Middlesex [Jeffrey Eugenides]

Personal Rating: 9.8/10

I loved reading this book. Everything is so coherent: from the language to the story to the characters. The text is so self-aware that it effectively suspends disbelief. Also, it involves the reader in creating the story—extending it, and filling in gaps.

Middlesex touches themes such as abandonment, gender identity, love that is often stigmatized, tradition, change, and death.

There was one part though, that I thought was slightly inconsistent. But it was just a few words in a dialogue. Then again, it's not easy to incorporate accent into text (although Eugenides was successful in doing that except for that one part).

Middlesex is one of the best books I've read. It is definitely worth the read. Although this is something bigots might not enjoy.

Warning: spoilers after the jump
I love how Cal's voice is so apparent in the narration; I love how the descriptions are so un-cliché, un-flowery; I love how the love stories aren't cheesy and overly dramatic; I love the feeling of novelty of the situations the characters are put it; I love the cultural feel of it.

The deaths. The deaths are heartbreaking. I mourned the deaths. And Cal's tone as he narrates them just makes them more heartbreaking.

Cal's childhood relationships are also heartbreaking. I really rooted for those relationships to somehow find their way back into the story because I, as a reader, didn't want them to end.