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Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) Review
"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. User Submitted Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) ReviewsOctober 10, 2008 3 and half stars I really enjoyed the historical aspect of the book - Detroit through most of the 1900's, Turkey and Greece in the early 1900's. I also learned a lot and it made me much more sympathetic to gender issues brought out in the book. Having said that I wish it could have been about 200 pages shorter. I found myself plodding through it at times. I thought the story of the grandparents could have been condensed to about 50 pages but it went on and on and on. I also could have done without some of the detail at the San Francisco peep show. The ick factor at times was just way too high for me. Kudos to the author on what must have been an incredible amount of research. October 9, 2008 FANTASTIC!! After hearing the mention of this book on Oprah's show, I decided to purchase it. I'm not a big book reader, but I couldn't put it down. I took it everywhere with me for two weeks. I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. Now, I'm trying to decide who I will pass it along too. September 25, 2008 Must Read This was an amazing book. Eugenides tells a sprawling tale of the Stephanides family told from the perspective of a hermaphrodite (Cal) to explain the sequence of events that led him to become the person that he is. It is riveting from the second Eugenides begins in Turkey with Cal's grandparents childhood to the conclusion of the narrative in Berlin. At the same time funny, touching, and heart-breaking this book provides a level of humanity not seen in much literature today. September 18, 2008 Middlesex, A Novel I can't review something I have not yet received. It has been over 30 days and the book has not yet arrived. September 11, 2008 Boring! If you like incestual relationships, this may be the book for you. Half the book is family history and deals with the grandparents incestual relationship and then the parents semi-incestual relationship. It isn't described as a particularly bad thing that a brother and sister get married and you will even have to endure "sex scenes" between the two. It then insults people who actually are intersex by giving the impression that the incest is what caused the baby to be born that way. The book doesn't get around to the story of Cal who is supposedly the main character. I was really looking forward to reading about Cal and his life which would have been fascinating. Instead I got a ton of boring family history that has nothing to do with the life of the main character, complete with a ton of useless crap, like the grandmothers ovulation and the fathers wierd relationship with his cousin in which he gives her thrills by touching her with his clarinet. It is actually a little disturbing. I don't know why pulitzer or Oprah thought this book was so good. I am quite confused. September 7, 2008 Marvelous novel Read this book a few years ago - and for some reason Amazon deleted my review. While not a fan of his first novel, I find that Eugenides wrote a captivating tale - one tries to avoid terms like "coming of age" but when the story is told so creatively, woven into history, with such unique circumstance - and such emotional honesty, the novel exceeds generalizations. September 5, 2008 Fascinating Story I enjoyed this book from start to finish. It is a "meaty" story, filled with the history of the characters. There is also enough fact as to be educational and thought-provoking. September 2, 2008 Fabulous Work of Entertaining Literature I must preface my remarks by admitting that I am, apparently, a literary phillistine. Most works of acclaimed literature fail to interest me and prove to be a slog to get through. I am left wondering whether I am somehow unequipped to appreciate fine literature, or whether, in fact, the Emperor is wearing no clothes. Suffice it to say, when reading for pleasure, I rarely gravitate to the classics or Pulitzer prize winners. That said, it is a real pleasure when I can find myself truly enjoying what is considered a great work of literature. At such times, I begin to believe there may be hope for me after all. Such was the case with Cold Mountain, Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns and most recently, Middlesex. This novel weaves a fascinating tale, in three distinct threads, through the eyes and emotions of a hermaphrodite. The story begins through the narration of a now middle aged foreign service bureaucrat, Cal Stephanides. Cal was born a "female", but upon reaching puberty, began demonstrating the secondary sexual characteristics of a male. The story then reverts to Cal's grandparents as they immigrate from a war torn Asia Minor. From that point, the story flows smoothly back and forth from the ancestors, to Cal's (Calliope's) childhood and to the present day in a surprisingly seemless fashion. The story is gripping, both for the history imparted (most particularly Turko-Greek relations in Asia Minor in the post WWI years and the growth and decay of Detroit) as well as for the lives of the primary characters. A minor thread touching upon the foundation of the Nation of Islam in Detroit is particularly entertaining. And throughout, the writing is extraordinary without being oppressively dense. When reading a book of this quality, I'm constantly reminded that, at least in my opinion, the underlying essence of a good book lies in the artistic telling of a captivating story. The finest writing on the planet cannot cover for a story that either goes nowhere or is simply boring (Suite Francaise comes immediately to mind). This fine novel has both, outstanding writing and a fascinating story with which to demonstrate it. Highly recommended. September 1, 2008 Great writer, but yet There were so many times in this book where I had to go back and reread a line for its beauty/truth; also times where I literally laughed out loud. In fact, I often read passages outloud to my reading-disinterested husband. Overall, I loved it. But for sure there were whole sections where I found myself impatient and frustrated by the infernal cleverness of the writer. He is certainly funny, and often profound, but I often felt as if the author teased his readers for far too long---and barely satisfied when it came time to deliver on his 500 page promise. That said, I would certainly recommend reading it. There are just too many gems, too much good writing to pass up. I will certainly read the Virgin Suicides----only sorry I saw that particular story first. August 28, 2008 great book i do not like oprah. but she reccommended this book and i said what the hell. it is a great read. funny, touching and totally engrossing. dont listen to what oprah says read it yourself For more Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) reviews click here.
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