Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
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Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) description
"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 |
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Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥
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20th century odyssey
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It's been a while since an ambitious, intergenerational family saga has made a big splash in the book world, and Middlesex has filled the gap. Yes, a major theme in this novel is hermaphroditism (which I doubt any parent today would handle any better than the Stephanides), but Cal, the narrator and central character, does not make her/his entrance upon the stage until nearly the halfway point of this epic. Author Eugenides has done a remarkable job of capturing the Eastern European immigration experience. As the granddaughter of Slavic immigrants, while reading about the behaviors and attitudes of the first generation Stephanides family, I perceived distinct echoes reverberating from my own childhood. (Other books that do this well are "I Love You Like a Tomato" by Marie Giordano and "Dances with Luigi" by Paul Paolicelli.) Fate and genetics loom equally large in the development of this Greek/American family, raising the possibility that one is the same as the other.
Enter Cal, who does not realize anything is amiss until the typical angst of adolescence becomes unusually and mystifyingly complicated. The medical, practical, and psychological ramifications of dual gender conditions are indeed daunting, and sometimes shocking, and this is beautifully expressed in his characterization. Nevertheless, the reader should be prepared, because some of it can be heavy going. But, infused with humor as it is, openminded readers will find it worthwhile.
The novel comes full circle at its conclusion, also beautifully rendered, as Cal and YaYa find common ground, understanding, and some peace. The vignettes of Cal's current life, inserted only occasionally into the historical narrative, make it clear that this scene is only a beginning for him, saving it from the maudlin.
Some judicious editing might improve Middlesex, as it bogs down in places, but this problem does not detract from the power of its message.
Highly recommended to readers willing to persist and to tolerate uncomfortable sexual content. |
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