Rent Middlesex

First of all, I should state that the reader, Kristoffer Tabori, is superb at capturing the European immigrant’s voice and attitude. His energetic, often humorous, reading made the many hours of listing to this very long book fly by. If there is a primary 'message' that Eugenides wanted to convey about gender it is probably that no amount of socialization being universally treated and accepted as one gender can overcome that person's pre-existing gender identity. This boy who thought he was and had always been treated as a girl was driven to what he believed were Lesbian desires because he could not alter or suppress his underlying gender identity. When you look at this central issue of the book's second half in this way, it seems that Eugenides has set up an elaborate, maybe improbable plot to make a fairly obvious point. But I think the strongest part of this book and the real reason to read it, is the hilarious and touching story of Greek immigrants and their children as*imilating into American society as best they can -- maybe not such an unusual story, but unusually well told in Middlesex.

This is one of the best audio books I have ever listened to! A combination of a fascinating story and a wonderful reader equals storytelling at it's best. This is a story rich with humor and sadness with ordinary heros.