Middlesex
Date Posted: Sunday, August 05, 2007Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
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Epic, comic and occasionally tragic, Middlesex is a big book in every sense. Sprawling and populated with dozens of memorable characters, this is the story of Calliope Stephanides, later Cal, famous hermaphrodite and narrator.
The story begins in a tiny village on the slopes of Mount Olympus in the 1920s, where Cal's grandparents are forced to flee the invading Turkish army. They head for America and a new start as man and wife, omitting to mention that they are also brother and sister. Their incestuous union surfaces two generations later as a genetic mutation in Cal.
Born and brought up as a girl, Calliope realizes at age 14 that she may in fact be a boy. By the age 41 and now living as a man, Cal delves into the Stephanides family history by way of explanation.
Cal's story encompasses everything from the Turkish burning of Smyrna to Ford's famous factory in Detroit, from bootlegging to the Nation of Islam, and throws in race riots and novelty shaped hotdogs for good measure.
Middlesex is novel about identity and change - brother and sister becoming husband and wife, Greeks becoming Americans, a girl becoming a boy. It's about Greece and the American dream, family and belonging. With its intricately-structured plot and unusual and engaging narrator it's also a rollercoaster ride through 20th century history.
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