Product Description
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 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.
Amazon.com Review
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the "roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time." The odd but utterly believable story of Cal Stephanides, and how this 41-year-old hermaphrodite was raised as Calliope, is at the tender heart of this long-awaited second novel from Jeffrey Eugenides, whose elegant and haunting 1993 debut, The Virgin Suicides, remains one of the finest first novels of recent memory. Eugenides weaves together a kaleidoscopic narrative spanning 80 years of a stained family history, from a fateful incestuous union in a small town in early 1920s Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit; from the early days of Ford Motors to the heated 1967 race riots; from the tony suburbs of Grosse Pointe and a confusing, aching adolescent love story to modern-day Berlin. Eugenides's command of the narrative is astonishing. He balances Cal/Callie's shifting voices convincingly, spinning this strange and often unsettling story with intelligence, insight, and generous amounts of humor: Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." … I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered my story, I need them more than ever. When you get to the end of this splendorous book, when you suddenly realize that after hundreds of pages you have only a few more left to turn over, you'll experience a quick pang of regret knowing that your time with Cal is coming to a close, and you may even resist finishing it--putting it aside for an hour or two, or maybe overnight--just so that this wondrous, magical novel might never end. --Brad Thomas Parsons |
2010-02-05 200 pages in...I still don't get it I read the first 200 pages of this book and wonder what all the delirious reviews are about. The plot is going nowhere, and I just don't see where this book is going. To me, it's just dull and I can't seem to develop any interest in the story or the characters. I'm going to skip the remaining 325 pages of this bool.
2010-01-11 Middlesex I know many readers consider Middlesex to be a work of genius, and have read several gushing reviews singing its praise. My own experiences with Eugenides' novel aren't nearly as overwhelmingly positive. I greatly appreciate the point of view of the text, and the dignity with which Eugenides approaches a sensitive subject. As an author, he seems to show a great deal of respect for heavy issues such as gender determination and hermaphroditism; while the subject itself remains a bit of a taboo, Eugenides does not make a sideshow of his main character, but instead humanizes Cal in a way that allows readers to sympathize as people working through the human condition rather than members of some gendered scale looking down on the "other".
But, as I said, my reading was not entirely positive. I felt that Eugenides relied far too heavy on textual information, and the novel is often crowded by the introduction of an academic narrative style. Fascinating passages and interesting anecdotes are often followed by pedantic prose that is intended more to display the author's skill than to supplement the narrative of the character. Likewise, the premise of the novel itself often feels far too contrived, and I found myself drawn more by passages focused Cal as a teenager and adult than to the convoluted history Middlesex constructs. While I'm sure such familial histories exist, the attention focused on specific details made me feel like Eugenides is trying too hard to force his audience to accept his narrative, as opposed to having confidence that the novel itself will sweep his readers away.
In the end I am glad I gave Middlesex a second chance, and I am happy to have made my way through it.
2010-01-07 Twice Born Cal has been first one thing and then another. It is complicated when an enzyme is siphoned off in emerging life. Cal has a male brain but is raised as a girl. Descended from Asia Minor Greeks, born in America, the narrator lives in Europe presently. He, Cal, operates in society as a man. The male persona is Cal, the female Calliope.
Eleutherios and Desdemona Stephanides left Bithynios in 1922. At Smyrna British and Greek soldiers evacuated, leaving Greek citizens at the mercy of approaching Turkish forces. There were fires. Desdemona and Lefty, (Eleutherios), departed on the same boat as Dr. Philobosian, who had lost his entire family. The ship, the Giulia, had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Line. Lefty and Desdemona were siblings. A cousin agreed to stay mum about that issue of the propriety of the marital union. (It was mutual blackmail, the cousin had her own secrets.)
The family settled in Detroit. Lefty got a job at Ford, working in the Rouge plant. Lefty attended the Ford English School. Later he lost his job because the husband of his cousin with whom he resided had a police record. Dr. Philobosian settled in Detroit, also. The cousin gave birth to a girl, Theodora, and Desdemona had a boy, Milton. Detroit was known as the city of trees. Lefty ran a speakeasy. By 1932 Fard had established Temple No. 1, (Black Muslims). Desdemona worked for the Nation of Islam, silk-making. In 1933 Fard had to leave Detroit.
Theodora Zizmo is now called Tessie and the story shifts to 1944. In 1935 Lefty's bar patrons had formed the UAW. Milton tries to woo Tessie by playing 'Begin the Beguine' on his clarinet. Milton and Tessie marry and become the parents of Calliope. Milton graduates from Annapolis in 1949. After his military service is completed he opens a diner. Ten years after Milton starts his diner, it is no longer making money. In 1967 the riots take place.
The story continues with verve. The liveliness and warmth of the storytelling sustains the reader's interest wonderfully.
2009-12-29 My big, fat Greek family Cal Stephanides traces his family history back to 1922, when his grandparents were young and living in Asia Minor. Their love was forbidden but undeniable and they married, keeping a terrible secret. They immigrated to America, had children who in turn had children, and one of them was Cal who, thanks to his grandparents, was born with a unique anatomy.
As the narrator, Cal paints a vivid and fascinating picture of his family, much like someone slowly turning the pages of a scrapbook, describing each photo in detail, interrupting his history occasionally to bring us up to date on his current situation. His family experienced dramatic highs (the Turkish slaughter of Greeks, the Detroit riots) as well as ordinary days, and he describes them all with humor and matter-of-fact acceptance.
This is a very unusual and exceptionally well-written story. I did object to the narrator being able to recount conversations and actions he couldn't possibly have known about and think the story should have been written in the third person, but I found it riveting and was sorry when it ended. Highly recommended.
2009-12-27 Engrossing It's not just about coming of age or sexuality, this book is fantastically written: J. E. won the Pulitzer for this piece for crying out loud! It chronicles the life of Cal, a hermaphrodite who has to find things out the hard way. It's funny how J.E. manages to touch on topics that ANY person can relate to, yet you think these problems would be soley specific to that of a juvenile hermaphrodite (whatever they may be) and you're constantly left wanting for more. Please do yourself a favor and check out this lengthy but unforgettable read. |
