Unabridged Audiobook
Great writing. I did not want it to end. The characters realistic and the story is one we can all relate with.
I really liked this book. As previous reviewers have said, it does take concentration and you have to like the deviations from the main story but I actually did like them. The characters are all flawed which makes it very much more realistic and it was not remotely the standard love story which also pleased me. Unexpected ending worked very well too. I did not get all the literary references but I am not very educated in literature. I am sure they would be very much enjoyed by English majors or people who read a lot of literary fiction.
This book was WAY too long and seemed to spend too much time on extraneous details and not enough time on character development (especially the main character). I also found the narrator's "impersonation" of female voices to be grating, which took its toll after 15 hours. There were several times I was about to give up on the book, but then the author would come up with some creative twist to keep me interested. I'm glad I finished it, but think I would have a more pleasant memory of it if it were not so laborious to get through.
first, this was a great audio book, the narrator was excellent. i had to read this for a book club and might not have finished it if it hadnt been for that, there were moments that lagged and i felt i couldnt stand it anymore. often clever parts would pull me right back in, like a roller coaster ride. the author is an amazing writer, i love his style and enjoyed middlesex immensely so i appreciate his effort. he has a straight forward way of writing that is refreshing. to me though, i struggled with the characters at times and their development. often i didnt like them (not always a bad thing) but they were annoying at times. overall i am glad i read it and stuck through to the end, it will be a great book to discuss at a book club meeting.
This is not just some mushy love story. You can tell the author is very intelligent and has a deep understanding (and love) of literature, because he constantly references other books and authors. I would say it is educated reading. I enjoyed it, although it did seem a little boring at times... But overall a very researched and intense fictional story. I'm glad it didn't end the way I expected.
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