Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) by Jeffrey Eugenides
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Book Reviews of Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Lyrical Hermaphrodite Story
Summary: 5 Stars
Middlesex wowed me. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this. It's an immigrant story, and a hermaphrodite story (a sexual outcast story, if you will) and an American story. Eugenides tells the tale from the point of view of the protagonist, Cal, in the present, looking back. In order to tell his story properly he must acquaint the reader with his family history. Throughout the first half of the book I was interested, but not addicted. But I kept reading because I really wanted to find out what happened when Callie became Cal. But this book was so beautifully written. It has the Gabriel Garcia Marquez kind of quality, where there is so much history and backstory that you become immersed in the characters and plot until you really are living within the story. Once the timeline finally reached Cal's childhood I felt so connected to his story that I could really appreciate how the story was being told from a man's point of view, but he was talking about himself, the little girl. For the first time I found myself considering from a very personal and subjective point of view what it might be like to be unclassifiable. What if I thought I was a girl but I turned out to be a boy? What if I knew there was something different about me but I didn't know what. It's fantastic the way that Eugenides was able to give me a completely new point of view on my sex and sexuality; things I generally take for granted. I might classify this book as magical realism, due to it's mystical and sometimes whimsical qualities. It was lovely. So readable.Book Review: Not For Lazy Readers
Summary: 5 Stars
I usually read about one book a week, but I finished the 500+ pages of this one in two days. It was that good. There are quite a few reviews that called this book boring, and I find that amazing, but to each his own. You can understand that a Pulitzer Prize winning novel is going to challenge you, so if you aren't up to the challenge, stick with Harry Potter (which I read last week.)
Jeffrey Eugenides tells a non-linear tale of a Greek family which comes to America in the 1920's bearing a sad secret which will resonate down the years in the family gene pool. To me the most fasinating parts of the book were in the history -- it goes from the Roaring Twenties when the protagonist's grandfather runs a speakeasy to the 1970's and his recognition of his sexual ambiguities.
This is not a book about sex. It is about human beings and their relationships. For those of you who might find the intersexual component distasteful, I'd say move out of your third grade mindset and join the adult world. The brilliance of this book shows that although sex is a major component of who we are, it is our family that is the major player in who we will be.
A note to the squeamish: The sex in this book, while occasionally clinical, is not graphic or lurid. If you think of human beings as defined strictly by what's between their legs, this book is not for you. If you find humans to be endlessly complex, surprising and interesting, you'll find this one of the most satisfying books you've ever read.
Book Review: A Staggering Epoch
Summary: 5 Stars
Without much hesitation, I can state that this is among the best novels I have ever read. Some have been repulsed by the subject of this book, seeing it as being deviant or depraved. Upon closer look, they are to find a staggeringly blunt look at a forgotten people; forgotten because of a genetic abnormality.
Calliope Stepahnides' story is told through three generations of her family. Beginning with her granparents, who leave Greece for America, circumstances are set in place that would allow for Calliope's genetic make-up. Yet the burden is not left to the grandparents as noted when Calliope's parents start their family.
Rich not only in Greek tradion but also the history of the once prosperous city of Detroit, the novel reads like a work of historical fiction. As the teenage angst of Calliope rears, the self-discovery of "Catcher in the Rye" comes to mind. But given the circumstances, it is tough to truly see inside the mind of Calliope when even she does not know who she is.
Even if the set up is evident in the final pages, the author does a remarkable job of making the novel comes full circle. By the book's end, the only unfinished element of the story is what happens to the main character beyond the title page.
At times, I had to step away from the book because some aspects were haunting. What would I do given a situation such as this? In reality, there is not a good answer. Few could offer better solutions given the main character's circumstances.
Book Review: MIDDLESEX
Summary: 5 Stars
Middlesex is a coming of age story that is rich in history and tells of one family's story through many generations. The narrator and main character is Calliope Stephanides, a hermaphrodite. Jeffrey Eugenides wrote this extraordinary story, which takes its readers to Greece where he shows us Calliope's (who is eventually Cal) true beginnings starting with his grandparents. When Cal's grandparents migrate to America to run from the Turkish Wars, they end up staying with a cousin in Detroit in 1920. Since I grew up in the Detroit area myself, and am about the same age as Cal, I felt as if I was home with the story. I'm familiar with the 1943 and 1967 race riots in Detroit; I know of all the areas, streets, neighborhoods, and businesses that Mr. Eugenides brought into this fictional novel. For me, this familiarity made it inevitable that I fell into the story completely and effortlessly.
Many of the characters in this story go through enormous and intriguing transformations that in turn add to the magnificence of the novel: Relatives become spouses and in-laws; Greeks become Americans; Poor become rich; Young and healthy become old and sick; and Calliope becomes Cal.
This is a story that is different from anything that I've ever read before, from the subject matter, to the point of view narration and writing style of Jeffrey Eugenides. Therefore, if you are looking to add variety to your reading list, Middlesex should do the trick.
Book Review: This book still haunts me...
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked this up in a moment of what I thought was desperation but turned out to be serendipity. This book is so rare and incredibly unique; The story, the character and the setting are none like I've ever encountered before. Which says a lot!
The other reviewers, and Oprah, I'm sure, had much to say about this amazing tale. I only want to add that the most compelling aspect of this story is the way the narrator zooms in and out during the story. At some points she is in the shadows, at other times acknowledges herself or rather her self awareness. And when her timeline shifts, so does her viewpoint, from young woman, to more worldly wise man. And she is omnicient, not only able to tell what Desdemona was thinking all those years ago when making the fateful choices that made Cal who and what he is today, but also able to drop hints about what was to come and tie all the threads up in a neat and intriguing bow.
Not only could I not put it down, I finished it reluctantly and have not been able to read another book in two weeks. Nothing I pick up is remotely this compelling.
I wish I were a playwright of some skill...I can see this adapted for the stage. Different actors could play Cal at different times, shifting the story from one to another, telling the story from different points of view along the timeline. Or maybe it could be a sweeping epic art film. If only I had all the time in the world....