Feeling Thought-y
Just finished reading Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. I know it was a big prize-winner and all that, but I'm still surprised at how powerful and thought-provoking it was. In fact, my whole head is now filled with thoughts-- most of which have nothing to do with the paper I'm supposed to be working on today.
It is remarkable that for a contemporary epic, where one might have once found a coming of age story, Eugenides places into that formula the coming-of-age of a hermaphorodite long unaware of his situation. Rather, it is remarkable that to do so is rarely kitchy or forced, as I would expect from such a contrivance, but rather touching and heart-wrenching. I'm going to leave it at that, I think, and stew on the rest until I'm more than ten minutes removed from the final page. Well worth reading, though.
I mentioned to bychoice during our delightful visit that although I read and write pretty much for a living these days, my connection with creative writing slips further every day. This makes me a little sad, more so every time I read a good novel. But when I sit down to write, even just to free-write, what comes out is either adolecent angsty shit or ruminations about work. Silly brain.
It is remarkable that for a contemporary epic, where one might have once found a coming of age story, Eugenides places into that formula the coming-of-age of a hermaphorodite long unaware of his situation. Rather, it is remarkable that to do so is rarely kitchy or forced, as I would expect from such a contrivance, but rather touching and heart-wrenching. I'm going to leave it at that, I think, and stew on the rest until I'm more than ten minutes removed from the final page. Well worth reading, though.
I mentioned to bychoice during our delightful visit that although I read and write pretty much for a living these days, my connection with creative writing slips further every day. This makes me a little sad, more so every time I read a good novel. But when I sit down to write, even just to free-write, what comes out is either adolecent angsty shit or ruminations about work. Silly brain.