Middlesex

Telling the life Cal Stephanides, an intersex person from Detroit, starting with their family history as Greek expats who fled the Turkish expulsion of Greeks from Asia Minor to America. The story follows two generations before reaching Cal, describing major historical events on the way such as the Detroit race rot in 1967.

It felt to me like two great but disjointed books. One being the story of Greek emigrants and the other being the life of Cal, growing up without understanding they're intersex until a chance discovery as a teenager and an attempt to force surgery upon them. The way they're tied together feels unsatisfactory, leaving the family story without a meaningful ending and Cal's story underdeveloped (though perhaps that is inevitable either way from a cis writer?).

It is nevertheless an interesting read both as a multigenerational family tale covering period events, and as the tale of a misunderstood intersex child who thankfully wasn't mutilated at birth, but still had to contend with rather primitive attitudes. I would be curious to hear an intersex opinion on the book's representation.

When Jeffrey Eugenides set out to write Middlesex he wanted to “[tell] epic events in the third person and psychosexual events in the first person”. He had decided that the voice “had to render the experience of a teenage girl and an adult man, or an adult male-identified hermaphrodite”. This was no easy task; he had to seek expert advice about intersexuality, sexology, and the formation of gender identity. His motivation came from reading the 1980 memoir Herculine Barbin and being unsatisfied by the lack of detail about intersex anatomy and his emotions.

”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.”

If you’ve read Jeffrey Eugenides before you will know he doesn’t just stop at one issue, Middlesex is also loosely based on his life and is used to explore his Greek Heritage. While the book’s main protagonist is Cal Stephanides, Middlesex is a family saga that explores the impact of a mutated gene over three generations. Starting with Cal’s grandparents, the novel looks at their escape from the ongoing Greco-Turkish War and emigrating from Smyrna in Asia Minor to the United States. This section has similar themes to most immigration stories, looking at Greek and US culture in the 1920’s as well as their efforts to assimilate into American society. However this is overshadowed by the fact that Cal’s grandparents are also brother and sister.

Middlesex continues to follow the Stephanides family through the story of Cal’s parents and eventually his life. While the reader gets glimpses of Cal’s life throughout the novel, the last part is where we really explore how the 5-alpha-reductase deficiency (a recessive condition that caused him to be born with female characteristics) impacted his life. While I got the impression that this was the main focus of the novel and to some extent it is, I was expecting to explore the struggle and emotions behind his condition to a greater extent.

Jeffrey Eugenides has a lot going on his novels and you really need to be a literary critic to enjoy Middlesex to the full extent. I love Eugenides because he is too smart for his own good, on a basic level you can enjoy his novels but there is so much going on underneath that rereading is almost essential. Middlesex is a family saga but there are elements of romance, history, coming of age and, because of his Greek heritage, tragicomedy. You could spend hours exploring the hysterical realism and metafictional aspects from this book. For example; does Cal’s condition have any bearing on where he is narrating this novel from? Berlin, a city that also was divided into two (East and West). Also, why does the narrative style switch between first and third person? Some parts of the story are told in first person but Cal would never have been able to recount what happened in that kind of detail. Is this to evoke confusion within the reader, forcing them to just feel a fraction of what Cal must be feeling?

This is an incredibly complex novel and I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what Jeffrey Eugenides has done. This is in fact the third of his novels I’ve read and sadly that is all of them for now. While I did enjoy Middlesex I found more joy from The Virgin Suicides (which deals with suicide) and The Marriage Plot (dealing with mental illness). I really appreciate the themes Eugenides explores and the complexities of his novels, but personal opinion is going against the norm here. Middlesex is probably his most recognised novel; it even won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Don’t let the complexity of Middlesex put you off reading this fantastic novel; sure, there is a lot there but it still worth picking up. You can spend as much time as you want exploring its depths but in the end you’ll come away with something. It is a compelling read that will stay with you well after finishing it. This is the perfect type of novel to pick up for a book club.

This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2014/03/30/middlesex-by-jeffrey-eugenides/

Oof, I haven't reviewed this one either? It's been even longer since I've read most of this one. Goodness.



This book...what can you say about a book like this? It's an epic - Calliope sheepishly admits to her intentions right off the bat, but she fulfills them well - spanning four(ish) generations, and a wide range of cultures, subjects, and individuals. It makes for a packed book, but at over 500 pages, there is ample room for everything that ends up packed in here.



As the title not-so-subtly implies, this book features, and is narrated by, Cal(liope) - an intersexed individual who, having transitioned from female to male, writes a retrospective of her family - not just his parents, but his grandparents, and even great-grandparents, tracing his ancestry - and the genetic mutation that made him who he is - back to its roots in Greece.



But this book is not about an intersexed person. It's not even really about the mutation, or Cal's transition. Cal's ambiguous genitalia serve not as the subject of the narrative, but as a background to what the book is really about - family, identity, tradition, non-conformity, uniformity, commonality, individuality. It's about Greece, it's about immigration, it's about Chicago, about race, about alcohol, about the great melting pot that while promising to accept and celebrate the many colors and cultures that make up this nation, too often ends up just conforming all cultures to a drab grey.



The themes through this book are rich and multifaceted to the extreme. The most noticeable theme, a desire for uniformity and conformity faced with messy, diverse reality, is approached and examined from every angle, shows up in every subplot, as everything is woven together into the narrative.



It was a fascinating book, beautifully written, powerfully thoughtful. One can tell that it was exhaustively researched - no small feat for a book that spans a century of history across three continents - but its settings, both visually and historically, are vivid and rich, and the books' large cast of characters are well-developed.



This book is a delight to read, and an ambitious work of fiction that delivers wonderfully. I want to give it five stars, as it ranks up there with Foer's writing that I simply love. But as others have noted, the last 100 pages are a bit incongruous. Others have suggested that this book was a good short novel, weighed down by the first 500 pages, but I disagree. The bulk of this book is indeed purportedly wrapped around and leading to the end, and we get glimpses of the moments leading up to Cal's current life throughout the book. But after so much fantastic story and investigation of the themes that Cal writes back into his history, after reading the rich retrospective investigation of the themes that Cal traces back through his genealogy, the actual application of those themes is sorely lacking. The book peters out, putting together the necessary components that we've been waiting for, and then exits, as if sorely aware of the fact that it is already nearing 600 pages and doesn't want to bother you with much more than that.



And I'm not really sure that it could have done much better without another 100 pages, and I'm not sure if I would have the energy for that. Perhaps we should chop this book in half - I'll take the first 500 pages, and avoid the blatant, almost mechanical getting-the-pieces-together ending and instead leave it to my imagination, and those who felt weighed down by the bulk of the book can have their short novel, and both groups would probably both be happier.



That said, however, I highly recommend this book. It is fascinating, it is incredibly well-written, and it is a gorgeously put together novel, one whose length you don't feel until the very end. I wouldn't blame you if you gave up on the last few chapters, but don't let that discourage you from reading the rest of them, because they more than make it worth it. And really, at that point, you've already invested so many pages - what's another several dozen?

Oof, I haven't reviewed this one either? It's been even longer since I've read most of this one. Goodness.



This book...what can you say about a book like this? It's an epic - Calliope sheepishly admits to her intentions right off the bat, but she fulfills them well - spanning four(ish) generations, and a wide range of cultures, subjects, and individuals. It makes for a packed book, but at over 500 pages, there is ample room for everything that ends up packed in here.



As the title not-so-subtly implies, this book features, and is narrated by, Cal(liope) - an intersexed individual who, having transitioned from female to male, writes a retrospective of her family - not just his parents, but his grandparents, and even great-grandparents, tracing his ancestry - and the genetic mutation that made him who he is - back to its roots in Greece.



But this book is not about an intersexed person. It's not even really about the mutation, or Cal's transition. Cal's ambiguous genitalia serve not as the subject of the narrative, but as a background to what the book is really about - family, identity, tradition, non-conformity, uniformity, commonality, individuality. It's about Greece, it's about immigration, it's about Chicago, about race, about alcohol, about the great melting pot that while promising to accept and celebrate the many colors and cultures that make up this nation, too often ends up just conforming all cultures to a drab grey.



The themes through this book are rich and multifaceted to the extreme. The most noticeable theme, a desire for uniformity and conformity faced with messy, diverse reality, is approached and examined from every angle, shows up in every subplot, as everything is woven together into the narrative.



It was a fascinating book, beautifully written, powerfully thoughtful. One can tell that it was exhaustively researched - no small feat for a book that spans a century of history across three continents - but its settings, both visually and historically, are vivid and rich, and the books' large cast of characters are well-developed.



This book is a delight to read, and an ambitious work of fiction that delivers wonderfully. I want to give it five stars, as it ranks up there with Foer's writing that I simply love. But as others have noted, the last 100 pages are a bit incongruous. Others have suggested that this book was a good short novel, weighed down by the first 500 pages, but I disagree. The bulk of this book is indeed purportedly wrapped around and leading to the end, and we get glimpses of the moments leading up to Cal's current life throughout the book. But after so much fantastic story and investigation of the themes that Cal writes back into his history, after reading the rich retrospective investigation of the themes that Cal traces back through his genealogy, the actual application of those themes is sorely lacking. The book peters out, putting together the necessary components that we've been waiting for, and then exits, as if sorely aware of the fact that it is already nearing 600 pages and doesn't want to bother you with much more than that.



And I'm not really sure that it could have done much better without another 100 pages, and I'm not sure if I would have the energy for that. Perhaps we should chop this book in half - I'll take the first 500 pages, and avoid the blatant, almost mechanical getting-the-pieces-together ending and instead leave it to my imagination, and those who felt weighed down by the bulk of the book can have their short novel, and both groups would probably both be happier.



That said, however, I highly recommend this book. It is fascinating, it is incredibly well-written, and it is a gorgeously put together novel, one whose length you don't feel until the very end. I wouldn't blame you if you gave up on the last few chapters, but don't let that discourage you from reading the rest of them, because they more than make it worth it. And really, at that point, you've already invested so many pages - what's another several dozen?

Oof, I haven't reviewed this one either? It's been even longer since I've read most of this one. Goodness.



This book...what can you say about a book like this? It's an epic - Calliope sheepishly admits to her intentions right off the bat, but she fulfills them well - spanning four(ish) generations, and a wide range of cultures, subjects, and individuals. It makes for a packed book, but at over 500 pages, there is ample room for everything that ends up packed in here.



As the title not-so-subtly implies, this book features, and is narrated by, Cal(liope) - an intersexed individual who, having transitioned from female to male, writes a retrospective of her family - not just his parents, but his grandparents, and even great-grandparents, tracing his ancestry - and the genetic mutation that made him who he is - back to its roots in Greece.



But this book is not about an intersexed person. It's not even really about the mutation, or Cal's transition. Cal's ambiguous genitalia serve not as the subject of the narrative, but as a background to what the book is really about - family, identity, tradition, non-conformity, uniformity, commonality, individuality. It's about Greece, it's about immigration, it's about Chicago, about race, about alcohol, about the great melting pot that while promising to accept and celebrate the many colors and cultures that make up this nation, too often ends up just conforming all cultures to a drab grey.



The themes through this book are rich and multifaceted to the extreme. The most noticeable theme, a desire for uniformity and conformity faced with messy, diverse reality, is approached and examined from every angle, shows up in every subplot, as everything is woven together into the narrative.



It was a fascinating book, beautifully written, powerfully thoughtful. One can tell that it was exhaustively researched - no small feat for a book that spans a century of history across three continents - but its settings, both visually and historically, are vivid and rich, and the books' large cast of characters are well-developed.



This book is a delight to read, and an ambitious work of fiction that delivers wonderfully. I want to give it five stars, as it ranks up there with Foer's writing that I simply love. But as others have noted, the last 100 pages are a bit incongruous. Others have suggested that this book was a good short novel, weighed down by the first 500 pages, but I disagree. The bulk of this book is indeed purportedly wrapped around and leading to the end, and we get glimpses of the moments leading up to Cal's current life throughout the book. But after so much fantastic story and investigation of the themes that Cal writes back into his history, after reading the rich retrospective investigation of the themes that Cal traces back through his genealogy, the actual application of those themes is sorely lacking. The book peters out, putting together the necessary components that we've been waiting for, and then exits, as if sorely aware of the fact that it is already nearing 600 pages and doesn't want to bother you with much more than that.



And I'm not really sure that it could have done much better without another 100 pages, and I'm not sure if I would have the energy for that. Perhaps we should chop this book in half - I'll take the first 500 pages, and avoid the blatant, almost mechanical getting-the-pieces-together ending and instead leave it to my imagination, and those who felt weighed down by the bulk of the book can have their short novel, and both groups would probably both be happier.



That said, however, I highly recommend this book. It is fascinating, it is incredibly well-written, and it is a gorgeously put together novel, one whose length you don't feel until the very end. I wouldn't blame you if you gave up on the last few chapters, but don't let that discourage you from reading the rest of them, because they more than make it worth it. And really, at that point, you've already invested so many pages - what's another several dozen?

This is quite an epic. Spanning more than a hundred years, from Greece to the USA, this is Calliope's story of her grandparents, her parents and her self, plus the small matter of the entire world around them.

I'm not going to put down work enough to review this book the way it should be reviewed, rather than I know that Jeffrey Eugenides reportedly spent 10 years researching and writing this novel, and I feel as though it's been written in an eloquent breath. It feels effortlessly written, as as such, I believe it to be a resounding success, given its many complexities, all masterfully written. I feel like the author went through many hours of brain-work trying to think of ways to explain this massive story to the reader in an intelligent, funny and often witty way.

While the reader is at all times chaperoned throughout Calliope's history by herself, it is nothing short of a God's-eye-view, where you feel history's breath in your neck all the while. As events a century old are told, they tie in with fresh ones. History repeating, countries and psyches developing.

And bodies developing. We see Calliope describe her becoming of age, to match her mind. The obscure becomes clear and then obscured again, as through all levels of life.

The language is clear, varied and simple. The stories are many, ranging from slapstick to Bergman-ish tragedy.

I'll happily recommend this to anybody.

This is quite an epic. Spanning more than a hundred years, from Greece to the USA, this is Calliope's story of her grandparents, her parents and her self, plus the small matter of the entire world around them.

I'm not going to put down work enough to review this book the way it should be reviewed, rather than I know that Jeffrey Eugenides reportedly spent 10 years researching and writing this novel, and I feel as though it's been written in an eloquent breath. It feels effortlessly written, as as such, I believe it to be a resounding success, given its many complexities, all masterfully written. I feel like the author went through many hours of brain-work trying to think of ways to explain this massive story to the reader in an intelligent, funny and often witty way.

While the reader is at all times chaperoned throughout Calliope's history by herself, it is nothing short of a God's-eye-view, where you feel history's breath in your neck all the while. As events a century old are told, they tie in with fresh ones. History repeating, countries and psyches developing.

And bodies developing. We see Calliope describe her becoming of age, to match her mind. The obscure becomes clear and then obscured again, as through all levels of life.

The language is clear, varied and simple. The stories are many, ranging from slapstick to Bergman-ish tragedy.

I'll happily recommend this to anybody.

Mostly well-liked. Mary just barely finished it. Stephanie didn't even start it, but tried to dredge up memories of the first time she read it. Bill read it for the first time, and would like to read it again, but, at 529 pages, not anytime soon. I read it for the second time, and liked it better this time around. And Jenna, having already read it once, decided to listen to it on tape this time around, but is only about a third of the way through. (And Carolyn, who had planned to be here, didn't show. Couldn't get the tape, or couldn't find the time?) The book did play like a Greek tragedy, where everyone's fate is preordained. (And perhaps Eugenides expected more knowledge of classical theatre in his audience than actually exists.) Evidentally, he wrote it in the first person so as to be able to use non-gender-specific pronouns, and so avoid the he/she conflicts that we readers were dealing with in thinking about Calli/Cal. Most (maybe all) of the events external to the family were real historical events that he worked into the plot. To Bill, who grew up near Detroit (but not in Gross Point), the description of the race riots was very true to life. (Now why did he expend so much energy on things like the burning of Smyrna and the riots in Detroit? Were the scenes put in to titilate the reader? Or were they merely plot devices, to get the family to embark on another move? Or are they metaphors for the transformation that the family, and ultimately Cal(i), are going through.