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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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What Members Thought

Jun 26, 2018 Jess Penhallow rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: usa, 21st-century, 1970s, 2018-chunky-books, germany, turkey, 1930s, 1920s, 1940s, 1960s

I can't quite express my thoughts about this book only that it was perfectly formed. Every sentence was so carefully crafted it was like the author just chose every single word perfectly to propel the story and provoke introspection. Nothing was throwaway, no avenue left unexplored. The narrative was like a thought process, sometimes going where you would not expect but always leading there naturally. I am a bit in awe to be honest.

And the story, It was so wrought with emotions, worries and cons ...more

15 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2013 Valyssia Leigh rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: format-audio, author-male, lgbtqia, award-pulitzer-prize, drama, book-club-boxall-1001, book-club-queereaders, book-club-transgender-fiction, published-decade-2000s, protagonist-non-binary

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Ugh, dammit…this one is…

It’s good, but it irritated the crap out of me. Mostly because it really is kind of two different things. On the one hand it’s a quippy biographical account of three generations of Greek immigrants living in Detroit during the twentieth century. In that respect, it really is quite well done.

Where it touches the life of its 'hermaphrodite' protagonist, it wants to fall down. It wants it so badly that in the end it has him run away to San Francisco to join the cast of a pe Ugh, dammit…this one is…

It’s good, but it irritated the crap out of me. Mostly because it really is kind of two different things. On the one hand it’s a quippy biographical account of three generations of Greek immigrants living in Detroit during the twentieth century. In that respect, it really is quite well done.

Where it touches the life of its 'hermaphrodite' protagonist, it wants to fall down. It wants it so badly that in the end it has him run away to San Francisco to join the cast of a peep show. I can’t think of a single thing that would’ve been more cliché and less poignant than that. Because when I imagine the experience of being intersex, the first place my mind goes is pornography in the Castro.

For me reading this book was like getting a gift wrapped in a really pretty, eye-catching foil paper, only to open it and find that the garment inside was selected by my grandmother. Sadly, it was a garment that I really wanted to like, but it missed the mark by both miles and inches.

The real problem, I think, is that the author is an average man of Greek descent who grew up in Detroit. The places where the book actually shines are these.

The issues are akin to ones that might be seen in the case of a sighted author who writes a book about a blind person. They have no experience, so a certain lack of authenticity can come through in the narrative. That’s not to say that it can’t be done. Or that, even going in cold, a talented writer (which I believe Mr. Eugenides undoubtedly is) couldn’t pull off a fair facsimile, but the fact is that someone who lacks the experience will be more likely to miss or misjudge something.

Now, in the case of blindness, there are some fine guides to be had on what it’s like to experience the world without vision, so study is possible. I’m not aware of anything like that for portraying intersexual characters. The subject is too taboo. It isn’t a popular one either. It’s actually something that people are inclined to ridicule and shun. And the truly sad thing is that most people don’t see anything wrong with that, especially if they don’t understand what’s going on. All they see is a gawky, underdeveloped girl, or someone they assume is a girl, but might be a boy… You get the idea.

This book isn’t helpful. It starts off wrong. It ends wrong. The things in between are sometimes entertaining. Like in the section that actually deals with the adolescent life of the protagonist, Cal or Callie Stephanides, where he relays the tale of his first girlfriend who he calls the ‘Obscure Object.’ That’s a story that could belong to almost any budding lesbian. It was accounted in a way that was remarkably resonant.

In some respects, this actually is a really good book, but dammit, you don’t start off a story like this by saying that the protagonist is damaged—that their grandparents were brother and sister and their parents were second cousins and that the whole damned thing can be blamed on them. If any blame need be slung, it should be aimed at the social/sexual roles that make life hell for anyone who doesn’t fit the preordained molds that are thrust on us from the moment we’re squirted out of the womb.

Yeah, it kinda pissed me off. That theme was like a gnat buzzing in my ear. It popped up time and again to nag at me.

Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t read this book. I don’t think it’s horrible. What I am saying is that this is one person’s take on the subject and it’s ultimately a flawed one because it lends to the impression that anyone who is gender questioning, intersexual or transsexual is deformed or genetically defective/inbred. In other words, it treats the subject like a birth defect. I don’t think it is. I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think it should’ve started there.

I think that it’s a perfectly reasonable thing for a protagonist with this history to want to blame their woes on the mistakes of their parents or grandparents, so in a way the story is perfectly rational. It’s the choice to begin with incest that I object to.

Keep in mind that my opinion isn’t the popular one, again. This is a Pulitzer Prize winning novel that’s sold over three million copies. To me that just makes my complaint seem even worse. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2017 Toni FGMAMTC rated it it was amazing

Shelves: top-must-reads-in-your-lifetime, favorites, coming-of-age, quiltbag, literary-fiction, america, intersex, family-saga, greece, greek-descent-mc

I love the style of writing this author uses. It's a little bit humorous and touching both without being too much of either. The entire story kept my attention. I didn't want to put it down to do real life things. So much of it was unexpected to me. It follows a family from Greece to America. The main character is intersex. She was thought to be a girl until puberty when her male side started showing more. There's so much knowledge here and so much made up story too. About everything not just ab ...more

1 like · Like · see review