Two new books reviewed!

I've been a reading manic lately. Both books are exceptional reads. One was quick (for me), the other not so quick but well worth sticking with.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

This was an epic at 529 pages. It was the story of young man's roots going back to Greece and growing up in America. Boring, right? Not so much. Turns out the boy was born a hermaphrodite (both male and female genitalia). He was raised as a girl but later decides to become a boy after much trial and tribulation lead him to realize his true inclinations.
It's an epic because the book takes you from thenbeginning of his family tree, where his grandparents, who are brother and sister, flee Smyra for the United States. Theirs is a true love story and you are able to go along with the incest because of the time frame (early 1920's) and the lack of external socializing available in their small village.
Once they come to America and have children, you're introduced to the main character's parents. Tessie and Milt are second cousins but again, because of their traditional Greek upbringing and the story of their love affair, the reader is able to overlook the implausibility of another somewhat incestuous relationsip.
Callie, the main character, is born and, finally, her story takes over. She is tall and ungainly but grows her hair extremely long to hide behind . Who doesn't know a young woman who has done such a thing?
She is sent to a private girls school where she makes a friend who will shape her life. It turns out the perfect redheaded suburbanite is willing to experiment with Callie as long as Callie does all the work. This affair of sorts ends in Callie's first real sexual experience with her friend's brother.
Fast forward, Callie is in an accident and her sexual anomoly is discovered by doctors who had thus far ignored her genital issues. She runs away and becomes Cal. Cal hitchhikes across the country to find himself in San Fransisco which turns out to be good and not so good for him. Having no money, he is dragged into an exotic dance club and presented as something of a freak with other similar performers, whom he, of course, befriends.
Throughout the story the writer is able to deftly switch between the past and present without making your head spin. His writing is also comfortable and humorous. He gives wonderful nicknames to many of the supporting characters making me laugh out loud more than once.
If you have the time - this one took me about 3 week - it's worth a read.
For the sheer size of the book you may want to buy so you don't feel rushed (and incur a dreaded $.55 charge from the library).

Sarah's Key by Tatiana DeRosnay
This book absolutely blew me away. I almost cried at many spots throughout it. The writing is fantastic. I have no idea how this woman wrote it without having a nervous breakdown. If you think the Shack (see previous review) was tough to get through get a load of this book!
The story is about a journalist who is assigned to write about the Vel' d' Hiv' roundup of 1942. What the heck is that you may ask. Well, that's basically the point of the book. No one knows what it is and it actually did happen. The author includes a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that the story is fictional but the round up is fact.
The Vel' d' Hiv' round up was on July 16, 1942 in occupied France. The French police went around and rounded up 13,000 French Jews, most of whom were women and children. The story is told from the point of view of one of these children, Sarah, and Julia Jarmond, the journalist assigned to write about the round up 60 years later.
The two stories intersect when Julia realizes the apartment she is about to live in was once rented by one of the families that was rounded up and sentenced to death at Aushwitz. It becomes her mission to find the little girl who, documentation identifies, escaped.
Torture, that's all I can say about reading the Sarah chapters. They are descriptive and painful at a base level. Your eyes want to look away from the page while reading. I think it's important that we all read about these historical atrocities in order to be reminded of what human beings are capable of then and now.
So - if you can take it, read it. I highly suggest it.

The Shack - by William Young

There are two things that scare the sh*t out of me. Dying and something happening to my children. If you are llike me the premise of this book is going to put you off immediately. The Shack is about a father whose daughter is kidnapped while he attempts to save his other child from drowing . He leaves his daughter unattended for five minutes and then *poof* she's gone. So right there I hate the book. It's my biggest fear realized but I hung in there because my aunt-in-law recommended it and I figured I owed it to her.
As expected, the father immerses himself in the search for his daugher for years until finally the police locate evidence indicating that the girl was murdered at a remote shack. The father must go there to identify her clothes because the body can not be found. The first third of the book is about the disappearance of the girl and the murder. I won't give away too much but it's an easy read and a page turner.

The father, who has a troubled upbringing, which is also detailed earlier in the book, searches for answers. He is summoned to the shack by an annonymous note. Questions abound. Who sent the note? Is it the killer? Could it be God himself (which makes sense in the context of the story)?

He makes a trip to the shack and finds out more about himself and his daughter than he would have had he stayed home and wallowed in his grief.

The rest of the story is heavy into theology and the divinity but it's wrapped in comical and likable characters. My only complaint is that it goes on and on where it could have been much more concise. In some areas it starts to sound like preaching but for what religion?

I read the book in about six hours (during a few days) which indicates it was easy to read and interesting. If you question what happens after you die and can pull yourself through the daughter tragedy, it's a good read, one worth renting at the library.