Middlesex : A Novel

published	September 23rd 2003 by Random House of Canada, Limited
first published	2002
binding	Paperback
isbn	0676975658 (isbn13: 9780676975659)
ebook
pages	544
literary awards	Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (2003); 2004 IMPAC Dublin Award Nominee; 2002 National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
description	"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emerge...more [close] "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the "roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time." The odd but utterly believable story of Cal Stephanides, and how this 41-year-old hermaphrodite was raised as Calliope, is at the tender heart of this long-awaited second novel from Jeffrey Eugenides, whose elegant and haunting 1993 debut, The Virgin Suicides, remains one of the finest first novels of recent memory. Eugenides weaves together a kaleidoscopic narrative spanning 80 years of a stained family history, from a fateful incestuous union in a small town in early 1920s Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit; from the early days of Ford Motors to the heated 1967 race riots; from the tony suburbs of Grosse Pointe and a confusing, aching adolescent love story to modern-day Berlin. Eugenides's command of the narrative is astonishing. He balances Cal/Callie's shifting voices convincingly, spinning this strange and often unsettling story with intelligence, insight, and generous amounts of humor: <blockquote>Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." … I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered my story, I need them more than ever.</blockquote> When you get to the end of this splendorous book, when you suddenly realize that after hundreds of pages you have only a few more left to turn over, you'll experience a quick pang of regret knowing that your time with Cal is coming to a close, and you may even resist finishing it--putting it aside for an hour or two, or maybe overnight--just so that this wondrous, magical novel might never end. --Brad Thomas Parsons [close]
date added	04-10-07 edit book

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Trina rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422156)

07/29/07

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2003

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 somethin...more

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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0374199698)

05/17/08

Read in May, 2008

(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 hermaphro...more

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Andrew rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422156)

12/11/07

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 ...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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Pete added it (review of isbn 0312422156)

07/14/07

Read in July, 2007

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 wro...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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Ferina rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422156)

04/29/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in July, 2007

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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Ririenz rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422156)

07/10/08

bookshelves: sastra-inspirasi

Read in June, 2008

Ternyata ada benarnya ya jika orang tua qta sering mengingatkan ttg adat, tradisi dan hukum agama kapada qta. Walau kadang mereka tidak tahu arti dari sebuah larangan tetapi kenyataannya apa yg mereka bilang ada benarnya. Masih ingat kan pelajaran agama sewaktu masih disekolah dulu??? Siapa2 saja yg halal dinikahkan oleh seseorang. Ternyata firman Tuhan itu tidak main2 karena secara teoritis ( telah dibuktikan secara ilmiah dalam ilmu kedokteran ) bisa membawa akibat yg fatal bagi keturunannya k...more Ternyata ada benarnya ya jika orang tua qta sering mengingatkan ttg adat, tradisi dan hukum agama kapada qta. Walau kadang mereka tidak tahu arti dari sebuah larangan tetapi kenyataannya apa yg mereka bilang ada benarnya. Masih ingat kan pelajaran agama sewaktu masih disekolah dulu??? Siapa2 saja yg halal dinikahkan oleh seseorang. Ternyata firman Tuhan itu tidak main2 karena secara teoritis ( telah dibuktikan secara ilmiah dalam ilmu kedokteran ) bisa membawa akibat yg fatal bagi keturunannya kelak. Akibat yg ditimbulkannya bisa bermacam2, pokoke keturunan dari perkawinan yg dekat ( sangat ) hubungan kekerabatannya bisa memberikan efek cacat / lethal baik sevara psikis genetis maupun psikis rohani.

Contoh nyata yg sudah dipatenkan adalah MIDDLESEX. Novel ini memberikan gambaran nyata akibat perkawinan sedarah ( adik & kakak ) atau perkawinan dgn pasangan yg masih dekat hubungan kekerabatannya. Perkawinan sedarah dalam novel ini terjadi pada satu keluarga dari Yunani, yaitu antara Desdemona Stepanides dan Letty Stepanides. Mungkin karena kondisi lingkungan dan psikis dari kakak beradik itu menyebabkan mereka melanggar aturan dan norma yg telah difirmankan oleh Tuhan. Kepindahan mereka ke Amerika seakan melegalkan semua tindakan asusila mereka karena tidak ada kontrol sosial yg bs menekan mereka. Bagusnya keturunan pertama Desdemona dan Letty yaitu Milton tidak mengalami cacat baik secara psikis dan rohani. Desdemona yg seorang katholik ortodok sebenarnya mengetahui bahwa perbuatan tercela mereka suatu saat nanti pasti mendapatkan ganjaran dari Tuhan. Meskipun dikecam ketakutan ttp Desdemona tak kuasa melawan hasratnya. Sedangkan Letty yg mjd apathis karena keadan tidak mempercayai adanya " Azab " Tuhan.

Keluarga Stephanides tinggal di salah satu negara bagian di Amrik, yaitu Detroit. Awalnya mereka tinggal bersama sepupu mereka Salmolina yg memberi tumpangan sebelum Stepanides mampu berdikari di Amrik. Salmolina mempunyai anak perempuan bernama Tessie. Dalam perkembangannya Milton kemudian berumah tangga dengan Tessie. Kecemasan Desdemona terus berlanjut dan dia menunggunya dengan penuh rasa bersalah. Milton dan Tessie dikaruniai sepasang anak, laki2 dan perempuan. Anak pertama laki2 bernama, Chapter Eleven dan yg kedua perempuan bernama Calliope ( Callie )

Desdemona tidak melihat perkembangan buruk dari kedua cucunya. Tetapi menjelang usia pubertas sekitar 14 tahun ada yg tiba2 berubah pada Callie. Disaat teman2 sekolahnya satu persatu mengalami tanda2 kedewasaan sbg seorang perempuan, Callie malah mengalami kebalikannya. Dia tidak merasakan apa yg dialami teman2nya. Perkembangan sikap, fisik dan dorongan seksual Callie lebih cenderung kelaki2an. Dia jg lebih menyukai perempuan dari pd lelaki. Callie merasa terjebak dalam tubuh seorang perempuan.

Kecelakaan membuat Callie dan kedua orangnya mengethui kondisi fisiknya. Ternyata Callie seorang Hermaprodit. Dia tidak mempunya kromosom alha-beta5 sehingga produksi hormon testoteonnya tinggi. Sedangkan hormon esterogen yg dihasilkan oleh tubuhnya rendah. Postur tubuh, sifat dasar dan tingkah laku2 Callie jg kelaki2n. Tidak kuat dan bingung menghadapi kenyataan hidupnya Callie berusaha melarikan diri meski dia sadar hal tsb tidak memecahkan masalah. Kehidupan Callie yg kini dipanggil Cal berubah ketika ayahnya meninggal. Dia mulai memperbaiki diri dan hidupnya karena dia akhirnya sadar semua yg ada pada dirinya adalah berkah dari Tuhan dan bukan sebuah kutukan.

Cerita dalam novel ini adalah kisah nyata dari seorang transgender yg ditu2rkan dgn apik oleh JE. Novel ini banyak bercerita ttg budaya, adat istiadat dan perangai Yunani. Tetapi novel ini hanya menampilkan sedikit sosok Callie atau Cal sebenarnya, apalagi setelah kelahirannya mnjd seorang laki2. andai saja JE bisa mengungkapkan lebih banyak lagi ya...
Mungkin bukan halaman dan harga bukunya saja yg berubah naik ttp sepertinya pembaca MIDDLESEX akan lebih terpuaskan. Tapi bisa jd bila cerita JE diteruskan smp pada kehidupan Callie / Cal setelah bertranformasimungkin novel yg disuguhkan tidak terlalu fantastis.

Tapi keseluruhan MIDDLESEX wokeh bgt... ...less

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Virna rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422156)

11/25/07

recommends it for: Oprah fans, Avid readers

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...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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Martine rated it:

(review of isbn 0312422156)

02/26/08

bookshelves: family-drama, gay-lesbian-different, modern-fiction, north-american, psychological-drama

Read in February, 2008

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 ...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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R. rated it:

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06/03/08

bookshelves: 2008

Introduction, or The Chromosome of Darkness

Found at The Book Worm - they had two used copies available. I chose the one with the Pulitzer Prize medallion. If I'm going to read a novel about the horrors of hormonal imbalance, I want it to be recognized by academics as the last word, the classic word and the canonical word on the horror...the horror.

Thoughts on The Silver Spoon

The symbolism of coffee; Chapter Eleven spilling coffee on the little g...more

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Trevor rated it:

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07/06/07

Read in July, 2007

"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 interesti...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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Tracey rated it:

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09/05/07

Read in August, 2005

recommends it for: anyone looking for a multi-generational family story and who finds the nonstandard intriguing,

I'd had this book on my To Read list for a while - original recommendation from mortal_belleza. I bought a trade PB copy either at the library book sale or the local used book store some time ago. After finishing As Nature Made Him : The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl by John Colapinto, this book seemed a natural followup.

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogles...more

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Taylor rated it:

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05/28/07

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

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: everyone with an open mind, and even some of those with closed ones.

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 i...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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Kelly rated it:

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09/14/07

Read in September, 2007

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 wa...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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Meagan rated it:

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06/22/08

Read in June, 2008

This is a beautifully written story with rich charecters, scenery, and history. In fact I was surprised at how historical it felt at first.

Our first person narrator Cal, takes us through the journey of his lonely lovesick grandparents fleeing a land of war, his naive and stubborn parents, and finally himself and how he discovered that he was a he being raised as a she.

The story begins with a traditional gender test. By hanging a silver spoon over his pregnant mother's belly his grandmo...more