Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Middlesex: A Novel
Book Review: A Brilliant Page-Turner!
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the best books I have ever read. If you liked Wally Lamb's book, "I Know This Much is True" you will like "Middlesex." Intelligent fiction can be hard to come by- - I'll be thinking about this one for years.Book Review: A Chronicle Of Implosion ... Like The City Of Detroit Itself
Summary: 4 Stars
Hmmm... up front, I'm not certain I initially liked the ending. And then, by and by, I came to two verities : 1) this is a Greek tragedy (involving not a person but a chromosome), albeit set mainly in America and 2) it is also a Grosse Pointe/Southeast Michigan story and anyone who is familiar with both knows that happy endings are not really possible. In fact, according to the dictates set by ancient protocol involving cultural literary narrative, it would be against the law. I mean, it's all there - the ethnic newcomers meet suburbia and become suburbanized themselves, much to their amazement: one family member comes out of the closet, one parent becomes alcoholic and/or eccentric/insane, a son/daughter drops acid and drops out, someone moves to Europe or the Coasts, another gambles away the family trust fund or business, the family priest is scandalized and disgraced, another child becomes a socialite, one more toils in academia, et al. Not that Eugenides follows this pattern precisely, but we recognize it. And of course, surrounded by the collapse of the wider culture (i.e, war, famine, suburban sprawl) - and its aftermath. I did feel that the W.D. Fard connection was a bit cheeky (almost Twain-like in mid-stream diversionary hilarity and comic relief), but all worthwhile works require gratuitous flaws. It keeps the author from sounding too preachy or authoritative. While a tragedy, this is, also, a memoir; a painful, personal palimpsest viewed through the lens of time, distance, revelation, and the imperfect attempt to bring some semblance of order to it all, while still holding open the possibility of hope and another tomorrow. All in all, not bad.Book Review: A Great Greek Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
Middlesex is the story of a three generation Greek family as narrated in the voice of Calliope, the grandchild of an incestuous couple who flee from Asia Minor in the 1920s. This well-told tale takes us from the early Ford days in Detroit through the prohibition era and on into the 1967 race riots of 1967 and beyond. Calliope suffers from teen angst compounded by a body that she cannot easily come to terms with. The story is cleverly written and includes a plot twist that is most unexpected. For those of us who are devotees of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels this one clearly shows that in belongs among the best reads of the group.Book Review: A Great Read, but---
Summary: 3 Stars
What super writing skill Eugenides displays for us. His narrative is compelling all the way. The characters are interesting.but I was glad to leave them after so many days of living their tortured lives. This is not one of those books I would want to spend my eyesight on if I thought I would have only a few more years of reading ability.Book Review: A Greek Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
A remarkable book spanning the unknowable causes of genocidal destruction to the mysteries of genetic mutation, MIDDLESEX captivated me like a page turner and moved me like a classic. The story of Cal(liope) Stephanides, a hermaphrodite who hails from Eugenides beloved Grosse Point, his family, the destructive fury of race war, and, ultimately, America in our time, moves from Turkey to San Francisco. Cal's grandparents, brother and sister Desdemona and Lefty, enter into an incestuous union as they flee their would-be murderers in Smyrna, thus planting the genetic seed of Cal's hermaphroditism. Eugenides' portraits of Smyrna, of the immigrant bustle of early mid-century Detroit and its tragic downfall forty years later are lovingly portrayed, as is the small-scale stories of Cal's family's immigrant assimilation and Cal's confused upbringing. Highly recommended.