Search - Middlesex

Pulitzer Prize winner? You have got to be kidding me. I hated it. A contemporary, disjointed, out-of-sync epic? Epic only in the sense of a tale told by a fool signifying nothing. I fail to see what the fascination is with this simplistic hermaphrodite tale where the fate of the Stephanides family is recounted in boring overly-spun prose. Cal/Calliope is no muse, no Ishmael, and no Holden Caulfield, struggling with his/her sexual identity.

Full of improbable (impossible?) coincidences, I still really liked this coming of age book. Imagine being raised as a girl, but never quite looking right after puberty, never fitting in, feeling lust for another girl, all the typical angst. Interspersed in this is the story of the family, beginning with the grandmother and her brother who flee their home as the Turks invade. I was fascinated, and I hated the book to end, and I also was a little disappointed in the ending - I think it could have gone a little further.

An Oprah pick. Middlesex is both the name of the area in which the protagonist is raised and a term used to denote the gender state of the protagonist....or how Calliope become Cal, last name Stephanoides.It is a story that feels like a biography that relates the first 16yrs of a hemaphrodite's life. It also tells the story of a displaced Greek family and several generations thereof. It is witty believable and captivating.It is full of information as well as enjoyable.

This book seemed really really long. It was interesting, and the POV was enlightening. I think though the story could have been told in well in less words. It was 530 pages and took forever to read. There were parts that I skimmed through, it seemed like there was a lot of filler information that didn't really enhance the story. (I agree with the reviewer who said there was too much information/backstory on the grandparents). At times I was confused about who Cal/Calliope's parents were. It seemed at one point it was Milton and Tessie, and then another point her father was Zizmo.

Aside from being a little too long, I enjoyed the ending. Probably not one I will read again, but it wasn't bad.

I'm sorry, but I just couldn't get into this book. I couldn't make a connection.

This was a truly terrific book - beautifully-written, wonderful use of language, and a page-turner to boot. Even though it is quite long, I tore through it quickly and was sad when it ended. The subject matter, which revolves around hermaphroditism, may be too much for some to take, but honestly, it was almost secondary to the rest of the narrative, which was about the journey of a family that immigrates from Greece. Highly recommended.