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Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides

Start date: April 1, 2019

Finish date: April 30, 2019

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Gender Stereotypes is the diversity topic should we will cover in April.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
[close] Gender Stereotypes is the diversity topic should we will cover in April.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

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Monthly Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Apr 01, 2014 Barbara rated it it was amazing

Calliope (Cal) Stephanides, born after World War II, was raised as a girl until the teenage years. Then, at 14, puberty kicked in and Cal matured into a boy.

Doctors found that Cal was a hermaphrodite with male (XY) sex chromosomes, intersex genitals, and a recessive genetic mutation that messes with the sex hormones.

But Cal's story (and genetic troubles) started long before, in 1922, when his Greek grandparents lived in Smyrna, Turkey. Unable to find suitable mates a brother and sister - Desdem ...more

81 likes · Like · see review

Oct 12, 2009 Chris Blocker rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 10-star-reviews

For years, I have avoided Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. The concept felt too much like a ploy to me. It didn't matter that it won the Pulitzer, or that it had such rave reviews, or that it was on Oprah's Book List (admittedly, I tend to love "her" books). I couldn't succumb to its pull.

At the insistence of my MFA mentor, I finally did. Wow, what a surprise. A fabulous read and not at all what I expected. There were times when my love for the novel wavered (e.g. the sudden disappearance of Desmon ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 30, 2007 Melissa Rochelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, pulitzer, coming-of-age

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 30, 2008 Lynn L rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1001-challenge

1960's USA...lots of subplots in this book. I liked this book...spoke about issues not often discussed in real life. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 18, 2008 Becca rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. While I LOVE Eugenides' writing style so much, this was (IMHO) one of his weaker works. Still, it won the freaking Pulitzer and I didn't, and I can see why it did.

Callie/Cal was an endearing character, and while the history of her family feels long, you can see its importance at the end; none of it can be left out. The parallelism (I think) between the house and Callie's learning of herself and her transformation is intriguing, and the play on words is interesting, too. There were some beautiful ...more

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