The Bottom Line
Jeffrey Eugenides' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Middlesex, Oprah's 58th Book Club Selection, tells the story of Calliope Stephanides, a hermaphrodite raised as Callie until adolescence when he began living as Cal. With the story told through a multi-generation Greek-American family in Detroit, Michigan, the novel encompasses everything a reader loves about a memoir, tied in with a coming of age story, with moments of historical reference, gender identity and cultural exploration woven throughout.
Pros
- An in-depth look at what life may be like growing up intersexed.
- A mixed-up coming of age story that is unpredictable, but works.
- Though the subject is unfamiliar to many, Eugenides' writing makes Cal endeared to the reader.
- Eugenides wrote 'Middlesex' as a fictional memoir, not wanting the text to come across as reporting.
Cons
- The sexual tones of the book may be uncomfortable for some readers.
Description
- Published in October of 2002.
- 529 pages in paperback.
- Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux and by Bloomsbury.
- Chosen by Oprah as the Summer 2007 Oprah's Book Club Selection.
Guide Review - Book Review: 'Middlesex'
Jeffrey Eugenides 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Middlesex was chosen as the 2007 summer selection for Oprah's Book Club. The book follows three generations of a Greek-American family that begins in a small Greek village in the 20s and moves through the late 20th century in Detroit, Michigan. Moving along with the family is a genetic mutation that manifests itself during the adolescent years of Calliope Stephanides, who narrates the book as adult male, Cal.
Describing a detailed account of how his grandparents fled Greece to settle in Detroit to raise their children, their family secret is revealed upon learning of Calliope having the recessive gene, 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, which gave her feminine features though she identified as male. Fleeing her new reality, Callie becomes Cal and begins his journey of discovering who he is and his place in the world.
The book combines the feel of a detailed memoir with the emotional journey of a coming of age story with woven themes of racial changes in the 60s, incest, gender identity, immigration, striving for the American Dream, and sexual promiscuity, giving it an epic scope and making the book difficult to label. While Oprah chose the book as a perfect summer beach read, its expansive reach makes it the perfect read for anyone at any time of year.