Middlesex

Jul 29, 2007 Trina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I got off the bus from Bumbershoot around 1 AM, exhausted. Convinced that even the cars speeding past my window couldn’t keep me from this night’s rest, I opened the door to a stench of exceptional vileness. Not a dead stench, or a spoiled food stench. This was the stench of sewage. From a spot in the center of the living room I surveyed the apartment and discovered the source: the commode and the area around it were covered in yuck. I dialed up the landlord. The exchange went something like thi...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-kindle, 2011, reviewed, thrill-me-chill-me-fulfill-me

Alright, it’s high time I review this hermaphroditic little masterpiece.

Being a pseudo-biochemist (pseudo in the sense that I only pretend to be a biochemist, whereas in reality I write scientific development reports and other documents that no one will ever read but which I’ve convinced myself are just as fulfilling as doing real science), I find the premise of this novel to be incredibly interesting.

5α-Reductase deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder; autosomal meaning that the gene cod...more Alright, it’s high time I review this hermaphroditic little masterpiece.

Being a pseudo-biochemist (pseudo in the sense that I only pretend to be a biochemist, whereas in reality I write scientific development reports and other documents that no one will ever read but which I’ve convinced myself are just as fulfilling as doing real science), I find the premise of this novel to be incredibly interesting.

5α-Reductase deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder; autosomal meaning that the gene coding for 5α-Reductase is not located on a sex chromosome (X or Y), and recessive meaning that one would need two copies of a mutated form of the gene in order to express the disease trait. Since we as a biological species inherit one copy of every gene from each of our parents, it would not be enough to have only one mutated form of this gene because a single “good” copy is all that’s required for proper function. Because of this, the proper-functioning gene is considered to be completely dominant over the mutated form in terms of phenotypic expression.

Here is a Punnett square showing basic concepts of Mendelian genetics:

Each form of the gene is called an allele: “B” represents the dominant allele, or the healthy gene form; “b” represents the recessive allele.

If both parents are phenotypically “normal,” the only way they would be able to have any offspring with this disease is if they were both carriers, meaning they each have one dominant and one recessive allele. In this way, they are said to be heterozygous for this trait, the genotype of which is represented as “Bb.” For any child they conceive, there would exist a 25% chance of that child inheriting two recessive alleles. This is referred to as being homozygous recessive, the genotype of which is represented as “bb.” Only homozygous recessive children will express the disease.

Since the protagonist of this novel has unluckily inherited both recessive alleles, one from each of his parents, he ends up with the disorder. So what is this disorder, exactly? The 5α-Reductase gene codes for an enzyme which converts testosterone into a potent sex steroid called dihydrotestosterone, or DHT, which plays a fundamental role in the formation of the male sex organs. Since disease subjects do not have the ability to convert testosterone into DHT, they end up with too much testosterone and not enough DHT, which in some cases leads to the formation of ambiguous genitalia.

These ambiguous genitalia form one of the many, but probably the most interesting, subjects of the novel. The author begins by tracing the history of these recessive alleles back through the family lineage before elegantly leading us to the budding of the protagonist’s crocus: his ambiguous little penis stub (yes, you should click there; and yes, you should see that movie). Perhaps not surprisingly, the historical tracing reveals some ancestral inbreeding, as well. And since the protagonist is still genotypically male (even though he doesn’t know it and neither do his parents or anybody else), the real fun begins when he enters puberty.

When I met with my book club to talk about this fantastic novel, a few pronoun choices were used for describing the protagonist: he, she, he-she-it, etc. But all joking aside, the protagonist is male. He is male by genotypic definition (he has two healthy sex chromosomes, one of which is a Y), and he sexually identifies himself as male which is consistent with other real-life sufferers of 5α-Reductase deficiency.(less)

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Sep 29, 2012 Cassy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: award-pulitzer, physical-own, event-met-author, 2011, fiction-general, region-america-canada

This isn’t so much a review as an embarrassing story. I gave the book four stars for a reason. The writing is beautiful. I would recommend it. Now onwards to my shame.

So Brooke and I were standing in line to meet Eugenides. Please understand it was a really long line after a similarly long day at work. We passed the time chitchatting about this and that at our workplace and life in general. By the time the organizer offered post-its* to our segment of the line, we were getting silly and joked ab...more This isn’t so much a review as an embarrassing story. I gave the book four stars for a reason. The writing is beautiful. I would recommend it. Now onwards to my shame.

So Brooke and I were standing in line to meet Eugenides. Please understand it was a really long line after a similarly long day at work. We passed the time chitchatting about this and that at our workplace and life in general. By the time the organizer offered post-its* to our segment of the line, we were getting silly and joked about all the crazy names and titles you could request. Instead of sticking to your name, you could put down “Boo-Bear” or “Sunshine Sally”. Just imagine: you could have an autographed book with some outrageous inscription like “To the best unicorn, Jeffrey Eugenides”.

Throughout the course of the night, I had been trying to persuade Brooke to visit a bookstore I thought she would enjoy. She was reluctant for unknown reasons. Under the influence of a bizarre mixture of exasperation, exhaustion, and silliness, I proposed a bet. I had already written my plain-ole name on the post-it. If she promised to accompany me to an event at the bookstore, I would add “baby” under my name. She quickly agreed.

As we waited thereafter, I began to second guess the stunt. But before I could request a new post-it, the line betrayed me. While it had moved at a glacial pace initially, now it swept me forward.

When I handed Eugenides my book, he stared at the post-it for a second and then looked up at us. He asked, “Who is Cassy Baby? Is that you?” I was mortified. Utterly mortified. I tried to quickly explain the promised bookstore visit, but I think in actuality I just pointed at Brooke and mumbled something like, “She made me.”

Looking back, the whole episode could be construed as a power struggle. Could a literary nobody force a Pulitzer Prize winner to write something stupid? If he refused, he might seem like a jerk. His best option was probably to play along and, bless his heart, he did. Perhaps he thought it was amusing. I doubt it. So, here it is:

Who was the real winner out of this mess? Brooke. Allow me to list the ways. (1) She was witness to my shame. (2) She did visit the bookstore – although she ditched for me the promised event and went on her own later. (3) As I suspected she would, she became a fan of said bookstore. (4) And this is the cherry on the top: Eugenides inscribed her book to “Brooke Baby”.

-------------
*If you want your book personalized, the host will generally hand out post-its. You write your name on the post-it and place it on the title page where the author will sign. This way the author doesn’t struggle to spell your name correctly.
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Jul 14, 2007 Peter added it

Don't judge a book by its cover.

I'd seen this book on the shelves of a number of friends and in the arms of a number of travelers, so I decided to pick it up. The title, "Middlesex", suggested English countryside to me. On the cover was what looked like a steamship, and a quote on the back began "Part Tristram Shanty, part-Ishmael..." So I came to the foolish conclusion that this was some 19th century English seafaring novel. (Typical.)

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Middlesex is the story of a...more Don't judge a book by its cover.

I'd seen this book on the shelves of a number of friends and in the arms of a number of travelers, so I decided to pick it up. The title, "Middlesex", suggested English countryside to me. On the cover was what looked like a steamship, and a quote on the back began "Part Tristram Shanty, part-Ishmael..." So I came to the foolish conclusion that this was some 19th century English seafaring novel. (Typical.)

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Middlesex is the story of a hermaphrodite who grew up as Calliope but discovered in her adolescence that she is actually more Cal than Calliope. More specifically, Middlesex (the title takes on a new meaning now) is the story of three generations of a Greek family and the incestuous genetic and social history that enables the existence of Cal, who narrates the story.

The novel is epic. It spans nearly a century and traces the Stephanides family from battle-torn Greece and Turkey in the 1920s, across an Atlantic voyage, from the street corners of Detroit, through World War II, and out to the suburban haven of Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The novel incorporates details upon details from all different spheres of life, dropping name brands from different time periods and regions and incorporating specialized jargon from a wide range of fields--Jeffrey Eugenides must have done an immense, immense amount of research during the writing process.

And the scope is as broad as the focus is often narrow. Over the course of 20th century, the Stephanides family responds to and participates in political, social, and cultural movements, and through them, we feel not only the sweep of a small Greek enclave, but also the sweep of a nation's growth as it engages Prohibition, World War II, the idealism of the 50s, the revolutions of the 60s and 70s, and more. The story is as much about the conflicts within a country as it is about a family trying to face its secrets, past and present.

Through it all, Cal, as a narrator, is clever and endearing. A story about a hermaphrodite sounds freakish at first, and there are moments in the novel when Cal faces the visceral or fearful reactions that might instinctively rise in anyone. But, from page one, Eugenides clears the air, setting us on a fresh foundation, and we discover a character who faces familiar childhood and adolescent trials and tribulations--we discover the humanity of a character one might otherwise find defined as a monster.

Do I recommend it? Yes. It's a good tale for the modern age.
Would I teach it? Not likely. At 527 pages, it's just too long.
Lasting impression? Epic. I'll remember it for the incredible depth and breadth of knowledge it demonstrates. This novel impresses upon me the amount of research that an author must do to prepare for a serious work.
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May 15, 2013 Megan Baxter rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was my second time reading Middlesex, and I have to admit I approached it with some trepidation, wondering if I would enjoy it as much the second time, if I would be as swept up in the story, if, indeed, it would hold up.

And it did. While I wasn't swept away in the dizzying rush of plowing through it (harder to achieve when it's a bathroom book), I still thoroughly enjoyed the story, the depth of the story, the wide cast of characters, the tour through Detroit history, the allusions to clas...more This was my second time reading Middlesex, and I have to admit I approached it with some trepidation, wondering if I would enjoy it as much the second time, if I would be as swept up in the story, if, indeed, it would hold up.

And it did. While I wasn't swept away in the dizzying rush of plowing through it (harder to achieve when it's a bathroom book), I still thoroughly enjoyed the story, the depth of the story, the wide cast of characters, the tour through Detroit history, the allusions to classical literature. (I caught two - there were probably more. The obvious one to Homer at the beginning, and a definite allusion to the last line of Jane Eyre at the end of the chapter. Which was much better done than the attempt to make the same sort of allusion at the end of The Gate at the Stairs, which you'll remember I absolutely hated.)

Middlesex, if you read the back cover, is the story of Cal, formerly Calliope. Who is raised as a girl, but at some point discovers her genitalia are more ambiguous, and eventually decides to live as man - this isn't a spoiler, the adult Cal narrates the novel. But it isn't just that, although Cal's story is fascinating. It's the story of three generations, of leaving Europe, of arriving in America, of negotiating the changing landscape of Detroit over decades, culminating in the growing up of Calliope and her brother, Chapter Eleven, in the 1960s.

It's the story of grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona, who left in the middle of a war, and tried to find a place. (The section on working at the Ford motor plant, and their intrusions into workers' lives made me livid.) It's the story of their son, Milton, and his wife, Tessie. And their two children.

While Calliope/Cal is at the centre of the story, making this a generational novel was a brilliant move. It places Cal in a context, in a family, in the midst of a cast of characters, instead of being a novel about an isolated individual and individual struggles. Stories do, after all, always take place in context, and choosing to root this story of indeterminate biological sex in a wider sweep of character and history, it adds depth and place to a main character who is trying to make sense of their life, trying to make sense of where they are and who they are.

Eugenides is also not trying to tell the story of a community - indeed, Cal writes of shying away from the intersex community, although he's also unsure why, or if that's the right decision. It is the story of one person, one experience, and makes no claims to definitive or universal. But the particular, strange as it sometimes is, manages to reach beyond that and be accessible (though sometimes challenging) to much more than one person, one medical condition, and one life.

Crossposted to Smorgasbook (less)

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Oct 06, 2008 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This would have been better as an NPR story or an episode of "This American Life" than a novel. Or maybe if someone other than Eugenides had written it. An interesting idea, and a few engrossing sex scenes (I like the "crocus" and the peep-tank, and the whole long flirtation with The Object drew me in completely), and a nice two pages toward the end when Julie accepts Cal for what he is. But the prose was awful: frequent maneuvers like "And me? That's simple. I was . . . " are really unacceptabl...more This would have been better as an NPR story or an episode of "This American Life" than a novel. Or maybe if someone other than Eugenides had written it. An interesting idea, and a few engrossing sex scenes (I like the "crocus" and the peep-tank, and the whole long flirtation with The Object drew me in completely), and a nice two pages toward the end when Julie accepts Cal for what he is. But the prose was awful: frequent maneuvers like "And me? That's simple. I was . . . " are really unacceptable. And "Sing, Muse, of Greek ladies and their battle against unsightly hair!" is about as funny as poop.

Except for the incest, the long family-history plot was like a mashup of immigrant dramas from cable TV: Greek family barely escapes home country to make it to the United States, where they wander through 20th century history in a dull procession of unmotivated Gumpy forays into Wikipedia that have no effect whatsoever on their character development. (Now we'll shove these characters through Prohibition! mass production! the Detroit race riots! The partition of Cyprus! San Francisco hippies! the tragedy of Michael Dukakis's helmet moment! and . . . the founding of the Nation of Islam!)

The incest part of the story was good in the beginning -- the early love scenes between the grandparents are wonderful -- and then impressively tedious (Desdemona feels guilt! and then . . . she feels guilt again!). The metaphors are embarassingly bad: The hermaphrodite lives on a street named Middlesex, and eventually finds reconciliation of the two sides of herself in Berlin after reunification. Why not have Desdemona live on "I Feel Guilty For Fucking My Brother Boulevard"?

Cal remains completely undefined as a character, except in terms of her understandably tough time figuring out her own sexuality; I couldn't come up with more than one adjective to define her, and "confused" isn't much of a character. Everyone else in the book fails to exist at all. Jimmy Zizmo turns out to be the founder of the Nation of Islam? Eugenides says self-importantly that "you've probably guessed" that -- no! Not only did I not guess it, it doesn't make any sense, logical or emotional, and it's completely uninteresting. Why not have him turn out to be Richard Nixon? Uncle Mike turns out to be a psychopath who extorts his own family? Why? Who cares?

Cal's lack of voice or character is the worst thing: if you write a book about someone who lives in a world that's somehow dramatically different than your reader's -- a world where gender is fluid, undefined -- you should show us that world. Cal has no voice, no face, no identity. What voice there is is completely inconsistent with her behavior -- the current Cal is reticent, shy, depressed, lonely, and retiring; our narrator is open, boisterous, discursive, ironic, omniscient for no particular reason, and irritatingly jokey.

And the book no more has ideas about sexuality than it does about Cal's character. As one reviewer said, the most disappointing thing about the book is it ends up reinforcing stereotyped, dumb ideas about gender (like "Breasts have the same effect on me as on anyone with my testosterone level" -- as if there were no gays). Callie's pursuit of The Object doesn't make her question categories, it just convinces her she's a boy. There is no middle sex here; there's no middle ground; it's more gawking than Tiresias-like insight. (less)

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Apr 26, 2012 Jacob added it

Shelves: fiction-and-literature, i-own, 2012-part-1

April 2012

Dear Cal,

A partial history of my sexual development:
•I don't remember how old I was when I saw the movie Heavyweights, but I do remember that the scene where the fat boys take over the camp and tie buff German camp counselor Hans to a tree (and slather honey on his chest, to attract bears), gave this timid 9- or 10-year-old farm boy some very funny feelings.
•I got similar funny feelings from the men's fitness magazines in the magazine section at the grocery store--although, since my fa...more

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Sep 14, 2007 Kelly rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Would have given this book two more stars except for one resounding disappointment I can't get past. I thought that one of the most important aspects of the book was entirely skipped over by the author without any explanation.

*Spoiler Alert* It's probably not a spoiler, but what I have to say may alleviate some of the intrigue - you have been warned.

I really, really, really wanted to know why Calliope 'chose' to live life as Cal once she learned that she was a biological male. It was, arguably,...more Would have given this book two more stars except for one resounding disappointment I can't get past. I thought that one of the most important aspects of the book was entirely skipped over by the author without any explanation.

*Spoiler Alert* It's probably not a spoiler, but what I have to say may alleviate some of the intrigue - you have been warned.

I really, really, really wanted to know why Calliope 'chose' to live life as Cal once she learned that she was a biological male. It was, arguably, the most important and perhaps only choice she->he had in the entire book, and the author just skips that part. This transitionless transition to living as a male stands in stark comparison to the rest of the book which does a competent job of developing each of the main characters throughout their lives...and for every other seemingly inexplicable action the reader understands the characters enough to know WHY they acted in a certain way.

The Calliope->Cal change is so abrupt in the book, and lacks any of the personal insight that the rest of the book teems with...it's almost like the author got tired of writing by the time the transition comes about (quite late in the book), and he just wanted to be done with it. Perhaps the author didn't expand on the "choice" to live as Cal because his point is supposed to be that it really wasn't a choice. But I would even have liked to know why Calliope didn't think living as Cal was a choice and was instead a biological or personal inevitability...but no aspect of her choice/lack of choice was addressed.

Inappropriate foreshortening aside, I do think that the writing is often quite eloquent. I certainly would have appreciated fewer of the cliche metaphors for change/new beginnings/etc. The author does take the obvious to new heights, however, when he would state for the reader too obtuse to understand that the egg being described actually represents an immigrant beginning life in her new land by ending the paragraph with something like, "...you see she was that egg." (less)

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Sep 17, 2011 K.D. Oliveros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006)

Shelves: ex-1001, pulitzer, oprah

Engaging epic of the three generations of a Greek family, the Stephanides. The first generation is composed of siblings, Desdemona and Lefty who leave their country during a political unrest, go to Prohibition-era Detroit and there have an incestuous relationship as husband and wife. Born to them in Detroit are son Milton and daughter Zoe. Milton marries his parent's cousin's daughter, Tessie and move to Michigan. Born to them are son Chapter Eleven and a daughter Calliope or Callie. At 13, Call...more Engaging epic of the three generations of a Greek family, the Stephanides. The first generation is composed of siblings, Desdemona and Lefty who leave their country during a political unrest, go to Prohibition-era Detroit and there have an incestuous relationship as husband and wife. Born to them in Detroit are son Milton and daughter Zoe. Milton marries his parent's cousin's daughter, Tessie and move to Michigan. Born to them are son Chapter Eleven and a daughter Calliope or Callie. At 13, Callie is diagnosed to be a hermaphrodite and she leaves Michigan to San Francisco to build a new life as a young man Cal. I am not telling you the rest of the story as that would be too much of a spoiler.

This is my 2nd book of Eugenides and he is still to disappoint. It still has Eugenides's strong engaging and flawless narration. His is a feast to the senses. When he tells a story, he makes it a point that you could visualize, hear, feel, taste and even smell what is going on. My favorite is that part when Desdemona is looking for a job and Eugenides is describing what she is seeing in Detroit during the 30's. It is like being there walking with Desdemona and seeing the surroundings in sepia. That part when Milton is serenading Tessie with his clarinet? I swear I can hear the music in the air and touch Lefty's perspiration on the bronze edges of his clarinet and feel the trembling of Tessie's skin. There are many reviews of this book here in Goodreads and I agree with most of them. Still, my take on Eugenides is a that his prose is one of the most engaging among those novelists who are still alive. What a gifted novelist. What a wonderful reading experience.

This book felt like two stories fused into one: the Greek immigrants in the US and how is it to be a hermaphrodite. The only experience I had about hermaphrodite was when I heard a restaurant-owner Aling Sally in Casimiro Village, Las Pinas when I was working there over a decade ago that her lesbian daughter had a long clitoris. I thought that it was her justification why her eldest daughter was a lesbian. It just did not interest me in any way. This book only reminded me Aling Sally's too personal statement while we were eating lunch in her place. I remembered I was eating big noodles and she was talking about a long pencil-like clitoris which was the same way Eugenides described Cal and other other hermaprodite's organ in this book.

This is the reason why I preferred the story on the Greek immigrants over the hermaphrodite's. I also felt that Milton's story could have been made stronger as a bridge between the first generation's Desde's and the third generation's Cal's. Save from the last 2 chapters of the book, I thought that the story went down from being totally amazing (5 stars) to so-so (2 stars) and it was saved by the last two: a fast-paced chapter and a well-executed denouement in the very last chapter. It was almost anti-climactic if those two chapters were not as well-written or if you take those out and end the story in San Francisco.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book and I am now looking forward to read more Eugenides's works. What a guy!

Thanks to Marian and Reinaj for the readalong! Thank you, Angus, for encouraging us to read this!(less)

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May 17, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classics" for the first time, then write reports on whether or not they deserve the label

Book #15: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2002)

The story in a nutshell:
The tale of "the most famous hermaphrodite in history," Middlesex is the second and lates...more

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Jul 06, 2007 Trevor rated it 2 of 5 stars

"When I told my life story to Dr. Luce, the place where he invariably got interested was when I came to Clementine Stark. Luce didn't care about criminally smitten grandparents or silkworm boxes or serenading clarinets. To a certain extent, I understand. I even agree."
I agree too. This quote comes from page 263 and is really where the story picks up and gets into the subject the book promises--Cal's life as a hermaphrodite. Honestly, while the first 263 pages were interesting and had some impor...more "When I told my life story to Dr. Luce, the place where he invariably got interested was when I came to Clementine Stark. Luce didn't care about criminally smitten grandparents or silkworm boxes or serenading clarinets. To a certain extent, I understand. I even agree."
I agree too. This quote comes from page 263 and is really where the story picks up and gets into the subject the book promises--Cal's life as a hermaphrodite. Honestly, while the first 263 pages were interesting and had some important developing points, it could have been distilled a great deal. Eugenides is a great, fluid writer--very witty. But dang, he's wordy. I guess after reading several books by Cormac McCarthy I'm bound to get distracted by verbosity. I'm not saying I don't like long--my favorite book is The Brothers Karamazov--I just don't like all the superfluous words.
Still, the book is compelling so far. I'm not as driven to read it as I think I should be, but I don't find myself putting it down after every paragraph to check my email either.

UPDATE: I have finished the book. In the end, I felt like it didn't deliver. I see a lot of connections Eugendides is making about identity, but they didn't seem developed. In fact, there were many symbols throughout the book that were very clever but ultimately seemed to be only that--a device used to show cleverness and not to really further the plot. Another problem I had with the book was the fact that Eugenides tells too much about his characters and yet I still feel like it is underdeveloped. For example, he has great characters in mind and some great episodes to show how they feel, but then he simply runs through the story and then tells you how the character felt--I wanted to feel how the characters felt.
I enjoyed two things about the book. First, the Forrest Gump-like trek through American history. There are really some fascinating episodes in this book. And Eugenides does an excellent job ellaborating on them. Sometimes I felt like he should have written an essay on American history rather than this novel. The second thing I enjoyed was Eugenides sly, clever writing. I know that above I said that some things seemed to be there just to showcase the author's wit, but some of those things were really clever and enjoyable. The writing kind of reminded me of Jim Carrey's acting: at moments it was brilliant, hysterical, and spot on; but at other moments it was just too much, needed to be toned down, better controlled.
As I said, this book didn't deliver for me. I liked it because of its promise. The idea is fascinating. However, as talented as Mr. Eugenides is, a little more control would be nice.(less)

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May 28, 2007 Taylor rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone with an open mind, and even some of those with closed ones.

Shelves: fiction, favorites, buy, recommended, borrow-ed-or-ing, desert-island-picks

Mr. Eugenides can do everything, or at least I am convinced of such after reading Middlesex.

I passed on this book for a long time. I kept picking it up in bookstores and putting it down. I've seen quotes from it everywhere, all of which were beautiful, and kept hearing wonderful things about it from friends. To be perfectly honest, what kept me from picking it up in the subject: a hermaphrodite. I think of myself as someone with an open mind, but the thing is that I just wasn't sure if I'd be ab...more Mr. Eugenides can do everything, or at least I am convinced of such after reading Middlesex.

I passed on this book for a long time. I kept picking it up in bookstores and putting it down. I've seen quotes from it everywhere, all of which were beautiful, and kept hearing wonderful things about it from friends. To be perfectly honest, what kept me from picking it up in the subject: a hermaphrodite. I think of myself as someone with an open mind, but the thing is that I just wasn't sure if I'd be able to relate to much in this story. I made a very foolish assumption, and I'm quite embarassed about it.

Middlesex is a slow burner (my new favorite term). It begins with the story of Cal/Calliope's grandparents, which seems unnecessary in the beginning, but which makes more sense with each passing page. The story then passes on to the parents, then Cal.

A couple pages in, Eugenides describes a rather gruesome scene, and this was my signal that this is a no-holds-barred kind of author. He goes there. (This isn't to say that the book is filled with gruesome moments, just that he's not afraid to use them when he must.)

To address the smoking gun, so to speak, yes, the main character is a Hermaphrodite. Though the reader knows it throughout the book, the main character doesn't know until they're older. It seems incredulous, but Eugenides makes it work, and makes this believable. He was smart to do things this way, because I was on the edge of my seat waiting for Calliope to discover the truth. And, most likely, he keeps a lot more not-so-open minded readers this way.

There's a very frank beauty about this book - he doesn't gloss over anything, but despite the many struggles of the three generations, he doesn't feel it necessary to make his reality very bleak, either. Even when the book is at its darkest, most depressing, you're filled with sadness, but also with hope.

The other great thing about Middlesex, aside from its incredible cast of characters is how well it captures society in history - first in Detroit in the '20s (a more bleak picture than '20s of The Great Gatsby), then the '60s. The '20s are focused on the invention of the automobile - the people putting them together as opposed to the people driving them, and the impact that being part of an assembly line and big business had on people, and of course, prohibition. With the '60s, Eugenides tackles race so marvelously - the chapter about the Detroit riots is probably the best in the book, for all of the anxiety and imagery that he evokes. This book is really just as much about middle class America and family ties as it is about sexuality.

Don't make the mistake that I made by continually passing on this book - read it!(less)

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May 12, 2008 Stacey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: audiobook lovers

Recommended to Stacey by: audible.com reviews

Shelves: audio, all-time-favorites, contemporary-fiction, owned-hardcovers

I've read quite a few reviews of this book saying that it was patchy in places, or it bogged down in the historical parts, the character not being believable in others, etc.

I have not read the novel, so perhaps this is true. As an audiobook however, it was magnificent. The story was compelling, the history inseparable from the development of Calliope, and the voice of the reader - Kristoffer Tabori - was genius. His character variations made an interesting concept into a fascinating narrative o...more

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Apr 13, 2008 Kim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary

This book has all the major players....

Incest, war, teenage girl-on-girl experimental sex, deadheads, undescended testes, and a 2 inch penis.

Yep, it took me all of one chapter to realize that Middlesex was referring to something besides a county in England.

Best Part: Answering Maurice's question "What's that about?" then watching him squirm and cross his legs in obvious pain.

Worst Part: Glaring Oprah sticker on the cover telling me I've succumbed to the masses.

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Feb 26, 2008 Martine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: modern-fiction, north-american, family-drama, glbt, psychological-drama

I'm torn on this book. On the one hand, I loved the story, which is, as another reviewer put it, 'the greatest, most incestuous Greek epic since the Iliad'. On the other hand, I had serious problems with some of the writing. I haven't seen my quibbles mentioned anywhere else, so I guess I'm alone on them. Or am I?

In a nutshell, Middlesex is the story of Cal, a Greek American who was born a hermaphrodite and raised as a girl before finally realising he was boy as a teenager. In about five hundred...more I'm torn on this book. On the one hand, I loved the story, which is, as another reviewer put it, 'the greatest, most incestuous Greek epic since the Iliad'. On the other hand, I had serious problems with some of the writing. I haven't seen my quibbles mentioned anywhere else, so I guess I'm alone on them. Or am I?

In a nutshell, Middlesex is the story of Cal, a Greek American who was born a hermaphrodite and raised as a girl before finally realising he was boy as a teenager. In about five hundred occasionally brilliant pages, Cal traces back his family history (which is rife with inbreeding) to see how he came to be the sort of almost-male he is. In so doing, he not only paints a loving picture of the memorable and colourful Stephanides clan, whose men have rather special ways of wooing women, but of a changing world, all the way from the Greek part of early-twentieth-century Turkey through mid-twentieth-century Detroit to post-Wall Berlin. What with its focus on different conflicts in different eras, the book is quite epic in scope. Yet it is also quite personal, with the social and racial conflicts played out in the world at large reflecting the much more private conflict that is going on within Cal. Both the epic and the intimate aspects of the novel are funny, poignant and tragic, and for that Jeffrey Eugenides deserves applause. Lots of it.

But. But. But.

I have to admit to finding Eugenides an awfully inconsistent writer. While he undeniably has a flair for story-telling, he also has a mad tendency to change tenses and perspectives, to the point where it actually quite took me out of the story. I dislike stories which switch back and forth between past tense and present tense within a matter of paragraphs at the best of times; if these stories also come equipped with narrators who constantly switch points of view, I get annoyed. And this is exactly what happens in Middlesex. Not only is Cal an omniscient first-person narrator who shares with the reader details from older relatives' lives which he has no way of knowing, but he also has a maddening tendency to randomly refer to himself in the third person, which results in sudden bursts of 'Calliope this' and 'Calliope that' in what is essentially a first-person narrative. To a certain extent, I can see why Cal would do this, looking back from a distance at a person he used to be but no longer is, but still, I found it annoying, so much so that I occasionally found myself wanting to scream at the narrator to drop all that third-person shit and stick with the first person, for God's sake. I don't like feeling like shouting at narrators, so that's where one star went. The other one I deducted for the weak ending, which felt rather rushed to me after the perfectly lavish set-up. Is it me, or would Middlesex have been a better book with slightly more information on what happened to Cal between the ages of 17 and 41? With an actual, you know, ending and all that?

I'll stop complaining here to end on a positive note. Despite my quibbles, I enjoyed most of Middlesex -- especially the first half, which is superb. I quite like Eugenides' brand of modern mythology, so I think I'll give The Virgin Suicides a shot, too. I rather liked the film, so I'm actually quite surprised I haven't read the book yet...
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Mar 31, 2012 Almeta rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, doorstops, home-alone, boxall1001, guardian

Somewhere I read that this book is "a must read book of the decade". So I took the suggestion to heart, but alas, not the book.

Middlesex had enough going for it to keep me going, but some of it was a struggle. I just didn't connect enough with the characters to care about three generations of a family of Greek immigrants. Generational sagas are just not my thing, although I keep trying; witness Winter Garden/Russia, Kitchen God's Wife/China. (Being our family’s genealogy researcher, you would t...more

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May 17, 2012 Anastasia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporanei, usa, 5-stars

In questo momento mi pare di essere la povera tapina abbandonata sul marciapiede, che guarda la Cadillac della famiglia Stephanides allontanarsi sempre di più; Cal che si sporge dal finestrino per salutarti un'ultima volta, e tu là con la faccia da bambino a cui è caduto il gelato.
La pecca dei bei mattoni letterari è..che finiscono. Il lettore non ha la fine sotto il naso, quella è talmente lontana che pensarla non è un urgenza, anzi, in certi casi bisogna armarsi di pazienza per il durante, pi...more In questo momento mi pare di essere la povera tapina abbandonata sul marciapiede, che guarda la Cadillac della famiglia Stephanides allontanarsi sempre di più; Cal che si sporge dal finestrino per salutarti un'ultima volta, e tu là con la faccia da bambino a cui è caduto il gelato.
La pecca dei bei mattoni letterari è..che finiscono. Il lettore non ha la fine sotto il naso, quella è talmente lontana che pensarla non è un urgenza, anzi, in certi casi bisogna armarsi di pazienza per il durante, più che per la fine.
Però poi arriva, e non è affatto facile accettarla. Ho piantato le radici fra queste pagine, mi sono talmente abituata all'atmosfera di casa Stephanides che poi ritrovarmene sbattuta fuori così è traumatizzante. Non sarebbe male l'idea di inseguire la Cadillac imitando Dustin Hoffmann disperato che grida "Elaaaaaaine!". Tanto basta cambiare il nome.

Middlesex non è un semplice libro, è una vera e propria distesa di eventi su eventi, storie, personaggi. Sono convinta che dopo libri del genere verrebbe proprio da allargare le braccia per riempire più spazio possibile, con una bella espressione da "lo vedi quanto c'è dentro questi confini?". Middlesex è un librone, direi. Cal ti prende la mano e ti indica il principio, e ti fa passare come un filo nell'ago in modo circolare. Attraversi questo grande viaggio che è la storia della famiglia Stephanides, fai di Desdemona e Lefty tuoi amici e custodisci insieme a loro l'intimo segreto, parti con loro per l'America sprovveduta tanto quanto loro, e poi arrivi a destinazione, fai la conoscenza della città di Detroit e di tutti gli altri personaggi, pronti ad attaccarsi alla corrente per andare ancora avanti, avanti, ed arriva già la seconda generazione con Milton, Tessie, Zoe e Mike, puoi percepire il mondo attorno a loro che inevitabilmente cambia, e senza che tu te ne accorga è già arrivato il momento di passare la palla all'ultima generazione con Calliope, l'ultimo e il più importante personaggio del libro. Sarà proprio lui a consentirti di buttarti dentro la storia dei suoi antenati, e sarà lui, nel momento in cui il cerchio si chiuderà, ad abbracciare il segreto della prima generazione.

Eugenides è un Signor Scrittore, ed una delle prime ragioni con cui potrei testimoniare questa mia affermazione è che lui i vestiti dei suoi personaggi te li fa proprio indossare, te li cuce addosso senza bisogno di tante parentesi su di loro, arrivi a capirli intimamente anche solo dalle loro reazioni, da cosa Cal evince dai loro sguardi, entri nella loro testa e senza fatica te ne tiri fuori per entrarne ancora in un'altra, riuscendo a capire la parte di tutti, e persino in un conflitto generazionale come quello fra Milton e Chapter Eleven, proprio perché capisci e non puoi condannare nessuna delle due parti, ti piace la posizione privilegiata in cui ti ritrovi. Sei passata attraverso di loro e sai cos'hanno dovuto attraversare, Eugenides silenziosamente ti fa assaporare il nome della "comprensione", dell'"accettazione" e un po' anche quell'astenersi dal giudicare in nome dell'equità.
Una delle cose che mi sono piaciute di più della descrizione dei personaggi e dei loro sentimenti, emozioni..è come sia tutto così reale. Non c'è nessun artificio, nessun patetismo, siamo in grado di comprenderli perché nel momento in cui si aprono anche solo per qualche riga con noi, inevitabilmente ci si immedesima, e questo perché Eugenides - poffarbacco è ovvio - conosce l'animo umano, dimostra di avere in mano la situazione e di saper far luce perfettamente sulle conseguenti reazioni del tutto naturali dei suoi personaggi. Eugenides veste i panni di un ermafrodito ed è capace di rendere la sua dualità, è capace di far sentire al lettore la silenziosa coesistenza fra la sua mascolinità e la sua femminilità. E naturalmente come? Mostrando e non dicendo apertamente. Da qui il perché tanti lettori abbiano detto di essersi potuti immedesimare nella condizione difficili di Callie percependo di essere Callie durante la lettura.
Eugenides è preciso e asciutto, e direi che ha piuttosto ben presente il concetto dell'ampio respiro nella narrazione. Seicento pagine ne sono la dimostrazione.
Il bello è che a fine lettura a me non verrebbe mai in mente di dire, "sì..però tagliare un po' non sarebbe stato male, eh..". No, per me ci volevano tutte, nessuna era davvero superflua.

Ho letto da diversi che questo libro grida all'apertura mentale, ed è stato effettivamente capace di aprire la porta ad un modo di guardare alla vita più libero, meno legato alla stupida vergogna di ciò che è la propria sessualità.
Middlesex sostanzialmente grida al "Let it be!", ti fa capire o ricordare che la propria sessualità non dovrebbe mai essere qualcosa da reprimere, che il piacere, anche se derivato da vie non proprio convenzionali (eh ma chi se ne frega!), non è qualcosa a cui rinunciare solo perché sbagliato per il pensiero comune, ti fa capire che l'autenticità dei propri sentimenti è qualcosa di irrinunciabile, più importante di qualsiasi definizione di giusto e sbagliato. La convivenza fra senso di colpa e allo stesso tempo la volontà di seguire i propri desideri rende questo libro sincero, tenero, commovente, e molto intelligente..

Jung: "Il piacere non è mai semplice, come lei pensa".
Gross: "Lo è: è semplicissimo. Finché non decidiamo di complicarlo."
- A Dangerous Method.(less)

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Aug 11, 2011 Angus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulitzer-prize, reviewed-and-blogged

Original post at Book Rhapsody.

***

Intro

When I first heard of this novel, I thought it would be about town life. I think there is a place called Middlesex. I imagine it is a British suburb, somewhere in the outskirts of England.

I asked my cousin, who was then in Japan, to buy me a copy of this. Why would I ask someone to buy me a book without even knowing what the book is about? The book being a Pulitzer winner is my only reason. Anyway, months later, when she sent our grandma some goodies, I got...more

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Apr 20, 2009 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Becky by: Jon

Shelves: 2009, reviewed, tear-jerkers, historical-fiction, lgbtq

This was my first book by Eugenides, and I wasn't sure what to expect really. I expected a coming-of-age story, yes, but not like this.

This book has a little bit of everything. Part memoir, part family tree, part medical case study, part sexuality enlightenment, part love story, part cultural history and identity revolution... Eugenides could have called his book "Baklava" and been perfectly accurate. There are many layers to this story, each one adding their own little bit of deliciousness to...more This was my first book by Eugenides, and I wasn't sure what to expect really. I expected a coming-of-age story, yes, but not like this.

This book has a little bit of everything. Part memoir, part family tree, part medical case study, part sexuality enlightenment, part love story, part cultural history and identity revolution... Eugenides could have called his book "Baklava" and been perfectly accurate. There are many layers to this story, each one adding their own little bit of deliciousness to the whole. :)

This story was really touching in a "This is my life & I'm just telling my story" kind of way. I didn't feel like Eugenides was trying to plunge his hand into my chest to tug at my heart-strings, but they were tugged nonetheless. At times, especially towards the end of the book, I was literally on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen. When Callie looks herself up in the dictionary, I couldn't help but be heartbroken for her.

I remember being a 14 year old girl and going through adolescence and puberty. It was hard enough without the added anxiety and strain of not knowing who you are. Calliope is one of the best characters I've read in a long time. Even through her fears and uncertainties about herself, she remains true to the essence of who she is underneath and refuses to let others decide her fate for her.

One of my favorite things about this story was the narrative. Eugenides prepares us for this with his first paragraph, stating that Calliope was born twice: once as a baby girl, and then again as a teenage boy. Cal's narrative shifts between first person narrative (when he speaks of himself as male) and third person (when he speaks of Callie as female, and when relating details about the family, their history, etc). I really felt that there was a defining line between Callie and Cal, and that while they ultimately are the same person, they were also two unique people living a single life at different stages.

Cal's omniscient recounting of events was sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always honest and brave. At least it felt that way to me. I really felt for Cal and wanted him to not only be accepted but to be truly loved. He is definitely a character worthy of love in my opinion.

This was a great story. There are some slow moments, but even during these, Eugenides writing carries the story. I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you for recommending this one, Jon!(less)

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Nov 25, 2007 Virna rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Oprah fans, Avid readers

Shelves: immigrant, pulitzer, oprah, award-winning, greek, novel, gender-identity

Jeffrey Eugenides uses Calliope as his Muse – according to the Greek mythology, she’s the Muse of epic poetry –, as a narrator of his story. He must be a fan of the Greek myths as the novel’s full of allusion to Homer and the Illiad. The narrator eloquently unfold the story behind Calliope’s transformation, like the Chinese Princess Si Ling-Chi, as Eugenides puts it: upon discovering the unraveling of a silkworm cocoon that fell into her teacup, handing its loose end to her maidservant, who in t...more Jeffrey Eugenides uses Calliope as his Muse – according to the Greek mythology, she’s the Muse of epic poetry –, as a narrator of his story. He must be a fan of the Greek myths as the novel’s full of allusion to Homer and the Illiad. The narrator eloquently unfold the story behind Calliope’s transformation, like the Chinese Princess Si Ling-Chi, as Eugenides puts it: upon discovering the unraveling of a silkworm cocoon that fell into her teacup, handing its loose end to her maidservant, who in turn took the loose end through the Forbidden City, and into the countryside a half mile away before the cocoon ran out. Eugenides breaks his novel into four parts, and retraces the journey of Cal’s grandparents from Asia Minor to America.

The first part belongs to Desdemona and Lefty, retelling their love story. The second begins with their new life in Detroit, when Lefty was unfairly forced to give up his job in the Ford Motor Co. and went to work for his cousin’s husband, Jimmy Zizmo, to help him smuggle liquors from Canada into the country. Calliope enters the story in the third part, being born to Milton and Tessie. On the day of her birth, her grandfather Lefty had a stroke, and incident that brought Desdemona both sadness and relief, as Eugenides writes ‘Emotions, in my experience, aren’t covered by single words. I don’t believe in “sadness,” “joy,” or “regret.” Maybe the best proof that the language is patriarchal is that it oversimplifies feeling.’ The narrator grew up against the backdrop of the 1967 riot that set her father’s first business, the Zebra Room, into blaze, but ironically brought them up from the ruins as the three insurances that he’s been holding finally paid him up enough money to let him start another business and bought a new house in Middlesex, away from what was left of Detroit. In Middlesex, a house without normal doors and lots of windows, the narrator finally begins to learn about herself, and the opposite sex. In that very house she realized that she’s standing between two opposite poles, male and female, the middle of both sexes, and she’s neither. Milton and Tessie eventually discovered Calliope’s condition of being a hermaphrodite in the final part. The narrator enters his own story intermittently, as Cal or Calliope brought the readers in and out of his present-day time, the present being the time he is forty-one and mulling over his recent meeting with a Japanese-American lady in Berlin, the love of his life after the Obscure Object. Eugenides expertly describes Desdemona's love story as she is also the main character who always appears in almost every chapter, as she holds the key of Cal’s physical condition.

As readers go back to the first chapter, some of the story’s key elements that are mentioned in the beginning can be finally put together into a beautiful story of one’s life journey. It’s no surprise that the writer spent 9 years to finish the novel, and eventually won the Pulitzer Prize for his work in 2002. One of Eugenides’ strength comes from his Greek roots – he freely uses the Greek mythology as a tool to weave his story. He doesn’t leave a room for the slightest gap, every chapter is full to the brim with physical and emotional details about his characters, the story settings and many relevant information. Finally, he never allows his readers to take pity of Cal’s condition, rather he takes them to identify with his characters, because in the end, we are humans after all, regardless of our physical conditions.
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Aug 08, 2007 Erin K rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Not sure

I started reading this book with high hopes because of all the great reviews I had read and heard. Not sure why the rave reviews. I definitely found the book interesting but at the same time disturbing and hard to read at times. The whole incest thing didn't do it for me and it wasn't until the end of the book when the book touched on the scientific explanation of the childs condition did I find it interesting to read. The writer spent way too much time on some of the family history which did no...more

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Jul 31, 2008 Maureen rated it 4 of 5 stars

This Greek family saga, as narrated by a hermaphrodite, has many pages, but I flicked through them easily like so many moistened labia. Moments of tragedy lay concealed within, like undescended testes, but warm humour dominated, swelling forth like a budding penis.

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Mar 20, 2009 Alison rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: rgbookclub

"Why?" she kept crying softly, shaking her head..."Why did you run away, honey?"
"I had to."
"Don't you think it would have been easier just to stay the way you were?"
I lifted my face and looked into my mother's eyes. And I told her: "This is the way I was."

Most people know that Jeffrey Eugenides's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Middlesex" is the story of a girl who was "born twice"--first as a baby girl and later as a teenage boy. Our narrator was born with 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a genetic mu...more "Why?" she kept crying softly, shaking her head..."Why did you run away, honey?"
"I had to."
"Don't you think it would have been easier just to stay the way you were?"
I lifted my face and looked into my mother's eyes. And I told her: "This is the way I was."

Most people know that Jeffrey Eugenides's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Middlesex" is the story of a girl who was "born twice"--first as a baby girl and later as a teenage boy. Our narrator was born with 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a genetic mutation leaving some affected individuals with ambiguous genitalia. As we journey with him through his happy childhood, and painful and confusing adolescence, his voice is endearing and his feelings, put to paper, are more familiar and universal than you might think.

Our narrator doesn't get to his own story until more than halfway into the book. The first half takes us back to his grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona, as they fall in love against the backdrop of the 1922 war between Greece and Turkey and flee to start a new life in America. Later we learn of his parents, Milton and Tessie, as they grow up and wed during an era of economic recession and race riots in Detroit. The homeplace that they buy and where our narrator spends his childhood is called "Middlesex", which I believe was meant to symbolize more than just a house. Its description is that of a country, a society re-defining its norms...

Though we had ruined it with our colonial furniture, it was still the beacon it was intended to be, a place with few interior walls, divested of the formalities of bourgeois life, a place designed for a new type of human being, who would inhabit a new world. I couldn't help feeling, of course, that the person was me, and all the others like me...

As these three generations gain and lose the "American Dream" time and time again, I was reminded how history seems to repeat itself. Life in suburbia and during a Recession in the 60's...war...strained race relations all sounded familiar, as these are some of the same problems facing modern Americans today. Will we ever evolve past some of these issues? Or will they always come around again, generation after generation?

The real star of this novel is the narrator and his voice--so I guess the true star is the brilliant writer Eugenides for this amazingly-written, endearing family saga. I have read several Pulitzer Prize winners that have left me untouched, however... I wish they could have given him this one twice.

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May 08, 2013 Ginny rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: romanzi

Una trama imponente, che tra epica e realismo abbraccia l'arco di tre generazioni attraverso due continenti - dalla Grecia a Detroit - e sullo sfondo di eventi che segnarono quasi un secolo di storia.
Una prosa sontuosa, agile e pregnante, che stupisce per creatività e ricchezza di immagini.
Affascinante anche il taglio "tragico" che lo scrittore ha scelto di imprimere alla concatenazione dei fatti, attribuendo alle colpe dei padri il destino del protagonista.
Ciò che mi impedisce di elevare all...more

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Jan 16, 2013 Scott Axsom rated it 3 of 5 stars

It’s tough to know where to start in a review of this Spam-stuffed turducken (no offense intended to turducken lovers, I hear it's great), but perhaps it’s best to begin with the birds-eye view and discuss genre. The book’s first half is a wonderfully-written "American Success Story” with, perhaps, some magic realism thrown in, and the second half is basic Bildungsroman. Eugenides does nicely incorporate the coming-of-age character, Cal, into the first half of the story but my issue with the boo...more It’s tough to know where to start in a review of this Spam-stuffed turducken (no offense intended to turducken lovers, I hear it's great), but perhaps it’s best to begin with the birds-eye view and discuss genre. The book’s first half is a wonderfully-written "American Success Story” with, perhaps, some magic realism thrown in, and the second half is basic Bildungsroman. Eugenides does nicely incorporate the coming-of-age character, Cal, into the first half of the story but my issue with the book is that it attempts to be all things to all people and, as a result, it never really achieves greatness in any realm. Clearly, the Pulitzer committee would’ve disagreed with this assessment.

First off, let me say what I loved about this book. Eugenides does a noble job of describing the spectra of not only sexual preference but of gender identity as well, laying out both distinctions with sympathy and dexterity. In addition, he describes the lovelorn thoughts and feelings of the fourteen year-old protagonist with amazing deftness – simply among the best descriptions of teen romantic angst I’ve read. Additionally, his descriptions of Greece and Detroit and everything in between caused me to lose myself in the scene, time after time. That’s what great fiction does, and Eugenides does it with apparent effortlessness. And, finally, he examines gender and sexuality through both the lenses of fatalism and self-determination (nature/nurture) to such an immensely satisfying degree that he almost deserves the Pulitzer for that alone... almost. These things individually, let alone combined, easily qualify him as a great writer in my opinion and that’s why the book as a whole was so maddening for me. The sum of the parts turned out to be so much less than the whole.

OK. Now to my gripes: The author changes from third to first-person narrative to alert the reader that we’re now examining the protagonist’s psyche but I found the switches more confusing than edifying. He also utilizes a first-person omniscience that, though justified by the Greek mythological basis of the book, never quite rang true for me. In addition, he incorporates a tried and true movie vehicle for shifting time that I found utterly charming the first time he brought it into play - the second time, not so much. Most egregiously, for me, was at one point, near the end of the book, the writer actually breaks through the wall to tell me, the reader, why a character has been absent from the narrative for awhile. Seriously? Yeah, I’d noticed her absence. No, I didn’t think she just disappeared - I assumed she would re-appear when it was important. And, no, I didn’t need you to explain this to me. Now, please, get back behind the wall, it's there for a reason.

Additionally, there seemed to be nods to magic realism that, due to their vagueness, made me wonder if that’s what the author was even attempting. Then at the end, he brings in a dream-like death sequence to reassure me that, yes, this is fantastical – or is it? Maybe it’s just his interpretation of what death looks like. And therein lies the paramount question and the one that plagued this story from beginning to end for me – especially the second half: What is Eugenides trying to say? I never figured it out.

He is clearly a great writer. His prose is, at times, so lyrically crisp that you want to read it out loud to your loved ones. And the novel itself is wildly ambitious in scope, perhaps too much so because, if I’m being honest, I thought the story as a whole was a bit of a train-wreck. I was ultimately frustrated in my attempts to conjure a satisfying theory regarding its intent and, thus, its ultimate merit. If it's that the ancient Greeks were more enlightened regarding gender and sexuality, then what does Detroit have to do with it? If it's about the death of an American city, what's that got to do with gender and sexuality? And, if it's about rebirth, then Detroit may not be the best analog to begin with.

The result for me; the pieces didn't fit together well enough to qualify "Middlesex" for a list of great novels, let alone a Pulitzer. From a technical perspective, the novel is indeed, as described by some, a tour de force. But, from a story-telling perspective, it's considerably less than satisfying so... perhaps, this review is as confused as the novel it hopes to decipher. If so, I guess it's quid pro quo.

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Jan 30, 2012 Shovelmonkey1 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: 1001 book readers

Recommended to Shovelmonkey1 by: 1001 books list

Shelves: 1001-books, read-in-2010

Jeffrey Eugenides is another author with whom I was given a blind date via introductions from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list. Following the blind date - a little awkward at first but I really liked his style in the end - I have had subsequent dates with The Virgin Suicides and also enjoyed that very much. I won't give you any more detail as that would be too much like a kiss-and-tell and this is Goodreads, not the News of the World.

Middlesex is a trans-continental, trans gender famil...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Sath rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt, gender, historical-fiction, reviewed, on-my-bookshelf, charity-shop-bought, second-hand

The blurb has the right idea, in my opinion, take the opening line!:

I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.

There are no real spoilers here. Cal was born intersex, but raised as a girl, and later on transitioned to male. But as with most things, its the journey thats important here.

Cal is introduced to us as a middle-aged Greek-American male, li...more

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Jul 25, 2008 Christy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading Middlesex, but I'm not sure it succeeds as a work of literature. As the book went on, it became clear that it was all a buildup to the climactic moment when Cal discovers the genetic truth about himself. In this context, all the secondary plot about the grandparents and the parents felt like an obstruction to the real story. The focus on the previous generations stole the focus from Cal the narrator, and it was the narrator I was interested in. In digging for information about...more I enjoyed reading Middlesex, but I'm not sure it succeeds as a work of literature. As the book went on, it became clear that it was all a buildup to the climactic moment when Cal discovers the genetic truth about himself. In this context, all the secondary plot about the grandparents and the parents felt like an obstruction to the real story. The focus on the previous generations stole the focus from Cal the narrator, and it was the narrator I was interested in. In digging for information about Cal, the book teeters on the salacious, teasing the reader with weird scenes in which Cal's condition is nearly discovered but for the intervening hand of chance/fate. It was mildly disappointing to realize that the big payoff in this promising book is supposed to be a detailed description of Cal's genitalia.

As for the role of fate and genes-as-fate, Cal seems to focus on his incestuous heritage to prove the nature side in the nature v. nurture debate, but in the end, it was Cal's choice to change his life as he did. His choice in essence eschews the debate altogether; he abandons the female identity of his childhood but is careful to emphasize that he is far from a typical male. The novel explores the development of an outsider and a modern-day Tiresias, but even this theme is undermined by the sorely underdeveloped "present day" plot line with Julie. The eternal outsider may find companionship after all.

I think the character of Cal would have been better served by more development of his transition in identity and less focus on his grandparents. That is, what happened after Cal went home.

There were definitely little details I enjoyed, such as Cal consistently referring to his brother as only "Chapter Eleven" and to a formative love interest as "the Obscure Object" and "the Object." Little narrative delights like these kept me going even when I was frustrated with the direction of the novel as a whole.

As an aside: I have decided that the use of "wine-dark" as an adjective in modern fiction is an extremely cheap shortcut to seeming Homeric.(less)

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Apr 29, 2008 Ferina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Calliope Stephanides, menjalani kehidupannya selama 14 tahun sebagai seorang perempuan. Ia tidka menyadari ada keanehan dalam dirinya, sampai ketika ia beranjak dewasa, ia menyadari dirinya berbeda dengan teman-teman perempuan lainnya. Di usia dua belas tahun, ia belum mendapatkan menstruasi, berdada rata dan bertubuh lebih kurus dan jangkung. Di atas bibirnya, mulai ditumbuhi rambut tipis. Dan, ia lebih cenderung menyukai teman perempuan dibanding laki-laki. Keluarganya, terutama ibunya, Tessie...more Calliope Stephanides, menjalani kehidupannya selama 14 tahun sebagai seorang perempuan. Ia tidka menyadari ada keanehan dalam dirinya, sampai ketika ia beranjak dewasa, ia menyadari dirinya berbeda dengan teman-teman perempuan lainnya. Di usia dua belas tahun, ia belum mendapatkan menstruasi, berdada rata dan bertubuh lebih kurus dan jangkung. Di atas bibirnya, mulai ditumbuhi rambut tipis. Dan, ia lebih cenderung menyukai teman perempuan dibanding laki-laki. Keluarganya, terutama ibunya, Tessie Stephanides, juga mulai khawatir mengapa Calliope belum juga datang bulan.

Suatu hari, ia mengalami sebuah kecelakaan, dan dokter yang memeriksa menemukan adanya sebuah keanehan. Calliope pun dibawa ke dokter lain di New York untuk pemeriksaan lebih lanjut. Terungkaplah sebuah fakta bahwa Calliope adalah seorang Hermaphrodite alias berkelamin ganda. Saran Dr. Luce agar Calliope melakukan operasi ternyata ditolak.

Mulailah babak baru dalam kehidupan Calliope sebagai Cal Stephanides.

Buku ini lebih mirip sebuah memoar, sebuah kisah kehidupan seorang Cal Stephanides. Cal menuturkan sejarah keluarganya, awal mula terjainya kelainan genetis yang memungkinkan terjadinya sosok seorang Cal Stephanides.

Sejarah dimulai di sebuah wilayah di Yunani. Desdemona Stephanides tinggal bersama adiknya, Lefty Stephanides. Desdemona benar-benar mengabdikan hidupnya untuk merawat adiknya, sesuai janjinya pada ibunya. Bahkan berulang kali Desdemona mencarikan jodoh untuk adiknya, tapi Lefty ternyata tidak tertarik pada mereka.

Ternyata, tinggal hanya berdua, tidur bersebelahan, menimbulkan keanehan pada diri mereka. Rasa sayang, rasa tertarik bukan lagi semata karena mereka saudara kandung, tapi lebih dari itu. Rasa sayang yang timbul lebih arah rasa terhadap seorang wanita dan laki-laki.

Menjelang pelarian mereka dari Yunani ke Amerika akibat penyerbuan Turki, Lefty melamar Desdemona. Desdemona merima lamaran adiknya. Di kapal yang membawa mereka ke Amerika, Desdemona dan Lefty memainkan scenario sebagai pasangan yang baru saling mengenal dan jatuh cinta dalam di dalam pelayaran itu. Mereka pun menikah di kapal itu.

Di Amerika, mereka tinggal di rumah sepupu mereka, Sourmelina. Tidak ada yang tahu bahwa mereka adalah kakak beradik, kecuali Sourmelina.

Ketika hamil, Desdemona sempat diliputi kekhawatiran akan melahirkan anak-anak yang tidak normal. Tapi, ternyata hal itu tidak terbukti. Milton dan Zoe lahir dengan sehat dan normal. Tapi, kekhawatiran itu timbul lagi, ketika Milton tertarik ada Tessie, anak Sourmelina. Meskipun, Desdemona sudah menjodohkan Tessie dengan Mike, seorang calon pastur, Milton dan Tessie pun akhirnya menikah. Mike pun akhirnya menikah dengan Zoe.

Dari Milton dan Tessie, lahirnya Calliope Stephanides. Menurut ramalan sendok Desdemona, jenis kelamin si jabang bayi adalah laki-laki. Tapi Milton dan Tessie tidak mau percaya begitu saja, karena mereka berdua mendambakan anak perempuan setelah anak laki-laki pertama mereka, Chapter Eleven. Tapi, oleh Dr. Phil, dokter yang menangani persalinan, ditegaskan bahwa bayi itu berjenis kelamin perempuan. Berakhirlah masa kejayaan ramalan sendok Desdemona.

Calliope pun menjalani kehidupan sebagai seorang perempuan. Keanehan di awal masa remaja dianggap sebagai tanda bahwa pertumbuhan Calliope lebih lambat dari teman-temannya.

Dalam novel yang dibagi dalam empat bagian besar ini, Eugenides menjadikan Cal sebagai penutur. Bagian yang unik adalah waktu Cal cerita tentang ‘antrian’ di alam ‘sana’ sebelum akhirnya pemenangnya adalah Chapter Eleven. Bukan hanya itu, Eugenides juga dengan teliti dan sabar menguraikan sejarah selama rentang waktu 50 tahun. Benar-benar sebuah cerita yang menguraikan perjalanan keluarga selama 3 generasi.
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Mar 18, 2009 Bree rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2000-2005, fiction

I was halfway through and decided I really couldn't finish this book. I found the writing irritating and I couldn't wrap my head around most of what the narrator was talking about, let alone how it jumped around and he/she would say "but more of that later" or whatever. It just grated on me. I'm sure now that the narrator is actually IN the story it would get better, but I just couldn't handle it anymore...and I gave up.

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