MIDDLESEX Middlesex is a coming of age story that is rich in history and tells of one family's story through many generations. The narrator and main character is Calliope Stephanides, a hermaphrodite. Jeffrey Eugenides wrote this extraordinary story, which takes its readers to Greece where he shows us Calliope's (who is eventually Cal) true beginnings starting with his grandparents. When Cal's grandparents migrate to America to run from the Turkish Wars, they end up staying with a cousin in Detroit in 1920. Since I grew up in the Detroit area myself, and am about the same age as Cal, I felt as if I was home with the story. I'm familiar with the 1943 and 1967 race riots in Detroit; I know of all the areas, streets, neighborhoods, and businesses that Mr. Eugenides brought into this fictional novel. For me, this familiarity made it inevitable that I fell into the story completely and effortlessly.
Many of the characters in this story go through enormous and intriguing transformations that in turn add to the magnificence of the novel: Relatives become spouses and in-laws; Greeks become Americans; Poor become rich; Young and healthy become old and sick; and Calliope becomes Cal.
This is a story that is different from anything that I've ever read before, from the subject matter, to the point of view narration and writing style of Jeffrey Eugenides. Therefore, if you are looking to add variety to your reading list, Middlesex should do the trick.
Slow Delivery The book was in good condition, but it took 11 days to arrive from the date it shipped and there was no tracking number provided.Most powerful story I've had the pleasure of reading I read the Virgin Suicides about ten years ago and fell in love with the story and the author's writing style. I picked up Middlesex a few years later and was completely blown away. I felt like I was part of the story; the emotions of all the characters were so strong. Last week I re-read this book. I still don't feel quite the same - this story is so powerful and moving. Just make sure you have enough time to read since you will not be able to space this out too long. Under your skin This brilliancy took nearly a dedade to write. Like the slow brimming of an orgasm bestowed upon a woman, Eugenides gets into the heads of anyone and everyone they need of him. When it is working it flows and there is an excitement that shakes the hands and arches the eyebrows. Thank you for putting it in to print. You just know what it feels like and it is such a relief to know you are not alone.
J-Lyrical Hermaphrodite Story Middlesex wowed me. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. It's an immigrant story, and a hermaphrodite story (a sexual outcast story, if you will) and an American story. Eugenides tells the tale from the point of view of the protagonist, Cal, in the present, looking back. In order to tell his story properly he must acquaint the reader with his family history. Throughout the first half of the book I was interested, but not addicted. But I kept reading because I really wanted to find out what happened when Callie became Cal. But this book was so beautifully written. It has the Gabriel Garcia Marquez kind of quality, where there is so much history and backstory that you become immersed in the characters and plot until you really are living within the story. Once the timeline finally reached Cal's childhood I felt so connected to his story that I could really appreciate how the story was being told from a man's point of view, but he was talking about himself, the little girl. For the first time I found myself considering from a very personal and subjective point of view what it might be like to be unclassifiable. What if I thought I was a girl but I turned out to be a boy? What if I knew there was something different about me but I didn't know what. It's fantastic the way that Eugenides was able to give me a completely new point of view on my sex and sexuality; things I generally take for granted. I might classify this book as magical realism, due to it's mystical and sometimes whimsical qualities. It was lovely. So readable.
