The extensive detailing that gives the novel its raison d'être makes me think of Vladimir Nabokov --- especially since Nabokov, in Lolita, was as eager as Eugenides is here to mix pop-culture references and incredibly apt metaphors.
In the "bad" column are the first two stories, both of which end with hit-and-runs but no material impact. "Chinatown," a tale about an Asian girl who...