Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (2003, Paperback, Reprint)

Middlesex

The Entertainment Critic Book Review, By James Myers
MIDDLESEX
By Jeffrey Eugenides
Published by Picador Books
An Imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux
529 Pages
ISBN 978-0-312-42773-3
2003 WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR FICTION
OPRAH’S BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB SELECTION, 2007 SUMMER SELECTION
NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER
Five Star Rating: *****


“I had never seen such a big dictionary before. The Webster’s at the New York Public Library stood in the same relation to other dictionaries of my acquaintance as the Empire State Building did to other buildings. It was an ancient, medieval-looking thing, bound in brown leather that brought to mind a falconer’s gauntlet. The pages were gilded like the Bible’s…Following where the trial led, I finally reached

Hermaphrodite -1. One having the sex organs and many of the secondary sex characteristics of both male and female. 2. Anything comprised of diverse or contradictory elements. See synonyms at MONSTER.”



The latest novel by Jeffrey Eugenides is a coming of age story that traces a defective gene in an unforgettable family saga. The story is narrated to us by the protagonist herself. Born Calliope Helen Stephanides, her physician fails to recognize that Cal is not all that she appears to be, but rather she has 5-apha-reductase deficiency. Chromosomally, Callie is a male (she has both an X and a Y), she has no real penis, but instead a kind of extended clitoris and testes, but they remain undescended. The story of her Greek family is the most interesting and provocative tale I have read in sometime. This story is a very rough parallel to the Greek fable of Hermes and Aphrodite.

The novel begins in the small Greek village of Cal’s grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona. The two fall in love. The problem is that they are brother and sister, and intermarriage is forbidden by the church. They are forced to flee when the Turks invade Greece in 1922. On the passage to America, no one knows them. There are free to marry without risking social rejection. They marry while still on the ship. They come to American and meet their cousin Sourmelina and her husband in Detroit, Michigan. Lefty and Desdemona have a son, Milton. He later marries Lina’s daughter, Tessie. This again complicates things because we now have second cousins who intermarry. Tessie and Milton have two children “Chapter Eleven” (a reference to the fact that he eventually bankrupts the family business, Hercules Hot Dogs), who is a normal boy and Calliope, who is intersexed. This goes undetected for 14 years of Callie’s life, because his parents take him a doctor, Dr. Philobosian, who is from the old country, and is so elderly himself that his vision is impaired. Callie is therefore raised as a girl. But Callie has what she refers to as "the crocus";

The turning point in the novel comes when Callie reaches fourteen. She falls in love with her best female friend (referred to in the book as “The Obscure Object”), and has her fist sexual experience with both sexes. After an accident that leads to a physical exam for Callie, her doctor finally discovers the truth. Her parents take her to a trendy physician in New York, who puts Callie through a series of test, exams and photographs. He has plans to take his unique find national. Faced with the prospect of sex reassignment surgery, Callie becomes Cal and runs away to San Francisco, where he becomes an attraction in a sex show. The

Jefferey Eugenides should have won the Pulitzer Prize for The Virgin Suicides. Why not? Disgrace (James Coetzee) won it. A simple, elegant, exacting, impeccable perfect little book.

You know how the blockbusters all come up right before Christmas? Big budgets, big explosions, yawning plots, and we see what Morgan Freeman or Brad Pitt has been up to the past year. The big Oscar grab? That's kind of how I felt about Middlesex. Unlike others who have claimed the writing was mismanaged or boring, I laugh at your feeble opinions. So does Jefferey, seen in his author's picture on the back cover donning a goatee and a turtleneck (a TURTLENECK), peeking coyly over his shoulder at the camera and looking very much like a former teenage girl indeed.

The writing is impeccable, masterful, gorgeous, lush - INSPIRING. You could take literally any paragraph from that book and it will have been more funny and heart-wrenching than most authors dream of being. HOWEVER, on the whole, in much the trudging up the literary mountain style of, say, 100 Years of Solitude-style, yearning for greater things, a greater story, to be an epic, a classic, when really those kinds of things don't exist anymore and I'll take Catcher in the Rye any day of the week.

I did ABSOLUTELY enjoy the book, but in my attachment to his first book, I felt, like I would for a good friend, Middlesex fell so very, very short of its potential.

I can't even believe how boring it really was. Again, the many, many, MANY beautiful parts couldn't even begin to collate into a whole.

The real story here is of Calliope and The Object -- oh, what a wonderful delicious bizarre slice of a story. I wanted it, reached for it, and in the end came up with .... I don't know. I find stories about families boring in general. Eugenides is at his best when writing about adolescence.

The Virgin Suicides, as snobby as some might be about a short book, is a fine, fine piece of writing. It remains in my top ten and you'll have to yank it out.

This book is extremely unique. It rightfully won the Pulitzer with its beautiful language and multi-layered characters. This novel also evokes a wonderful sense of time and change. The author has a wonderful way with character development, giving them strange quicks and traits, which makes them all the more believable.

The same author penned The Virgin Suicides! This is a great book for book clubs because it lends it self to lenghty discussion.

I purchased this book once I found out that it was Oprah's summer book choice. I was looking for a good book to read and thought, "Why not?" I was not disappointed! The book is fabulous! Jeffrey Eugenides has such a gift for description. I was pulled into the life of his narrator and found it hard to put the book down. This book is far and away the best I've read in a long while. After reading the novel, I knew why Mr. Eugenides won a Pulitzer prize for it. If you are looking for a great read, then look no further. Add Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides to your collection!

The start of this book is not easy specially with a busy life. Getting used to all the Greek/Turk references in names, places, and wars, took some effort in the beginning. But it's a wonderful book and well deserving of the Pulitzer. Full of history, shocking scandals, and some wonderfully remarkable characters.

I bought it because it was on Oprah's book club list, and the used book purchase price was a steal.