Middlesex, Book Two

[Alison, the guru of grace]

How's it coming, guys? It's the middle of the month. Is anyone making progress? I have actually MISPLACED this book, but I think it's at work and I can get it back tonight. :( I'm into Book Two, though.

[Laura]

I finished the book yesterday and really enjoyed it, so I'm eager to discuss the rest of it...

Reading about Tessie and Milton getting together was almost like Desdemona and Lefty all over again. They try to date other people (at least Tessie does - Milton joins the Navy instead) but still seem fated to marry each other, and lo and behold, we learn of incestuous relationship #2.

[[deleted user]]

Well, they didn't really know it was THAT incestuous. As far as they knew, they were only 2nd or 3rd cousins (I can't really remember if Lefty and Desdemona and Lina were 1st or 2nd cousins). They didn't know that Lefty and Desdemona were also brother and sister.
And growing up together, I guess it was just sort of normal that they were then ending up together. I felt really sorry for Zoe, though, because she never really wanted to be with Mike.

[Laura]

That's true, Marion, good point... I'm pretty sure Lina and L&D were first cousins, but the incestuousness (is that a word?) of it is only known to us as readers. I agree about feeling sorry for Zoe, though - and I kind of feel bad for Mike, too, because he seems to settle for Zoe at the same time that she settles for him.

[[deleted user]]

You are right, Zoe sort of was second choice for Mike as he was her second choice. I still didn't feel as sorry for him as for her, as I didn't really like Mike, not even when we got to know him as a young man because I already found him pretty annoying then. And the glimpses of the grown-up Mike we got were not much better, quite on the contrary. He always pretended to be the nice guy and used his profession as a priest for it, but behind that facade, he always tried to hit on Tessie whenever he could.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

SPOILERS ABOUT BOOK 2!

This book was kind of like everything that's good and bad about America to me. You've got Milton living the American Dream, and you've got Lefty, ultimately throwing it all away financially.

Interesting how Tessie & Milton end up together. At least they're not brother and sister! You can just see all of these genes mixing and can't help but be surprised that someone interesting is going to be a product. Although I feel like I know very little about our main character. I guess that's where the next two books come in.

[Gwynne]

SPOILERS FROM BOOK 2:

Lefty seems kind of doomed no matter what he does. He was throwing his life away before they came to America, and half the time he was doing well financially, he was earning it illegally.

I have to say I'm unimpressed with the whole Jimmy Zizmmo (I think I'm spelling his name wrong) thing. Having him be the preacher guy proved the whole temple thing to be a fraud, but, really, how is he not dead? They don't seem to acknowledge that at all.

I kept thinking that there seem to be an amazing amount of things that happened, which they could consider to be the cause of the main character being a hermaphrodite. Like that god was punishing them for the incest or Milton not rebuilding the church. It makes me wonder how many things my parents would have blamed if I had been born with something wrong.

[Elizabeth]

SPOILER!

Gwynne,

I also felt the part about Jimmy Z being the Muslim leader was not impressive. It certainly deserved a better explanation as to how he ended up there. Plus it felt like Jimmy's story was still unfinished when Desdemona finds out about him being the leader and he leaves for who knows where. This was probably the only part of the book where I really felt that the author could have done a better job with it or just left it out altogether.

[Deborah]

I can see how making Jimmy Z really be Wallace Fard Muhammad was tempting for Eugenides, since the founding of the Nation of Islam did occur in Detroit during the same time period and Muhammad's origins are pretty hazy. There is a theory that he was of Turkish extraction. Tempting as it was, the author should have refrained. That segment of the story was far-fetched even without Jimmy Z(a typical Greek man, even Lefty, would have never let his wife work in that neighborhood. It would have been a major scandal. If she worked outside the home at all, Desdemona would have worked within the Greek community.)

My favorite parts of Book 2 were the descriptions of the Ford Motor Co. and how they tried to control every aspect of their employees' lives, and the beautiful repetitive passage about working on the line at the Ford plant.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

SPOILER!!!


Good points, all. I was pretty shocked when Jimmy Z turned up again. Definetely a plot manuever meant to surprise that may not have been very realistic.

[Deborah]

Alison wrote: "SPOILER!!!


Good points, all. I was pretty shocked when Jimmy Z turned up again. Definetely a plot manuever meant to surprise that may not have been very realistic."

Looking back, I think the author put that whole sequence in just to write the final scene where Muhammad steps onto the running board of the car to bid farewell to his followers. And I did sort of expect Jimmy Z to turn up in some other capacity later in the book.

[Kristi]

I read this book 2 years ago, so I'm having a hard time remembering who Jimmy Z was...I wish I had time to re-read, I loved this book! I guess some aspects of it stuck with me better than others.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

SPOILER BOOK 2:


When Lefty and Desdemona flee to America, they settle with their cousin Sourmelina (Lina) and her husband Jimmy Zizmo. Lefty goes into an illegal business with Jimmy. Jimmy is suspicious of Lina & Lefty. It is assumed that Jimmy dies after driving across thin ice with Lefty, but he later emerges as a leader in the Nation of Islam named Fard.

[Kristi]

Thanks for the refresher, Alison!

[Dini, the master of meaning]

SPOILERS



I agree that Jimmy Z's reappearance as Fard is a little weird because it wasn't explained how he escaped death on the freezing river. His motivations were also unclear. It was hinted that he left probably because he thought Lina's baby was not his, or he thought he couldn't afford to raise the baby, or "he might have been faking the whole thing". Why did he have to fake it to run away and become a religious leader?

But I'm really enjoying the book so far. Although in some days I don't have time to read, the story keeps me hooked. I like the part where Tessie watches movies and realizes she loves Milton: "There was nowhere I could go that wouldn't be you."

[Deborah]

Dini wrote: "SPOILERS



I agree that Jimmy Z's reappearance as Fard is a little weird because it wasn't explained how he escaped death on the freezing river. His motivations were also unclear. It was hinted th..."

Dini - thanks for reminding me of that line. I remember thinking when I read it that it was the best definition of love that I'd ever heard.

[Hannah]

I finally finished the second book! yah.

SPOILERS:

I agree with everyone that the part about Jimmy was far fetched and unnecessary, Other that the ending, I loved Desdemona's time working with the silk at Temple No. 1.

Thanks for reminding me Dini about Tessie and the movies. I thought that was quite romantic and enjoyed (because I thought the rest of their courtship was really odd. It puts the whole... "One time, at band camp..." into another perspective. Sorry i couldn't resist).

I think Lefty's story is really quite sad. He loves his wife, but because of their problems, they drift apart. And then the business that he worked so hard for falls apart and is taken over by his son. He seems to be to be the picture of older people who feel out of date and useless. It makes me want to listen to my grandfather's stories and spend more time with him. :)

On to book three. I have to say it is slow going for me...

[Alison, the guru of grace]

Hang in there Hannah. The narrator's story is the most interesting, to me. :)