"Big, funny, flamboyantly imaginative...as warmhearted as it is unpredicatable"

I think Middlesex is the best novel I have read in years. I loved the characters. I cared about them. The story was interesting and unpredictable.

Here's the English major speaking out. Eugenides beautifully combines three huge themes, Greek Mythology, modern American immigration and sexual identity. That's a big order.

The fact that two of our "main characters" flee from Greece to America to escape war in their country their lives are similar to a classic myth storyline. It takes on a grandness. It's this huge sad tale but it's also happening to a bother and sistern named Lefty and Desdemona. How many Greek gods are named Lefty? There's always a humorous twist.

Eugenides tells a story which could have been a huge Greek tradegy but instead the story curves and bends so it is more comedy. Again and again he creates situations which should have been devestating to his characters but they pull through in their own "wacky" way.

He describes the Detroit race riots where neighborhoods became war zones. Milton lives for days in his Zebra Room restaurant to protect his property, gun in hand and ready to use it. After several days of not knowing what is happening to her father his daughther, Calliope, hops on her bike to save him. Inspired by all the Hercules action hero movies she was encouraged to watch, this action made the most sense.

Father and daughter are reunited. The restaurant is burned down in the riot. But...

"Shameful as it is to say, the riots were the best thing that ever happened to us. Overnight we went from being a family desperately trying to stay in the middle class to one with hopes of sneaking into the upper, or at least the upper-middle."

The family had bought 4 fire insurance policies on the restaurant. Two paid out. Now they had the money to move into a better neighborhood, Grosse Point. And buy their dream home "Middlesex". You see this book really isn't about sexual identity, it's just the name of this strange house in Grosse Point. Just kidding!

I'm finding it really hard to write about this book because every time I go back to read another page I find another little gem or plot twist I forgot.

I still really hate the cover design!


More later...