now THIS is one i've been meaning to get around to for an age…… read and loved middlesex when i was 17 and then promptly forgot to read anything else by him. devoured this one intwo days because if it is anything, it is readable! the neat and efficient mechanics of his prose make it difficult to stop once you've started; he has an undeniable mastery of pacing from what i've seen of his work.

the attempts to separate the lisbon girls from the fantasies of the narrators fall a little short, but they're certainly there and certainly prevent a lazy romance from permeating the narrative. abjection comes close on the heels of every daydream; the girls' ordinariness makes valiant appearances from time to time. i think the book did all it could considering who was telling the story. what i remember most are scents, which were so important to this novel. he's got a grasp of scents! they were visceral and ranged from pleasant to totally revolting….. i think this was one of the key tools to dismantling the fantasy and i think he used it well!