Middlesex: A Novel by Jeffrey Eugenides Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Middlesex: A Novel
Book Review: A Hellenistic Forrest Gump
Summary: 1 Stars
In case people think the comparison is meant as a compliment, it's not. This book had the same annoying way of coming up with coincidences that put people in the middle of "supposedly" historical occurrences. Just as I couldn't finish watching the movie, I couldn't finish reading this book. The characters and events were bland, and the magical realism didn't work.
I couldn't understand why this book is so popular until I started reading the reviews and found out that it's an Oprah's Book Club selection. The copy I have doesn't have her logo. The logo is for me is an automatic indication that a book is going to be cheesy and poorly written.
If you want to read excellent Greek tragedies about an incestuous relationship and its result, I suggest reading "Oedipus" and "Antigone" by Sophocles.
Book Review: A Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Having loved Eugenides's previous work, The Virgin Suicides, I waited patiently through the 1990s for a follow-up. When I was fortunate enough to snag an advance copy of Middlesex earlier this year, I expected nothing short of perfection from the author, and this novel met my expectations in every possible way. For the past few months, all I have been doing is telling people to buy this book upon its release; it's one of those rare literary novels that one can nevertheless recommend to just about any type of reader. From the very beginning, Middlesex draws the reader into its world; the narrator, Cal, formerly Calliope, Stephanides, is a hermaphrodite living as a man despite being raised as a woman. The major story within the novel is how Cal came to be (I won't ruin the fun for readers by going into detail), but along the way Middlesex discusses the Greek Diaspora following the first world war, incest, immigration, assimilation (and its rejection), racial relations, politics, and coming of age in the 1970s. Normally, one would expect such a densely packed novel to suffer under its own weight, but I found that the opposite was true; certain stories (e.g. Desdemona's brief time with the Nation of Islam) leave the reader wanting more, but the novel moves on. Eugenides is one of the most talented writers working today, and Middlesex is a novel that is accessible, funny, interesting, emotional, and, as other reviewers have indicated, thoroughly engrossing. This is one of the best works of contemporary literature I have read in quite some time.Book Review: A REAL Novel by a Great Writer
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to admit, when I saw this book in the bookstore and read the jacket, I had little interest in the subject. I had, however, heard great things about "Virgin Suicides", so I thought I would give it a shot. This is one of the best books I have ever read. Jeff Eugenides is a supurb story teller, and a perfect writer. His story moves along very well, the history is interesting and educational, the characters are well developed and facinating, and his prose is impressive, without being overdone or detracting from the story. It is obvious Mr. Eugenides spent a lot of time researching and writing this novel. His narrative gets the reader deep in the mind of the lead character. If you want to read a real novel, full of life, buy this book. If books were priced by the their content, Middlesex would be worth thousands.Book Review: A Wonderful Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I only stumbled across Eugenides late last year. What a find. I read the "The Virgin Suicides," a pitch-perfect rendering of adolescent suffering from all the typical sexual and parental conflicts associated with that stage of life. Eugenides is one of those writers who, after reading only a few pages, you know you absolutely must read everything that he's written. Unfortunately, I looked around for more, and there was nothing to be found. Lucky for us, he's back with a big (in every way) book that shows just how hard he's been working since "The Virgin Suicides" and affirms just how good a writer he is. It's always problematic to summarize the plot of a book built on ideas. Keeping that in mind, the book is narrated by Cal Stephanides, a man living in Germany as a member of the foreign service. Cal was raised as a girl (Callie) until he finds out during puberty that he's a pseudo-hermaphrodite, essentially a boy with a micropenis so small that it fooled his family and aging and sight-challenged family doctor into believing that he was a girl. More than half the book takes place before Cal is born, as Cal lays out the genetic lineage and family couplings that led to his genetic mutation. The book reaches back to Cal's grandparents and tells of their emigration to the United States and their early years there. It then tells the story of Cal's parents' courting and their attempts at assimilation so typical of the first generation born in the U.S. All of these plot twists prove fecund ground for Eugenides to explore topics of emigration, immigration, assimilation, race problems, and the class, ethnic and neighborhood demarcations that are so much a part of the American landscape.
The other half the book tells Callie's story, from her conception through her upbringing to her discovery at 14 that she is a he to the fallout from that discovery. Again, Eugenides uses this story to explore big issues like genetics (what he calls the modern version of predestination) versus upbringing, the importance of gender in America and the differences between the sexes. Again too, as in "The Virgin Suicides," he explores what it is to come of age, to discover the self, to find out, as have we all have, that there are parts of us that we do not like and would love to change, but that we must learn to accept to thrive. I would say that no one writing does teenage longing and suffering better than Eugenides. He does the suffering that attaches to teenage infatuation so well that at times you want to cry out yourself from the mix of agony and desire that his characters feel.
Anyway, with this book, I would say that Eugenides takes his place among other notable authors of his generation, including David Foster Wallace, Ricky Moody and Jonathan Franzen. In my opinion, he's better than Moody and Franzen, but not quite where DFW is. That said, those four authors are all quite different and perhaps would not even be compared except that they are acknowledged leading contemporary American writers of "serious" fiction. For comparison's sake, I would say that if you liked Moody's "The Ice Storm," you'll love this. I envy those of you who have yet to read this wonderful book. Enjoy it!
Book Review: A beautiful novel
Summary: 5 Stars
Georgously written, this book was a pleasure from the first word to the last word. The kind of book one hopes to find but rarely does. An uncanny account of a complex family, covering three generations. This is a must read for anyone that loves getting into intimate details of the characters and really caring about them on a highly intelligent level. This is honestly one of the best books I have ever read.