Helpful Score: 2
A most excellent book! It is the most recent winner of the Pulitzer Prize and very well deserved. I read all 527 pages in 3-4 days which is good for me. It is the story of Callie who was born and raised as a girl, but little did she and her family know she was actually born part male and female due a genetic disorder brought on many years of her Greek family's incest. I don't know why incest keeps coming up in books I read. I really don't intend for that to happen. Haha!
The story isn't just about Callie, but also about the history of her family in Greece. Years of them marrying cousins and eventually SIBLINGS (her grandparents were brother and sister) Calllie was the "lucky" one in the family to receive both recessive genes of the disorder. It isn't until puberty that Callie starts to realize she's not a normal girl. She had always felt something was different with her, but being so young she could never understand. When an accident happens and Callie goes to the hospital and doctors discover she's not exactly normal "down there", a doctor in genetic sexual disorders begins a study on her. When Callie sneaks and reads his report on her, she realizes she doesn't want to be a SHE anymore but a HE. Callie then decides to run away at the age of 15 or 16 and start living as a boy named Cal. Cal travels to California and ends up joining a freak show where he/she remains for a few years until Cal's brother comes and gets him to bring him back for their father's funeral.
There is sooooo much more to this book than I can even explain. The story sounds ridiculous but the writing is so good. It doesen't just say what happens, it explains why it happened and how the family go to where they are today.
My only complaint with the story is after coming to know Callie, I really don't think she would run away they way she did. She just up and left her family right then and there after reading the report from the doctor. Being an only child of a very loving, sheltering family, I don't think she would have it in her to really just say "ok I'm a boy now and I'm going to California". But....it made the ending interesting so I'll accept it I guess.
The story isn't just about Callie, but also about the history of her family in Greece. Years of them marrying cousins and eventually SIBLINGS (her grandparents were brother and sister) Calllie was the "lucky" one in the family to receive both recessive genes of the disorder. It isn't until puberty that Callie starts to realize she's not a normal girl. She had always felt something was different with her, but being so young she could never understand. When an accident happens and Callie goes to the hospital and doctors discover she's not exactly normal "down there", a doctor in genetic sexual disorders begins a study on her. When Callie sneaks and reads his report on her, she realizes she doesn't want to be a SHE anymore but a HE. Callie then decides to run away at the age of 15 or 16 and start living as a boy named Cal. Cal travels to California and ends up joining a freak show where he/she remains for a few years until Cal's brother comes and gets him to bring him back for their father's funeral.
There is sooooo much more to this book than I can even explain. The story sounds ridiculous but the writing is so good. It doesen't just say what happens, it explains why it happened and how the family go to where they are today.
My only complaint with the story is after coming to know Callie, I really don't think she would run away they way she did. She just up and left her family right then and there after reading the report from the doctor. Being an only child of a very loving, sheltering family, I don't think she would have it in her to really just say "ok I'm a boy now and I'm going to California". But....it made the ending interesting so I'll accept it I guess.
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