guesswork. not only does madeleine feel like a caricature, her sister does too (as the nagging feminazi), her mother (as the old crone), a brief appearance by claire (as another nagging feminazi)... the list goes on. not to mention mitchell’s tonally-#NotAllMen rants that, frankly, had me rolling my eyes.
secondly, though i appreciated his interpolation of a character’s mental illness, and his relatively objective, non-stigmatizing reports, the effect he aimed for was offset by madeleine’s constant judgments and worries, as if at any moment the mentally ill character would produce a knife and stab her.
hmm. do i have anything good to say about this? (pretty sure the only reason i won’t one-star this is because of my reticence to give anything one star.) (oh! no. just kidding. i liked the literary bent the beginning took on, as the characters were in semiotics classes—i love academic novels—but then it had to go and become just about their dumb love lives.)
This book is such a pleasure. I gobbled the easy poetry of the language and the infuriating, complex and all-too-human characters. The Marriage Plot cemented Eugenides as one of my favorites. Middlesex is near the top of my list and I am so excited !
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt
Youch. First half so funny and exactly like Iowa, except for the Brown particulars. Second half so different.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
