"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." And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the "roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time." The odd but utterly believable story of Cal Stephanides, and how this 41-year-old hermaphrodite was raised as Calliope, is at the tender heart of this long-awaited second novel from Jeffrey Eugenides, whose elegant and haunting 1993 debut, The Virgin Suicides, remains one of the finest first novels of recent memory.
Eugenides weaves together a kaleidoscopic narrative spanning 80 years of a stained family history, from a fateful incestuous union in a small town in early 1920s Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit; from the early days of Ford Motors to the heated 1967 race riots; from the tony suburbs of Grosse Pointe and a confusing, aching adolescent love story to modern-day Berlin. Eugenides's command of the narrative is astonishing. He balances Cal/Callie's shifting voices convincingly, spinning this strange and often unsettling story with intelligence, insight, and generous amounts of humor:


Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." … I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered my story, I need them more than ever.
When you get to the end of this splendorous book, when you suddenly realize that after hundreds of pages you have only a few more left to turn over, you'll experience a quick pang of regret knowing that your time with Cal is coming to a close, and you may even resist finishing it--putting it aside for an hour or two, or maybe overnight--just so that this wondrous, magical novel might never end. --Brad Thomas Parsons --

It took 3 tries over several months to get past page 50. It took me 2 weeks to read it. Did I like it? YES!

I think this book was literary genius and the ultimate in character study. But, it may be a love-it or hate-it book,

Taken to the October meet-up of the Calgary BookCrossers at the Joshua Tree Café.

Who will be the next reader?

Book returned home with me. Will reserve for future RABCK.

I have added this excellent book into the Cross-Canada Bookbox: Published 2000, started by mathgirl40.

Hope it finds a new reader!

This stopped by in the Cross Canada Book Box.

I've heard much about this book, so I was excited to see it in the Cross-Canada bookbox when we opened it. My older daughter had read The Virgin Suicides by the same author and liked it very much, so she might be interested in this book as well. Thanks, Fracula, for contributing this to the box!

Enjoyed this one. Took me a while to understand the "purpose" or direction. But a worthwhile read.

Enjoyed this one. Took me a while to understand the "purpose" or direction. But a worthwhile read.

I've not had time to read this book yet, so I lent it to sjt105 to read first, and it's back in my hands now. Actually, it's had two readers since I received it, as my 18-year-old daughter has also read it now. She liked it very much, though she did say she preferred The Virgin Suicides by the same author.

After leaving this book on my shelves way longer than it deserved, I finally finished it. Some have called this a contender for the "Great American Novel" and I understand why. Apart from the very believable and sensitive story about Callie/Cal's hermaphroditism, it also tells a moving tale of the immigrant experience and gives a fascinating picture of Detroit's evolution. The characters in this book, especially Desdemona, are truly memorable.

I passed this on to a friend at a book club meeting.