In 2014 I read Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Why 3 stars? I'm not going to lie, there are some things Eugenides does extremely extremely well. However, he often peppers these profound moments with heavy-handed foreshadowing - and for me this pepper became irksome after a while, regardless of whether or not was in keeping with the authorial voice of the novel's precocious narrator.
So, while he's no doubt adept at writing the American generational epic, he is grappling with a form already perfected by Steinbeck...
...Essentially, I think I am saying I should not have read this novel so soon after East of Eden. Because I find myself wondering how Steinbeck would have handled the story of Callie turned Cal -- and I think I would have found Steinbeck's telling more immersive.
This is likely my own fault more so than Eugenides'.