A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides–the astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl.In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls’ school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond clasmate with a gift for acting. The … with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them–along with Callie’s failure to develop–leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.
The explanation for this shocking state of affairs takes us out of suburbia- back before the Detroit race riots of 1967, before the rise of the Motor City and Prohibition, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie’s grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set in motion the metamorphosis that will turn Callie into a being both mythical and perfectly real: a hermaphrodite.
Spanning eight decades–and one unusually awkward adolescence- Jeffrey Eugenides’s long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America’s best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker.
Middlesex is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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Excellent novel. Didn’t want it to end.
I came to this book later than most readers and then only because it was gifted to me by a bibliophile friend whom I trust. What I encountered in its pages is a timely story of what it means to live as intersex in a world where the status is barely understood. The fact that the book won a Pulitzer is testament enough to the writer’s craft. As an …
Since I have been writing about androgyny I thought I should read some different takes on the subject. Mr Eugenides book was a revelation – drole, knowledgeable, digressive, great characters including a marvelous narrator’s voice. Philosophical too, in a wry way. Made me imagine a cross between Tom Robbins and E L Doctorow but utterly unique too. …
This was an amazing book that I recommend everyone read. I learned a lot by reading this. The characters were great, the writing was great, everything about this book was great.
Middlesex is a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel). The interesting aspect of this wonderful family saga is like life. Life is not made up of a single transformation, but rather a series of shifts and twists, changes, and rebirths that come gradually within a framework of continuity. The broader theme of identity is constructed around gender …
The Pulitzer Prize says it all..
Excellent read. Quirky, an education in itself.
One of my favorite books! Highly recommend,
Extremely well written. Highly original. Memorable.
What a great book. I loved it. So much history and so much information that allows you to learn while reading a wonderful story. I highly recommend.
Never would have read it if my mother hadn’t recommended it to me and now it’s one of my top five of all time. Dive right in.
I had a hard time finishing this book. It just seemed to drag. I don’t know what I expected, but am sure it would have been better if it were condensed.
I tried to read this “masterpiece” about 3 times…boring, sorry, but it was!
I have loved this book every time I’ve read it (3). Eugenides is an amazing writer. His words flow so smoothly and perfectly from place to lace, from topic to topic. I could see everything he described, and feel all the emotion his characters felt. He’s wonderful.
This is one of the best stories I have ever read. The nuances of Detroit, San Francisco, Greece, and northern Lower Michigan come alive under Eugenides’ pen. The story, while unconventional deeply explores, and questions, our assumptions about gender, sexuality, and family. The characters he creates are beautifully flawed and willing to share …
I had to read this book for a multiculturalism class in graduate school and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who read the whole book. I just couldn’t put it down. Excellent writing.
Incredible reality. Relates to today. We are born who we are
Outstanding work. Learned more about gender disorders and the implications for person’s life from this book than a scientific text could ever have provided. I highly recommend the book.
This was my second reading of Middlesex, and I was surprised to find that it was an entirely different take than when I first read it almost a decade ago.
The story revolves around a modern day young girl and her extended, old-world Greek family. Callie Stephanides is tall, awkward, and shy, preferring books to people in her upper-middle class …
So slow moving. Boorring