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Search - Middlesex
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Middlesex Author: |
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Book Information
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Book Description:
The author of The Virgin Suicides won a Pulitzer Prize for this long-awaited second novel. In it, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a Grosse Pointe girls' school in 1974, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop physically - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, "Cal" is not really a girl at all, and he tries to determine his true identity as he traces the rare gene responsible for his condition through his Detroit Greek family, back to the grandparents who fled to America after the Turks sacked Smyrna in 1922. Jeffrey Eugenides' novel is a grand fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, difficult promptings of desire.
"Epic and wondrous. Middlesex begins as a generous, tragi-comic family chronicle of immigration and assimilation, becomes along the way a social novel about Detroit, perhaps the most symbolic of American cities, and incorporates a heart-breaking tale of growing up awkward and lonely in '70s suburbia. It's a big, affectionate, often hilarious book."
"Epic and wondrous. Middlesex begins as a generous, tragi-comic family chronicle of immigration and assimilation, becomes along the way a social novel about Detroit, perhaps the most symbolic of American cities, and incorporates a heart-breaking tale of growing up awkward and lonely in '70s suburbia. It's a big, affectionate, often hilarious book."
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Top Member Book Reviews
Cara (
16 member(s) found this review helpful.
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.
Patricia B. (
11 member(s) found this review helpful.
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.
10 member(s) found this review helpful.
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.
8 member(s) found this review helpful.
I was a little disappointed that the majority of the book was about the generations of her family before her. It seemed like just when you are getting to know Calliope/Cal, the book is over. I thought overall it was a good book, just not great.
7 member(s) found this review helpful.
Oh my gosh it didnt get me from the first sentence but once I got into it couldnt stop reading. Did not really like the way it ended wanted more.
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
The book goes back to the history of his grandparents and lists every detail of their lives then he arrives at his birth where he goes into details of his parents lives. Finally arriving at the point of the book his own sexual discovery and with only two chapters left the book is a let down. The history lessons in the story are interesting but over all the main story line fails to appear until the end and then it seems unfinished.
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
I truly did not like this book. I didn't even finish it, which is something I rarely do. Just too weird.
Janis K. (
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
"Middlesex: A Novel" is a large book so be prepared for some extra time in reading it. There are some good subplots to go along with the main theme in this book. Well written, the author does a good job of keeping your attention, at least as best as possible considering the size of the book. I would recommend.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
I picked this book by accident, mistaking the title for another book, but what a wonderful mistake. Although, I can't say I would have ever chosen to read about an hemaphrodite, I truly enjoyed the writing in this book. The phrasing and words used by the writer created wonderful pictures. My favorite part was the grandparents story.
I went on to read The Virgin Suicides by the same author. Both books were enjoyable but Middlesex beats hands down.
Deb N. (
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
This makes my top 5 all time books list! The writing is beautiful. Historically interesting. For those who seem to get confused or frustrated with the long history and character development of the grandparents, it is such an important piece of this work IMO. Every single one of us, carries the lives of our ancestors in our DNA. We wouldn't be who we are, without them being first. I also enjoyed how the characters developed and changed over time, proving that we can make choices about our futures; we are not stuck or predestined.
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Please Rate these Book Reviews
I really enjoyed this book. I learned a lot medical information that was very interesting. It's a good read and I would recommend it to book clubs for discussion.
I had the impresion that this book was written with the intention of being a screenplay for a movie and not a novel. The reason I think that is becasue I felt the writing becomes an afterthought of the scene. The author makes strange/ sometimes impossible choices of perspective and lighting and even describes what he is seeing and from what angle or describing a move on a dolly or a crane rather than let the story flow. I think in this sense the writing style lacks luster and I didn't care for it. Having said that, I enjoyed the third part of the book and it engaged me to finish it. The first two parts are painfully slow, filled with a long list of episodes and details of the family history that at the end of the story didn't have much to do with the main chararacter'r ordeal. However, I did find the theme interesting enough, I just wished someone other than this author had written it.
Paula B. (This was an intriguing story. I wished there was less back story and more flesh to the actual subject of the book. Overall a very entertaining read.
Whatever you have heard about this book, I encourage you to experience it for yourself. It is beautifully written and engaging. I read this book years ago yet I can still summon the author's voice in my mind when I think about the characters. I read a lot, so many stories come and go and stay gone, but this one has stayed with me.
I did not like this book and I don't even think I finished reading it.
This book was really hard for me to get into. After I got into it the story got better, but I was still confused a lot during the reading. I believe the author could have taken it to a different place.
wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as i did. very clever and well written
M.C. W. (I had it on my bookshelf for a while before I read it. It was so well written and was full of interesting information about things I didn't know much about: hermaphrodism and the lives of Greek immigrants. I highly recommend it.
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