Jane Austen wasn't a Victorian!

Jane Austen was Regency!

Anyway.

I thought the book was very careful and Madeleine bordered on precious. I feel like the difference between Austen's privileged characters, and Eugenides, is that Austen always gave them a bit of a spine. If they were simpering layabouts then they weren't the protagonists. I felt there were moments when Madeleine was that. She was just a bit too soft to play the lead. Maybe she needed a bit of Flannery O'Conner (Southern Gothic!) added to her.