- Paperback: 544 pages
- Publisher: Picador USA; Reprint edition (16 Sep 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312422156
- ISBN-13: 978-0312422158
- Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 14 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 349,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Middlesex
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Middlesex is a significantly more ambitious and much odder novel than Jeffrey Eugenides' resonant debut, The Virgin Suicides (on DVD), which was a bittersweet paean to adolescent love. This is a sprawling family saga, bursting with life, which spans three generations and crosses several continents. At its core, however, is another unorthodox but exquisite coming-of-age story.
The book's wily narrator and central character, Calliope Stephanides (named after the muse of epic poetry) is a hermaphrodite raised as a girl who comes to realise she is happier as a boy and is now living as a man in contemporary Berlin. Cal's tale begins, appropriately enough, in Greece (or more precisely Asia Minor)--an Aegean Strasbourg whose sovereignty is claimed by Greece and Turkey. In 1922 brother and sister Lefty and Desdemona Stephanides escaped their war-torn homeland and arrived, as man and wife, in Detroit, America. It is this coupling that ultimately begets their grandchild Calliope and her ambiguous sexuality, as she, or rather by then he, sanguinely notes:
Some people inherit houses; others painting or highly insured violin bows. Still others get Japanese tansu or a famous name. I got a recessive gene on fifth chromosome and some very rare family jewels indeed.As Cal recounts the experiences of the Stephanides clan in their new land--from the Depression to Nixon--he unfurls his own symbiotic odyssey to a new sex. Cal's narrative voice is arch, humorous and self aware, continually drawing attention to its authorial sleights of hand, but never exasperating. This is big, brainy novel--The Oracle of Delphi puts in an unlikely appearance in the middle of a teenage tryst--but one full of compassion. Eugenides' astonishingly rich story persistently engages the heart as well as the mind. --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sainsbury's Magazine, October 2002
"Full of wit and weird happenings, this book just gets better with every chapter."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It is difficult to praise this book too much. Its ambition is obvious from its length and its multiple themes, the Greek diaspora, the American Dream and its racial divide, hermaphroditism, the sexual revolution, evolutionary biology....However, what I would not have thought possible was that this ambition be realised with such deftness of touch. There is not a dud paragraph in its 500-odd pages, and I imagine that my problem with the odd sentence was more to do with my lack of familiarity with the American idiom than with any failing on the part of the author. But these hiccups, rather than discouraging me, only made me more eager to to see what followed. At the end I was breathless with wonder. Would I read a better novel? Do we have to wait 9 years for his next?
51 of 54 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is one of those few novels that had me enchanted from the first page, and I didn't put it down untill the last.
I initially bought it on a whim, as it was on offer and the write ups were good for it. However it has cemented it's place as one of my favourite books to be released in recent times.
Middlesex is basically an epic family saga, covering three generations of the Greek Stephanides family as they emigrate from their homeland to America. Historically accurate as the story unfolds around the social backgrounds of the changing eras the reader is consumed in the realism of the novel - this could easily be a real Greek-American family. The greek connection is kept firmly within the book as the narrartor, Cal, recounts lesser known Greek myths in connection with her own story. This leads on to an unusual device by Eugenides to seperate the story further from typical family saga's - Cal is a hermaphrodite.
This condition does not override the novel, in fact it takes a backseat for the vast majority of it until the end. However, the research which Eugenides has done into this and the other subjects touched by the book is clearly astounding as his accuracy in his portrayal is astonishing.
The character development is superb - each character over the three generations develops a unique personality encouraging and coaxing readers to fall in love with them. You will. The emotions of each character seems to jump off the page and take a place in your heart.
Far from just being based around the family house the novel is also packed with its share of action - riots & a car chase are amongst these.
Eugenides description of this epic novel is beautifully vivid and weaves an enchanting image of the lives and inhabitats of his characters. It is cinematic in everything but format.
I've been struggling to think of a negative to say about the book before I finish my review but there really aren't any. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I initially bought it on a whim, as it was on offer and the write ups were good for it. However it has cemented it's place as one of my favourite books to be released in recent times.
Middlesex is basically an epic family saga, covering three generations of the Greek Stephanides family as they emigrate from their homeland to America. Historically accurate as the story unfolds around the social backgrounds of the changing eras the reader is consumed in the realism of the novel - this could easily be a real Greek-American family. The greek connection is kept firmly within the book as the narrartor, Cal, recounts lesser known Greek myths in connection with her own story. This leads on to an unusual device by Eugenides to seperate the story further from typical family saga's - Cal is a hermaphrodite.
This condition does not override the novel, in fact it takes a backseat for the vast majority of it until the end. However, the research which Eugenides has done into this and the other subjects touched by the book is clearly astounding as his accuracy in his portrayal is astonishing.
The character development is superb - each character over the three generations develops a unique personality encouraging and coaxing readers to fall in love with them. You will. The emotions of each character seems to jump off the page and take a place in your heart.
Far from just being based around the family house the novel is also packed with its share of action - riots & a car chase are amongst these.
Eugenides description of this epic novel is beautifully vivid and weaves an enchanting image of the lives and inhabitats of his characters. It is cinematic in everything but format.
I've been struggling to think of a negative to say about the book before I finish my review but there really aren't any. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Yes, I agree with the other reviews: this is a superb book. It has many laudable features: the prose is clean and crisp; some of the early stories are absolutely captivating; and the narrator is just a darling. Having said so much, I must also admit that the second half of the novel is quite disappointing. The story seems to meander into a series of implausible unsubstantiated episodes (a la Paul Auster), and I don’t think that Eugenides is able to quite capture, with any real sense of emotional satisfaction, the turmoil that Calliope would no doubt be under in having to navigate through the miasma of ambiguous sexuality. But, overall, this is still a remarkable book, and one that I think will endure, if only for the portrayal Calliope’s grandparents’ romance. Please read it, I can guarantee you won’t regret it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Riveting
Truly an American epic, appropriate given it's a Greek family saga. Every bit of this story captured my interest, and the way the various stories were knitted together made me want... Read more
Published 23 hours ago by Larissa C Gillotti
Fantastic Book !! Highly Recommended
This is one of those few novels that had me enchanted from the first page, and I didn't put it down untill the last. Read more
Published 2 days ago by HuntersGold
Greek Bellow
Pulitzer prize winning Middlesex catapults from the Eugenides family history, and spins through the air. Read more
Published 26 days ago by The Outsider
Wonderful, absorbing read
This book was such a pleasure to read. The characters are vivid, the dialogue is sparky, the descriptions beautifully constructed, and the plot painstakingly thought out. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Wilbo Waggins
Not for everyone
A big ol' family saga. you know the type - secrets are buried, secrets are revealed, fortunes are won and lost, people disappear in mysterious circumstances only to later turn up... Read more
Published 5 months ago by conor fitz
I didn't get it....
I read this book based on the outstanding reviews and usually if a title appears in quite a few lists of top ten reads then I expect to be hooked - however this was not the case... Read more
Published 5 months ago by elrslr
A solid novel but not great
The narrator Cal in Middlesex is a hermaphrodite. Cal is genetically a male hermaphrodite who is raised a girl and doesn't realise his gender until he hits puberty. Read more
Published 6 months ago by J. Willis
Fair to Middlesex
I don't get Eugenides. This book could have been so good, but none of it rang true for me. Reading it was like watching a CGI remake of a much-loved movie - I couldn't understand... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Joe Mall
Good service, good book
The book arrived the day after ordering, and as it was to join a reading group I've been able to get on the case straight away. Excellent read, and excellent service!
Published 6 months ago by Meedyum
dumbstruck
This is one of the best books I have ever read. When I finished it, I sat in my chair with the book in my lap for for a few minutes just taking in the greatness. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Alison Wise
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