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Middlesex

A Novel

By Jeffrey Eugenides

(54)

| Paperback | 9780312422158

Book Description

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s liContinue

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."

So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.

6 Reviews

  • 1 person find this helpful

    "In the eighteenth row my grandmother gave her critical opinion. 'It's lke the paintings in the museum,' she said. 'Just an excuse to show people with no clothes.'"

    "All of a sudden American wasn't about hamburgers and hot rods anymore. It was about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. It was bout ... (continue)

    "In the eighteenth row my grandmother gave her critical opinion. 'It's lke the paintings in the museum,' she said. 'Just an excuse to show people with no clothes.'"

    "All of a sudden American wasn't about hamburgers and hot rods anymore. It was about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. It was bout something that had happened for two minutes four hundred years ago, instead of everything that had happened since. Instead of everything that was happening now!"

    "Shakes your hand while he pisses in your pocket"

    "The most widely raised type of silkworm, the larva of the Bombyx mori, no longer exists anywhere in a natural state. As my encyclopedia poignantly puts it: 'The legs of the larvae have dgenerated, and the adults do not fly'"

    Is this helpful?

    ― Amusaur83 said on Aug 13, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • Original, interesting, intriguing, absorbing & though-provoking!!
    One of the best reads of that year.
    Loved it!!

    Is this helpful?

    ― Nini said on Nov 17, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • truly stunning

    One of the most amazing books I've read - full of depth, unusual information and heart.

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    ― Gary said on Aug 19, 2009 | Add your feedback

  • Better than "The Virgin Suicides," although Eugenides's prose can occasionally be tiresome.

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    ― Coilette said on Jun 14, 2008 | Add your feedback

  • My thoughts

    This beautifully written book is more than a story of a hermaphrodite. It is a rich family history interwoven with the history of Greek immigrants, as well as a history of life in the Detroit area from the early auto industry through the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. I liked all the characters ... (continue)

    This beautifully written book is more than a story of a hermaphrodite. It is a rich family history interwoven with the history of Greek immigrants, as well as a history of life in the Detroit area from the early auto industry through the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. I liked all the characters from the grandparents Desdemona and Lefty through the narrator, Cal/Callie.

    Is this helpful?

    ― krin5292 said on Apr 21, 2008 | Add your feedback

Book Details

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Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN Edition List Sale Seller
9780312422158 Paperback $15.00 -- Amazon US
£9.10 -- Amazon UK
$21.24 -- Amazon CA
¥1911.00 ¥1720.00 Amazon JP
€11.77 €11.77 Amazon FR
-- €11.95 Amazon DE
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+ 5 copies tradable: →

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