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ahynes1's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed Middlesex by Eugenides so I thought I’d give this book a shot. The blurb talks about wised up college kids in the early 1980s inhaling Derrida and listening to the Talking Heads. It sounded a bit like what I wished my college days were like if I hadn’t of been that messed up neurospicy kid with a challenging childhood, interested in religion, and without anyone to relate to.
Yet as I got to know the characters, I found they were exactly the folks I feel connected to, the science student with mental illness, the student who goes on a religious journey, and they almost too perfect young woman they are both attracted to. The parts about reading A Lover’s Discourse on Cape Cod was an added plus for me. I didn’t even realize that was it’s own subgenre until I read Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
I enjoyed hanging out with these characters, if even just in a novel and I hope to find more people like them in my literary explorations.
Yet as I got to know the characters, I found they were exactly the folks I feel connected to, the science student with mental illness, the student who goes on a religious journey, and they almost too perfect young woman they are both attracted to. The parts about reading A Lover’s Discourse on Cape Cod was an added plus for me. I didn’t even realize that was it’s own subgenre until I read Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl
I enjoyed hanging out with these characters, if even just in a novel and I hope to find more people like them in my literary explorations.
gigi_lehman's review against another edition
3.0
SPOILERS AT END OF REVIEW! So hard to rate this one. It's one of the few books I ever wanted to abandon, but I wanted to find out how it ended. I am glad I stuck with it because the last chapter or so redeemed the entire book. It's hard for me to enjoy a book when I so thoroughly dislike most of the characters, and there was too much sex for me to really be comfortable with. The "marriage plot" conceit seemed tacked on, as well. Madeleine Hannah is one of the most unlikeable female characters in all of literature, and I lacked sympathy for Leonard as well, though I felt guilty about it. I, too, graduated from college in 1982, but I never saw the self-absorption evidenced by the characters in this book -- probably because I was at a state university and not an Ivy League school. But the end was redeemed for me by the startling clarity of the insights about marriage, love and faith. And I can't stop thinking about Madeleiene, Leonard and Mitchell.
In an interview at the end of the audio version I listened to, Eugenides was asked if he had considered wriitng more about his characters, like John Updike did with the Rabbit series. He said that they are the only characters he might consider doing that with. If he did, I might even read it.
In an interview at the end of the audio version I listened to, Eugenides was asked if he had considered wriitng more about his characters, like John Updike did with the Rabbit series. He said that they are the only characters he might consider doing that with. If he did, I might even read it.
glorianna_reads's review against another edition
1.0
Yawn. I almost quit reading twice. I didn’t care for any of the characters. Was it a good piece of writing? Yeah but also literally the most boring shit I’ve ever read. Also, the interview on NPR with the author was as boring.
kshalyn's review against another edition
2.0
Ha, I saw Whitney on here reviewed this as called it "a lot of beige" sooooo true. I kept for waiting for the point. I didn't love Madeleine, I couldn't get invested into it. I like Mitchell Grammaticus's story but it kept making me think - what is the point?
bneenos's review against another edition
2.0
While this book was perfectly good, and I was able to finish it, I only read it because I listened to an NPR interview with the author and it sounded so interesting. And it was. But why on earth would anyone read this book, when they could read YA? My foray into adult lit pretty much ends here. Holy insufferable characters - whiny, self-involved, just plain selfish, and too intelligent to call a spade a spade. I liked them by the end (well, okay, I tolerated them by the end). I think the biggest appeal was the "lit crit" essence of the story. I guess it was good if you like this sort of thing...
catherine_thegreat's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
farbeavis's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book, but wasn't in love with it. It didn't have the depth that Middlesex had and didn't make me think as much, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but I went into the book expecting great things. I liked how much of the dialogue, inner thoughts, and actions between the couple were very realistic. It was a fun read, but didn't blow me away and didn't take me away from my own life as much as I like a novel to. Being an English major, I did appreciate many of the references and it was a nice throwback to remembering how large and possible life feels just after college.
laurrra's review against another edition
3.0
UPDATE: It felt smartly constructed, like the plot was solid even if the characters were, at times, tiresome. The writing was fine, but there were few (no?) instances where I wanted to read, re-read, and re-re-read a passage because it was so good/thoughtful. The plot seemed appropriate for the length, but the evolution of each character felt tedious. Then again, maybe that's more mirrors life in that people don't change all that much and the author was driving that point home!
Just got a 10 week temporary DC library card and requested several books that weren't available in the library. This was on a shelf of popular reads that included Gone Girl, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and several others that I liked in the past so I grabbed it.
Just got a 10 week temporary DC library card and requested several books that weren't available in the library. This was on a shelf of popular reads that included Gone Girl, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and several others that I liked in the past so I grabbed it.
teariffic1's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, dear. I devoured this book and loved it. It has nothing serious in it: it’s a story about love and what love is to rich white people living unrealistic lives. Somehow, though, I loved it anyways, because it was a fairy tale — and don’t all fairy tales have a little nugget of truth in them? Mental illness in Leonard, obsessive love and beauty in Maddy, pure goodness and religious confusion in Mitchell. I related so deeply to how Maddy talks about love — how, to her, love is achingly lonely and all-encompassing and dangerous. And Mitchell, too, in his shame and purity. I want to hold this book inside of me forever. I loved the gratuitous academic discussions contained within the book, clearly an excuse for the author to air his own philosophical thoughts. How silly. How fun.
kellybelleb's review against another edition
4.0
At times when I was reading this book, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. Did I like it? Hate it? Love it? Indifferent toward it? I actually went through periods of all of those while reading it. But there came a point where all of a sudden I was really interested in figuring out what was going on with these characters and what would happen to them in the end that I really started to enjoy it.
Part of what took me time to get used to was Eugenides' writing style, which is in sections rather than chapters. There isn't always a very clear breaking point in huge parts of the book, which can be frustrating. I also disliked the way that he would jump time frames within sentences and found that it took a bit of time for me to get used to the rythem of his writing. Once I realized that this was a book better read in large periods of time than when I had a few spare minutes, I found myself getting more into it.
If you've liked his previous stuff, read it. If you're a bookie and lit snob, read it. If you're looking for something fast paced that will grab your attention from the start, this book probably isn't for you.
Part of what took me time to get used to was Eugenides' writing style, which is in sections rather than chapters. There isn't always a very clear breaking point in huge parts of the book, which can be frustrating. I also disliked the way that he would jump time frames within sentences and found that it took a bit of time for me to get used to the rythem of his writing. Once I realized that this was a book better read in large periods of time than when I had a few spare minutes, I found myself getting more into it.
If you've liked his previous stuff, read it. If you're a bookie and lit snob, read it. If you're looking for something fast paced that will grab your attention from the start, this book probably isn't for you.