Middlesex, Book Four

[Alison, the guru of grace]

I finished this yesterday. I see alot of mixed reviews on GoodReads, but I thought it was great story-telling. I thought the writing far superior to the story, but well worth it's Pulitzer Prize.

[Deborah]

Alison wrote: "I finished this yesterday. I see alot of mixed reviews on GoodReads, but I thought it was great story-telling. I thought the writing far superior to the story, but well worth it's Pulitzer Prize. "

Alison, I totally agree. Although the story was interesting and the characters (even some of the more bizarre characters) were believable and engaging, it was the writing that distinguishes this book.

SPOILER


I really liked that Cal made the decision to the his (or, more to the point, Cal's) self. In a world, especially in western culture, gender roles are still so rigid, Cal really symbolized the fact that we all have a mixture of both gender traits. We confuse this with sexuality, but that's just a small part of gender.

One last note. Did anyone else see the story as kind of the dark side of the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" Maybe we should have chosen to watch that for the movie of the month. I can just hear Desdemona crying, "Xenos! Xenos!"

[Laura]

Deborah, can you talk more about the parallels you drew between the book and MBFGW movie? I think you're definitely on to something there, but I'm curious to hear more about what you think.

[Dottie]

I'm with Laura -- interesting thought and I'd like to hear more details. Noiw I'm going to have to reread Middlesex -- 'oy to the vey' (visualize Miss Patty here, please) -- so many books, etc.

[Sarah Mae]

Alison wrote: "I finished this yesterday. I see alot of mixed reviews on GoodReads, but I thought it was great story-telling. I thought the writing far superior to the story, but well worth it's Pulitzer Prize. "

I also really enjoyed the book, after I got past the squickiness of the incest. I was sucked in immediately but couldn't finish as quickly as I wanted because the writing was so dense.

[Melissa Rochelle]

**Spoilers**

I just finished the book last night and I found the last few pages overwhelming. So much happens...Cal in San Fran...Milton's death...Cal finds out about Desdemona and Lefty. Perhaps it was that way for a reason, that's the way Cal was feeling so the reader gets a tatse of it.

It happens to me a lot where I LOVE a book, then I get to the last couple of chapters and I start losing interest. It's a problem.

[Deborah]

One of the "dark side" parallels I drew between MBFGW and Middlesex was the relationship of the Greek Orthodox Church with the Greek population. In the movie, the Church becomes the defining and dominate symbol of modern Greek culture and life in the United States. In Middlesex, the influence of the Church is more diffused, appealing primarily to women, especially older women, to whom Father Mike becomes an ideal. His priesthood supercedes and masks his unsavory character.

Then of course there's the ever present patriarchy. In MBFGW it is presented as old-fashioned and somewhat benign. Middlesex presents it in a less ambiguous light - as a control mechanism for men who felt threatened in a new environment. Lefty doesn't see the need to banish Des to the kitchen until he begins to feel like a failure as a man. For Milt, Cal presents a unique conundrum - how, in a patriarchal society, even a modern one, can a little girl (a combination of pet and bargaining chip in the marriage futures market) decide to be a man? I think there may have been a suicidal element in Milt's chase of Father Mike. I think, to Milt, that paying the ransom meant he would get Callie back and the specter of Cal would be banished. When he realized that he was being cheated by Father Mike not just of money, but of his little girl, there was really no other option for him.

[Hannah]

I finally finished it!

Spoilers:

I do have to say that at first I thought the ending was a little quick. It seemed a little out of place to Eugenides's writing, which seemed so story-telling and fluid. But I like your point, Melissa, about how perhaps he wrote those events so quickly in order to give us a taste of what it would be like to come to such a revelation.

One thing I really enjoyed about the ending was how Cal was not so completely changed. "In most ways I remained the person I'd always been. Even now, though I live as a man, I remain in essential ways Tessie's daughter." I thought that was so poetic because it blends how gender is not a specific identity. Like the idea that we all have testosterone and estrogen within us, it shows that we do not (nor need not) live in the gender stereotypes that have so consumed our world for so long.

All in all, I found this book very well written and very thought provoking, which I consider some of the key elements to a great novel.

I can see some of the parallels between My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the book, though I didn't see them at first. I think the biggest parallel I thought of was how in both there are the growing up and blossoming of an identity. In MBFGW, she is seen at first as the ugly daughter, if you will the "girl-guy" figure. The daughter who would never attract a man and who would always stay at home. But she blossoms into who she is and grows to be a beautiful, desirable young woman. In the same way, Cal grows up into more of who he is, finding his identity. Very interesting parallel.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

I can't believe I haven't posted a comment in here! Anyway, I also thought the writing was awesome. It is rare that a book this long kept me interested right up till the end. Each part is captivating in itself.



SPOILERS

When Milton got the anonymous phone call asking for ransom, I randomly thought it probably was Jimmy Zizmo again. Not! Haha. But it all makes sense how an unhappy Father Mike would do something like that.

About the ending, it was a little too... calm for me. I guess I was expecting something of an uproar, that when Callie's condition becomes known to everyone Desdemona will become hysterical and spills out the secret she's been keeping for so long, and all hell breaks loose. So I guess it was a bit below my expectation to see Desdemona and Callie be so quiet about the incestuous relationship.

And one more thing that bugged me since the beginning -- why is Chapter Eleven called Chapter Eleven? I understand Callie's need to conceal the name of the Object, for instance, but why hide his brother's name? He didn't do anything more embarrassing than the other members of the family, and Callie spoke of them all so freely. My first guess is that it was some kind of code, that the real name will be mentioned somewhere in the eleventh chapter (when he was born). But no mention of it there. The only thing that stood out for me is that in that chapter Milton established Hercules Hotdogs. Could that mean his son's name is actually Hercules and the hotdog stands were named after him? Or am I overthinking all of this? Hee.

[Alison, the guru of grace]

I thought he was called Chapter Eleven because later in life he was forced to file for Chapter Eleven (aka bankrupcy). But why he was never given the dignity of an actual name, I have no idea.

[Dini, the master of meaning]

Ah, thanks Alison. I checked and found Q&A with Eugenides on Oprah where he says the same thing. It was not very obvious to me as I'm not familiar with US laws on bankruptcy (Eugenides also said the reference to Chapter Eleven is not understandable to foreign readers). Come to think of it, maybe it's meant by Cal as a kind of brotherly joke.