Audiobook Review: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Title: Middlesex
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Narrator: Kristoffer Tabori
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Edition: Unabridged
Duration: 21 hours, 15 minutes
Summary: (taken from Goodreads)

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal." 

So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Middlesex is a story about Calliope, who was raised female, but turns out to actually be a male. Told from a first person perspective, this story spans three generations of the Stephanides' family and is absolutely engaging. The prose is beautiful, the characters are a joy to get to know, and I love Cal's personality. It shines through the narration and almost gives a better picture of who Cal is than the story does. (This isn't a bad thing.) I truly enjoyed listening to this novel and liked it far more than I expected I would.

I did think that it was overly long. On the one hand, I loved getting all the background information about Cal's parents and grandparents. But I really do think it took up far too much time. One of my favorite things about this book was the depth Eugenides gave to story and characters; however, some of the things about Cal's parents and grandparents just didn't seem important to the overall story. This frustrated me, because while interesting, I still wanted to get to the point of the story: Cal.

When the time came for Cal's story, I was completely engrossed. His search for identity is dramatic and terrifying in all the ways it should be. And I LOVED the romance between him and "The Object." I thought that was a brilliant story to add to the larger narrative. Like Cal, I found myself wishing that I knew what happened to her.

I can see why this audiobook has won awards -- it is fantastic. Tabori puts life and vitality into the story and every character's dialogue. I even enjoyed the music tracks! I'm not usually the sort of person who likes music in her audiobooks, but I think that the way it was done in Middlesex was perfect. It wasn't there all the time, and it was subtly done. It helped to shift the tone between different parts of the story, which I found clever. While I don't think Middlesex would be any less good in print, the audiobook is certainly a pleasure to listen to, even considering its length.

Audiobook Review: The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

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Title: The Prince of Mist
Author: Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Publisher: BBC Audiobooks America
Narrator: Jonathan Davis
Duration: 5 hours 6 minutes
Summary: (Taken from Goodreads)

A mysterious house harbors an unimaginable secret . . .

It’s wartime, and the Carver family decides to leave the capital where they live and move to a small coastal village where they’ve recently bought a home. But from the minute they cross the threshold, strange things begin to happen. In that mysterious house there still lurks the spirit of Jacob, the previous owners’ son, who died by drowning.

With the help of their new friend Roland, Max and Alicia Carver begin to explore the suspicious circumstances of that death and discover the existence of a mysterious being called The Prince of Mist— a diabolical character who has returned from the shadows to collect on a debt from the past. Soon the three friends will find themselves caught up in an adventure of sunken ships and an enchanted stone garden, which will change their lives forever.

Overall Rating: 3/5

This book isn't bad. It's certainly very creepy and the storyline was enough to keep me wanting to know more. However, readers (or listeners!) should be aware that this is no Shadow of the Wind. You can definitely tell that this is his first book. The setting is somewhat vague and there are far too many coincidences in the book. Max's parents just happen to be gone for most of the novel, and of course that's exactly when trouble arises. I think it would have been much more interesting if they had been there, but that's just me. Also, there are a lot of issues left unresolved and many points in the story when I was confused because things just weren't explained very well.

However, it is undoubtedly a creepy, chilling book. With evil clowns, clocks and watches that freak out and start going backwards, a haunted garden, and a sunken ship, there are plenty of things to give you a chill. The storyline is also interesting and I liked the characters. I didn't relate to them as completely as I could have, but I did relate to them. There is also a lot of mystery involved, and I was certainly surprised when a certain mystery was revealed (I'm not telling!).

I've mentioned before that I don't like music in my audiobooks. This one wasn't too bad. I felt better about the music because it's mentioned that the author himself composed and performed it. However, the sound effects (yes, sound effects!) were a bit too much. Some people may like it, but it's just not for me. When the narrator mentions the door opening, I don't need the sound of an opening door to amplify the words -- it kind of interrupts the story, in my opinion. However, Jonathan Davis is a BRILLIANT narrator and I would gladly listen to another book narrated by him.

Conclusion: It's an okay book. Not a necessary read, but one that's fairly enjoyable.