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July 23
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Denis
marked as to-read:
Geek Love: A Novel (Paperback)
by Katherine Dunn
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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July 22
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Denis
gave
to:
The Oil Painting Course You've Always Wanted: Guided Lessons for Beginners and Experienced Artists (Paperback)
by Kathleen Staiger
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Denis said:
"Excellent!
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Denis
gave
to:
Middlesex (Paperback)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Denis said:
"It's interesting to see how this books' appeal varies so much. And strangely, I understand and agree with everyone.
At first, given the subject matter (A girl discovers at the age of 14 that she's actually a boy, an hermaphrodite.), I expected t...more
It's interesting to see how this books' appeal varies so much. And strangely, I understand and agree with everyone.
At first, given the subject matter (A girl discovers at the age of 14 that she's actually a boy, an hermaphrodite.), I expected the novel to be much edgier and darker than what it is. Had Eugenides concentrated on the latter part of the story, he could have easily gone there with something tighter and more evocative. But instead he's created a long saga that recounts the lives of three generations of Stephanides, an immigrant family who leave Turkey to settle in Detroit, Michigan, then finally concentrates on the main character, Callian/Cal, the narrator.
The narrative toggles its point of view, throughout. It bounces from 1st person POV, to sometimes, limited 3rd person when recounting some of his life as a girl, to multiple 3rd person when getting up close to various characters, to omniscient POV to help in telling his grand story. That probably sounds messy, but it worked very well for this reader.
There's a casualness, and wistfulness, and charm, to Callian/Cal, the narrator, with many endearing moments in her/his story. The telling often comes across matter-of-factly, yet playfully as if s/he's saying, 'Life is but a story, we all have a story, and here is mine...'.
So no, not edgy and dark, but a long epic novel that's a good read if you're not in a hurry. I loved it....less
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Denis
read and liked
Jason Pettus's
review of Middlesex:
"(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred ...more
(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)
The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classics" for the first time, then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label
Book #15: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)
The story in a nutshell:
The tale of "the most famous hermaphrodite in history," Middlesex is the second and latest novel by Greek-American Midwesterner Jeffrey Eugenides, his first being the cult hit (and eventual Sophia Coppola movie) The Virgin Suicides. And indeed, both of these things about Eugenides should be noted in this case, because the book is not just about a hermaphrodite who is "discovered" by a pop psychologist at the height of the "let it all hang out" 1970s (hence being the most "famous" hermaphrodite in history), but a Greek-American hermaphrodite who grew up just outside of Detroit, Michigan, one who grew up as a normal girl and never suspected anything different about herself when younger, due to an aging pediatrician her family was too loyal to stop going to during Calliope/Cal's childhood. As such, then, the vast majority of the book is not about Cal at all, but rather the two generations of Greeks and then Greek-Americans who led her/him to the place where she/he now is; from Cal's grandparents who just happened to be brother and sister as well, a fact conveniently hidden by the two of them during their rushed emigration to America during the Greece/Turkey border wars of the 1920s, to Cal's parents as well, who happen to be cousins themselves and who grew up as best friends in Detroit in the 1940s and '50s. After tackling the adulthoods of both these generations, then, and all the Forrest Gumpesque historical/narrative coincidences that happen in their lives (Detroit race riots! Turk invasions!), Eugenides finally gets around to telling Cal's unique story, and of the way she eventually morphed into a he during her/his tumultuous puberty in '70s San Francisco.
The argument for it being a classic:
Well, you can't argue with results, Middlesex's fans say; this did win the 2002 Pulitzer Freaking Prize, after all, considered by many to be the most prestigious literary award on the planet, not to mention the more important honor of being picked a few years later for the Blessed and Glorious Oprah's Book Club Hallowed Be Her Name Amen. And it's easy to see why once you read the book, its fans say -- because Eugenides has a naturally clear yet engaging writing style, telling funny and sad stories that many people can relate to but always in a highly original way. The signs are clear that this will eventually be considered a classic anyway, fans claim, so we might as well start treating it like one now.
The argument against:
Now, there's a much different argument to be spelled out by this book's critics; they'll claim that Middlesex is actually two novels mashed together, with it being obvious that Eugenides started by writing a tight, inventive, very delightful 150-page novel about the hermaphrodite main character him/herself, currently serving as the last 150 pages of this 550-page book. Ah, but then someone like Eugenides' agent or publicist must've said something like, "Jeff, baby, we can't sell this as a potential Pulitzer winner if it's only 150 pages! And hey, don't you know how hot quirky epic novels about the immigrant experience are these days? So why don't you, I don't know, tack another 400 pages onto the beginning of this, 400 pages that have absolutely nothing to do with your original novel but is instead a sitcom-worthy look at the utterly stereotypical lives of the generations that came before the hermaphrodite, a story so hackneyed and obvious that we might as well retitle the book My Big Fat Greek Film-Rights Paycheck? Yeah, that's the ticket!" And thus do you end up with this mishmash of a trainwreck, the critics say, something not quite a clever magical-realism tale for the hipsters and not quite a heartwarming family tale for the Oprah mouthbreathers, that only won the Pulitzer in the first place because of the political correctness of the Millennial years.
My verdict:
So first let me admit that I had no idea this book had been written in 2002, until I sat down to actually read it; there's been so many amazing things said about it in the last few years, after all, I had mistakenly assumed that it was 40 or 50 years old at this point, a mistake I won't be repeating in the future. And indeed, this is why those who love "classics" lists love them with such an intensity, and why the most important criterion for all these lists seems to be whether the book has stood the test of time; because just to use today's book as an example, in this case the critics are right, with it hard to tell if this book didn't get the accolades it did simply because the academic community in the late 1990s and early 2000s was searching so desperately at the time for weighty family sagas about the immigrant experience, written by people of color with immigrant backgrounds who just happened to have academic cred (which Eugenides has -- he's a literature professor at Princeton, just like our old friend Joyce Carol Oates).
In 50 years, will people look back on books like this one and sadly shake their heads, asking each other, "What were all those PC freaks at the turn of the century thinking, anyway?" It's hard to answer a question like that right now, a mere half a decade since the book came out in the first place (although I have a strong suspicion what the answer will eventually be); and this is why books that are less than 30 or 40 years old generally are not considered for such classics lists, because it's simply impossible to gauge ahead of time how well they will stand up over the decades. It's why I'm giving Middlesex today a definitive "no" to the question of whether it's a classic, and even warning readers that it's not a very good novel in general either, especially for a Pulitzer winner. A real disappointment today, probably my biggest since starting this essay series back in January.
Is it a classic? No ...less
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July 13
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Denis
read and liked
Cendri's
review of The Left Hand of Darkness:
"I've become rather bitter with sci-fi over the years, as it used to be my favorite genre. But you can only read so many space operas and pretentious near futures before it gets to you a little.
And then you decide to give an author a go because of...more
I've become rather bitter with sci-fi over the years, as it used to be my favorite genre. But you can only read so many space operas and pretentious near futures before it gets to you a little.
And then you decide to give an author a go because of some weird research string you were on... and it rekindles your love of why you started reading it in the first place.
LeGuin approaches sci-fi as it should be; a thought experiment. Instead of spending pages upon pages describing the minutiae of every aspect of the future, she integrates snippets of mythology, politics, and does it in a way that you don't feel is droning on.
There are parts that aren't very action oriented at all, and yet, they don't drag. I have no idea how she does it and am now rather enamored with this author.
As for the book itself, it approaches more than the simple issue of gender; it's almost zen-like, with an exploration of a duality in a whole. And the main character was the type a cranky sap like me could really relate to.
Best book I've read in a long while. ...less
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Denis
marked as to-read:
The Left Hand of Darkness (Mass Market Paperback)
by Ursula K. Le Guin
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
add my review
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July 11
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New comment on Denis's review of
Living with the Truth
(see all 2 comments)
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July 06
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New comment on Martin's review of
Disgrace (Penguin Essential Edition)
reply to this comment
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July 03
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Denis
marked as to-read:
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories (Hardcover)
by Tobias Wolff
bookshelves:
to-read
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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July 02
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Denis
gave
to:
Living with the Truth (Paperback)
by Jim Murdoch (Goodreads author!)
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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recommended to Denis by:
Carrie
Denis said:
"Living with the Truth is an existential look into an almost spent, middle-aged man’s life. Jonathan Payne, encouraged by the often annoying, all-knowing cynic, and yet endearing Mr. Truth, is forced to re-examine his past and present, to see if his...more
Living with the Truth is an existential look into an almost spent, middle-aged man’s life. Jonathan Payne, encouraged by the often annoying, all-knowing cynic, and yet endearing Mr. Truth, is forced to re-examine his past and present, to see if his life has indeed been well spent.
There is sarcasm, a little buffoonery, and wit to the voice and feel of this story. I was reminded, a little, of Beckett’s Waiting For Godot. At first, I was a little wary and was expecting a story drenched with introspection and navel gazing. But, no. Jim Murdoch takes a potentially heavy topic, man’s death, creates a potentially mawkish antagonist, Mr. Truth, and with humour, skill, and tenderness, he pulls if off quite nicely.
On a philosophical/existential level, the reader may, or may not buy into the mystical or quasi-religious aspects of the world Jim Murdoch creates, but it’s a well crafted world and a good read. I’m looking forward to the sequel.
...less
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¡ POETRY !
— 873 members
— last activity 3 hours, 56 min ago
Salut la belle Katherine! Now, I must figure out how this site works...
Bonjour, ma petit chou!
