Middlesex

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

"Part Tristram Shandy, part Ishmael, part Holden Caulfield, Cal is a wonderfully engaging narrator. . . A deeply affecting portrait of one family's tumultuous engagement with the American twentieth century." --"The New York Times"
"Expansive and radiantly generous. . . Deliriously American." --"The New York Times Book Review" (cover review)
"A towering achievement. . . . [Eugenides] has emerged as the great American writer that many of us suspected him of being." -"-Los Angeles Times Book Review "(cover review)
"A big, cheeky, splendid novel. . . it goes places few narrators would dare to tread. . . lyrical and fine." --"The Boston Globe"
"An epic. . . This feast of a novel is thrilling in the scope of its imagination and surprising in its tenderness." --"People"
"Unprecedented, astounding. . . . The most reliably American story there is: A son of immigrants finally finds love after growing up feeling like a freak." --"San Francisco Chronicle Book Review"
"Middlesex is about a hermaphrodite in the way that Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel is about a teenage boy. . . A novel of chance, family, sex, surgery, and America, it contains multitudes." --"Men's Journal"
"Wildly imaginative. . . frequently hilarious and touching." --"USA Today"

Part Tristram Shandy, part Ishmael, part Holden Caulfield, Cal is a wonderfully engaging narrator. . . A deeply affecting portrait of one family's tumultuous engagement with the American twentieth century. "The New York Times"

Expansive and radiantly generous. . . Deliriously American. "The New York Times Book Review (cover review)"

A towering achievement. . . . [Eugenides] has emerged as the great American writer that many of us suspected him of being. "Los Angeles Times Book Review (cover review)"

A big, cheeky, splendid novel. . . it goes places few narrators would dare to tread. . . lyrical and fine. "The Boston Globe"

An epic. . . This feast of a novel is thrilling in the scope of its imagination and surprising in its tenderness. "People"

Unprecedented, astounding. . . . The most reliably American story there is: A son of immigrants finally finds love after growing up feeling like a freak. "San Francisco Chronicle Book Review"

Middlesex is about a hermaphrodite in the way that Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel is about a teenage boy. . . A novel of chance, family, sex, surgery, and America, it contains multitudes. "Men's Journal"

Wildly imaginative. . . frequently hilarious and touching. "USA Today""

Part Tristram Shandy, part Ishmael, part Holden Caulfield, Cal is a wonderfully engaging narrator. . . A deeply affecting portrait of one family's tumultuous engagement with the American twentieth century. The New York Times

Expansive and radiantly generous. . . Deliriously American. The New York Times Book Review (cover review)

A towering achievement. . . . [Eugenides] has emerged as the great American writer that many of us suspected him of being. Los Angeles Times Book Review (cover review)

A big, cheeky, splendid novel. . . it goes places few narrators would dare to tread. . . lyrical and fine. The Boston Globe

An epic. . . This feast of a novel is thrilling in the scope of its imagination and surprising in its tenderness. People

Unprecedented, astounding. . . . The most reliably American story there is: A son of immigrants finally finds love after growing up feeling like a freak. San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

Middlesex is about a hermaphrodite in the way that Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel is about a teenage boy. . . A novel of chance, family, sex, surgery, and America, it contains multitudes. Men's Journal

Wildly imaginative. . . frequently hilarious and touching. USA Today

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"Part Tristram Shandy, part Ishmael, part Holden Caulfield, Cal is a wonderfully engaging narrator. . . A deeply affecting portrait of one family's tumultuous engagement with the American twentieth century." --The New York Times

"Expansive and radiantly generous. . . Deliriously American." --The New York Times Book Review (cover review)

"A towering achievement. . . . [Eugenides] has emerged as the great American writer that many of us suspected him of being." --Los Angeles Times Book Review (cover review)

"A big, cheeky, splendid novel. . . it goes places few narrators would dare to tread. . . lyrical and fine." --The Boston Globe

"An epic. . . This feast of a novel is thrilling in the scope of its imagination and surprising in its tenderness." --People

"Unprecedented, astounding. . . . The most reliably American story there is: A son of immigrants finally finds love after growing up feeling like a freak." --San Francisco Chronicle Book Review

"Middlesex is about a hermaphrodite in the way that Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel is about a teenage boy. . . A novel of chance, family, sex, surgery, and America, it contains multitudes." --Men's Journal

"Wildly imaginative. . . frequently hilarious and touching." --USA Today