Movies •Books •Music •Food •Tv Shows •Technology •Politics •Video Games •Parenting •Fashion •Green Living •more >

Lunch » Tags » Books » Reviews » Middlesex (book) » User review

Middlesex (book)

A book by Jeffrey Eugenides

Edit Topic

< read all 23 reviews

Outstanding Pulitzer Prize Winner

Jun 25, 2010

by cdbaker

Rating:

This is an outstanding novel and a very worthy Pulitzer Prize winner.

If you told me I'd enjoy a book about a hermaphrodite that finds their true sexual identity - not my kind of thing! But this is a very serious, well thought out, and comi-tragic novel about Cal. Calliope grew up thinking he was a girl until puberty came and oops! Actually not.

But it's about much more than just that. The novel is epic in scope centering on the history of Calliope's family and exactly how it came to be that two recessive genetic traits wound up in Calliope's genome.

History is in abundance in this book. History of a recessive gene, history of a family, history of World War I, World War II, the United States, Detroit, and history of Calliope, all rolled up into an epic, well interwoven tapestry.

Highly recommended.

What did you think of this review?

Helpful

Thought-Provoking

Fun to Read

Well-Organized

Post a Comment

More Middlesex (book) reviews

review by rlwilliams. June 30, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

Well researched, well written

I am convinced that Jeffrey Eugenides will be a name readers identify for generations to come. I was impressed by his first novel, The Virgin Suicides, but Middlesex demonstrates an increased sense of the characters and truly keeps the reader in the grips of the plot. The story of the main characters is compelling, while secondary characters who played parts in important historic events gave depth to a story that took place mostly in Detroit. SPOILER ALERT- It is … more

Comment Compliments (8)

Quick Tip by nangel78. July 04, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by nangel78

Depressing

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by Lauren328. July 02, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by Lauren328

Well written story about a subject often ignored.

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by heather_teague. July 02, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by heather_teague

Very interesting book! Totally outside of what I normally read or expected.

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by DevonCook. June 17, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by DevonCook

Well crafted and on point.

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by sally83. June 17, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by sally83

one of my favorite books of all time. vast, sweeping -- i still am amazed by how intuitively eugenides writes as a female protagonist

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by ashmunki. June 16, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by ashmunki

this book is so good that when i first read it, i was convinced of my OWN hermaphroditism although i was born and identify as a female.

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by secretagentx9. June 16, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by secretagentx9

This is one of the most original books I have ever read,it pulls you in with the very first line,and keeps you there until the end.

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by freckles66. June 16, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by freckles66

awesome story

Comment Compliment

Quick Tip by cooperk4. June 12, 2010

posted in Cafe Libri: Reviewing Books & More

A Quick Tip by cooperk4

I really enjoyed this book.

Comment Compliment

see all Middlesex (book) reviews (23)

About the reviewer

Doug Baker (cdbaker)
Ranked #49

Avid reader and football fan.

Consider the Source

Use Trust Points to see how much you can rely on this review.

Lolita (book)

Under the Dome

Catch-22 (book)

Anna Karenina (book)

rate more to improve this

Recent reviews by cdbaker

The Debate is Over: Tom Brady is the Greatest Quarterback …
a review of Tom Brady vs. the NFL: The Case for ...

The Last Policeman: Great Mystery in an Unique Setting …
a review of The Last Policeman: A Novel

Is it the Headphones or the Cord?
a review of Philips O'Neill SHO9565BK/28 THE STRETCH ...

see more reviews

About this book

Wiki

Middlesex is a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides. It was published in 2002 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2003.

The narrator and protagonist, Calliope Stephanides (later called "Cal"), an intersexed person of Greek descent, has 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. The bulk of the novel is devoted to telling his coming-of-age story growing up in Detroit, Michigan in the late 20th century. This story, however, is intertwined with elements of a family saga, meditations on the era's zeitgeist and bits of contemporary history.

The novel begins with the narrator, aged 41, deciding to tell the story of his recessive gene that caused him to be born Calliope and later to become Cal. The narration periodically returns to the frame story of present-day Cal, who is bearded, male and interested in women, foreshadowing the personal revelations of Callie.

view wiki