Middlesex

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

In reading this book, I took a step out of the fantasy genre for a minute, and entered into the realm of realistic fiction. I found Cal to be a multi-faceted, relatable character, and was very interested in how the story unfolded.

I appreciated the author's use of his personal experiences of using a Greek family, and the setting the story in Detroit. These both were painted very vividly and gave the story some real shape and texture for Cal to emerge from. And some of my favorite parts were the glimpses into Cal's current life, and seeing how the experiences of his youth both shaped and paralleled what he was experiencing as an adult was a great storytelling device.

Parts were unexpectedly funny, others were unexpectedly sad or upsetting, and because of this the book felt like a truly human story. We are not all good, bad, happy or sad, but a mix. And our main character's ability to stay authentic to himself while continuing to search and grow into who that was is a great reminder of what it means to be ourselves.