ameliayawen 's review for:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

4.0

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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An interesting read. Too long in my opinion - beginning and ending were strong but the middle section sagged. Cal was a sympathetic narrator and I liked the way information was dropped at long intervals throughout the book, helped the novel as a whole feel more cohesive. A few niggling things I didn’t clear up -

(why was Cal’s brother only referred to Chapter Eleven? How did Cal end up in Berlin? What happened to the Object when Cal moved back, and why never refer to her by name but clearly identify brother, friends, etc?)

these made the ending feel slightly dissatisfying to me as I had expected them to be cleared up. But I liked the way that Cal operated as a narrator, a kind of fluid and omniscient abstract which gave the novel a unique feel.