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Middlesex

A Novel

By Jeffrey Eugenides

(486)

| Paperback | 9780312422158

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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

Critics

Middlesex

Quest’incredibile storia ha inizio nel 1922, in un piccolo paesino della Grecia chiamato Bitinio. Se, con la forza della fantasia, potessimo gironzolare tra le poche anime che vi abitano ed entrare nelle loro case basse penetrate dal vento, scoprirem ... (read full critics)

mangialibri published on Fri, 17 Feb 2012

'Middlesex' by Jeffrey Eugenides

This book has received rave reviews, been an international bestseller and won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. And no wonder - it is BRILLIANT. Middlesex is wholly original and unlike anything I've ever read before. Just look at the opening line: ... (read full critics)

readingmatters published on Mon, 27 Sep 2010

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24 Reviews

5 people find this helpful

In my top ten

I studied anthropology at uni. This involved looking at things like kinship studies, gender and the whole nature vs. nurture thing. It's an interesting subject. Unfortunately, most anthropologists are rather dull writers, especially around kinship studies.
This book really appealed to me as i ... (continue)

I studied anthropology at uni. This involved looking at things like kinship studies, gender and the whole nature vs. nurture thing. It's an interesting subject. Unfortunately, most anthropologists are rather dull writers, especially around kinship studies.
This book really appealed to me as it brings in all these themes but being fiction, it's not so dry and lifeless. I like the rhythm of the writing.

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Athene1710 said on Feb 20, 2008 | 1 feedback

2 people find this helpful

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

Good book, extremely well written and showing great sensibility, although the ending seems somehow out of place, rushed and over-dramatized, maybe to keep the Greek tragedy metaphor going...

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Phobia said on Jul 3, 2010 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

Funny, compelling in its witticisms and sometimes surprising for its turnups. More than the story itself, it's the wonderful style of Cal's (and Eugenides's) writing that keeps the reader going and successfully invites him to empathise with the protagonist's mixed feelings. A bitter sweet story that ... (continue)

Funny, compelling in its witticisms and sometimes surprising for its turnups. More than the story itself, it's the wonderful style of Cal's (and Eugenides's) writing that keeps the reader going and successfully invites him to empathise with the protagonist's mixed feelings. A bitter sweet story that, in spite of all the ugliness of this world, still has room for some hope and urges us to be honest to ourselves in the first place.

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Sourcreamandonions said on Jun 3, 2011 | Add your feedback

This is the story of Calliope/Cal, a hermafrodite born and raised as a girl, who later on became a man. The personal story of Callie/Cal is interwoven with that of the Stephanides family whose grandfather and grandmother flew a massacre in Turkey and emigrated to the United States. Cal/Callie starts ... (continue)

This is the story of Calliope/Cal, a hermafrodite born and raised as a girl, who later on became a man. The personal story of Callie/Cal is interwoven with that of the Stephanides family whose grandfather and grandmother flew a massacre in Turkey and emigrated to the United States. Cal/Callie starts narrating the story from his/her grandparents because he/she thinks that their story and their union might have determined his/her being a middle sex.
All in all, an interesting reading.

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Lilyofthevalleys2000 said on Feb 2, 2012 | Add your feedback

Somehow a condensed of various themes

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Ermellissimo said on Jan 20, 2012 | Add your feedback

Compelling reading; interesting narrative style...

Great story, and a more positive spin on Ibsen's 'Ghosts'. Fascinating narrative structure, and covers many decades tracking the family of Cal, the central character searching for his/her 'true' gender.

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Ian Hodgson said on Apr 2, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback