Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
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Book Reviews of Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
Book Review: Very good novel that doesn't quite live up to its promise to be truly great
Summary: 4 Stars
I didn't quite enjoy this book as much as I had hoped I would (don't get me wrong though - it's still very good). I've never been convinced that any novel really needs to be much more than 400 pages long, and I suppose this forms the crux of my minor complaint about this novel. Middlesex is one of those multigenerational epic novels that require the reader to commit to the story and characters of the first generation and then transition twice as the story shifts focus onto to the second and third generations while the original characters fall into the background (or die). While there is a common thread or theme that connects the multigenerational tale, essentially these are three separate stories. In the case of Middlesex, the first generation story (the grandparents flee from Asia Minor and become new immigrants in the US) is the most compelling part of the novel. The second tale (kissing cousins marry, have children, and get rich selling hot dogs to the masses) is notably weaker and the novel starts to meander and feel a little bloated. The third portion of the novel focuses on the teenage sexual awakening of hermaphrodite narrator Callie. This should be the primary focus of the novel and yet it ends up feeling strangely rushed at the end. It seems to take a long time for Callie's `condition' to be revealed and acknowledged but once that happens, the story jumps along quickly as if the author started thinking `OK, I guess I should wrap this thing up'. I found the contrived ending involving a ransom from an unlikely source to feel oddly out of place and `tacked on'. The end result for me was that the novel started out strong, gradually began to feel bloated, and then just as it seemed to be getting to the heart of the novel's promised theme, wraps up too quickly.
The story ends while Callie (now Cal) is still a teenager and as a result, the connection between the teenager and the narrator (now in his early 40s) isn't as strong as I would have liked. We don't see the progression and learn how Cal makes the transition to an adult. I'm not asking for another two hundred pages to be added to the novel, but it seemed like Eugenides made some strange choices in deciding where to place the emphasis in his novel. I could have done with less of the Milton and Tessie years. As characters I found them lacking and their story of entrepreneurism in America a little clichéd and thin. I would have preferred instead, greater focus on the Cal years, watching him progress into adulthood.
If I sound like I didn't enjoy this novel that would be wrong. The grandparents are rich and wonderful characters and Callie as a young woman is authentic and fully realized. Eugenides is a talented writer and his prose is exceptionally good. Middlesex is a big, bold novel full of wry humor. Eugenides does an admirable job of blending history into his story and has produced a thought provoking novel that explores the nature of identity. The usual literary devices are evident but not too subtle and not too heavy handed: parallels between silkworms, the new immigrant experience, and sexual duality and re-birth abound.
Readers should note that Middlesex does include some sexual content that might make some people uncomfortable (incest, 14 year old girl sleepovers, and peep shows of the unusual variety). Most people chosing to read a novel about a hermaphrodite probably won't be too shocked, but some people might find the content a little outside their comfort zone.
The bottom line: Middlesex is a very good novel - I just think it could have been brilliant and for me at least, it fell a little short of its promise.
Book Review: Eugenides Tackles the Epic - Greek Style
Summary: 4 Stars
Somewhere in the course of this epic telling of a Greek family that made their way to America from a remote Turkish village is a really great book waiting to get out. Unfortunately the epic format delays that which is best and most interesting about Eugenides story--the telling of a life and coming of age of Calliope who turns to Cal, the hermaphrodite who discovers her identify and finds a place in this world accepting herself as her body changes from female to male as she matures.
On the surface of things, the gender bending subject matter may reach some as off-putting. But if you put aside those reservations and sink into the story and the way Eugenides tells it, you'll find yourself quite caught up in the last half of the book. I don't think everyone has as much issue with the family epic format where an author leads you through a few generations to get to the character the book is really about, but for me it kind of sunk below my expectations of this book. But, by evidence of all the 5-star reviews, other folks like Middlesex quite well. Oh, and that Pulitzer Prize thing validates the book too I suppose.
I came to Middlesex from Eugenides first novel, The Virgin Suicides: A Novel (not from watching Oprah as some may assume), and had the high expectations of the same atmospheric superbly-written coming of age tale with a little bit of a dark twisted side. I think Middlesex was Eugenides effort at an opus and for me there were a few flaws along the way.
In the plot, we get a sense of a Forrest Gump-like effort, to touch on major historical events weaved into the characters lives--the burning of Smyrna, Malcom X and the Detroit's Nation of Islam movement, race-riots, San Francisco sixties. That's all well and good but some of the movement of the characters around through these events felt a little forced. Then there is a car chase scene that is a semi-climatic moment of the book (no details plot-spoiler here) in which the story starts to get wrapped up a little too neatly. It kind of reminded me of a flaw I find with many of John Irving's books in which you have a great zany quirky family comi-drama rolling along and then all the pieces fall quickly into place and it leaves you thinking...the author was enjoying telling his story and then realized it all had to come to an end.
With all that said, if the book would have been cut to the story about Calliope turned Cal, and the plot line simpler and more true, if that makes sense, this book could have easily cracked my top 20.
So, though it's well-written, and you may find the focus on the Greek-American immigrant culture and experience interesting, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this book to too many folks. The highlight really is how Eugenides humanizes the tale of a child growing up overcoming a physical challenge and becomes comfortable of who they are and who they are becoming. That is a message that resonates. Watch Eugenides, because it seems, his best writing is still ahead of him. Read The Virgin Suicides: A Novel and look for his next book. Middlesex, you may want to skip. --MMW
Book Review: Dealing With What We're Dealt
Summary: 5 Stars
How do I write a book review without seeming completely besotted by the book? Before I try, let me say that "Middlesex" was one of the best novels I've read this year, or the last, for that matter.
Jeffrey Eugenides captures the reader from the very beginning. We are not sure who we are reading about. Or what. The reader has no choice but continue reading to figure it out. Even once we figure it out, we have to find out what happens. Such is the power of "Middlesex".
We are introduced to Cal, a Greek-American diplomat working at the U.S. embassy in Berlin. Seemingly attractive, he is strangely skittish about allowing girls near him. And there is a reason for it: Cal was born as Calliope, a hermaphrodite; Calliope who, due to her parents desire for a girl and the old doctor's inability to detect a second set of genitalia, is declared a girl. In fact, Calliope suffers from the 5-alpha-reductase deficiency; a mutation of 5-alpha-reductase, an enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, causing the children with this mutation to be born with (among others) ambiguous genitalia, but female primary sex characteristics. Meaning - Calliope looked and sounded like a girl... but wasn't.
The author takes us through the story while speaking in first person, and in order to appease the confused looks on readers' faces, he takes us back, way back, to the time of Cal's grandparents; we see their life in Greek Anatolia (what is now Turkey), and the extermination of the locals by the advanced Turkish army. We also see the flight of Cal's grandparents, and their forbidden love, which gets a new chance with their chance of going to America.
Ok, I don't think I can say much more without revealing some major plot lines. However, I can say that Eugenides weaved the story of this Greek family so expertly, that I was completely and utterly absorbed. With succinct and easy-going prose we are told the entire story. No, nothing sick and twisted about Cal's growing up, to the detriment of some readers. This is not a story meant to please by scandalizing, but a story portraying an unfortunate child and his struggle with his identity. he story itself, when looked at from a side, is actually heart wrenching, but it is told with such proficiency and warmth, that we feel right at home with the narrator.
Rare is the book that will evoke an outward display of emotion with me. I generally internalize all emotions caused by a book. "Middlesex" made me laugh and cry, often in the same chapter, if not paragraph. Such wonderful sense of humor, used to chase away the "woe is me" attitude that too many people with less problems have, make this character that much more endearing. No, I didn't forget the other characters: believe me, they are just as rich and real as the character of Cal. Even the title itself has a clever double meaning: it is what a person with ambiguous genitalia is called, and is also the name of the street on which Cal grew up with his secret. And one can't help but wonder how many people go through what Cal went through, but never speak up. Very highly recommended.
***Also published on Epinions.
Book Review: Four Stars, not Five
Summary: 4 Stars
THIS ESSAY WAS WRITTEN BY ONE OF MY HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH STUDENTS AND I AM SUBMITTING IT AS A REVIEW WITH HIS PERMISSION. IT REPRESENTS GOOD STUDENT THINKING ABOUT THIS INTERESTING NOVEL.
STUDENT AUTHOR: AMMAR SAMMA
There are certain aspects of Middlesex that Jeffrey Eugenides executes to near perfection, while I found that other portions of the novel were a bit rough around the edges.
One of my complaints with this novel is that is Eugenides spends far too long - over two hundred pages - building up the story of Desdemona, Lefty, Milton, and Tessie. While these anecdotes are entertaining and historically accurate, I believe that Eugenides spent a bit too long before truly revealing Calliope to the reader. Granted, the first few pages give a brief biography of Cal, and there are episodes with Cal and Julie sporadically throughout the novel, but the reader is not introduced to the full character until about halfway through the novel. As a result, I believe that the first two hundred pages, quite frankly, are a bit boring. While there are some exciting stories being told, namely with Jimmy Zizmo and the Nation of Islam, the history of Calliope's ancestors gets a bit bland after a while. However, the latter half of the novel was by far the superior half and I have many praises for how Eugenides presented Calliope's story.
From numerous trips to different doctors, to Calliope's hormonal issues, all the way to her sexual experimentation, Eugenides does a fine job in providing the reader with an in-depth analysis of all of Calliope's struggles as a young woman. All of these anecdotes provided me with what I had expected from a book about a hermaphrodite. It was extremely interesting to see how Calliope developed as a girl, while struggling with developmental and hormonal issues. It was not until Calliope's encounters with Obscure Object, which subsequently led to a trip to Dr. Peter Luce, when Calliope convinced herself that she is actually a male. From this point on, the narrator - Cal in his 40s - tells the story of Cal, a fifteen year old male who has run away from home. Without giving away too much of the plot for those of you who have not read the story, Cal runs into some interesting characters and situations in his somewhat failed attempt to live away from home.
Another complaint that I have about how the novel is written is that during my reading experience I felt that I was actually reading two different novels: one about Calliope's ancestors and one about her. I believe that this can be attributed to the fact that when Eugenides decides to introduce Calliope as a full-blown character, her ancestors essentially die off (both figuratively and literally). I felt as though there was little transition from "Book Two" to "Book Three" in the novel that bridged it together as the same story.
Regardless of the few flaws that are present in how Eugenides presented his work, I still found Middlesex to be a very compelling and worthwhile read. For the most part, Eugenides does a good job of drawing in the reader and keeping them interested.
Book Review: Don't let the subject matter deter you
Summary: 5 Stars
When I heard about the subject matter of the novel "Middlesex", I have to admit that it sounded weird to me and the subject matter alone almost put me off from reading the book.
I soon realized that I was uncomfortable as the dickens about reading a book about an hermaphrodite. Questioning myself even further, I asked myself how a 529 page book about an hermaphrodite won the Pulitzer Prize and had been chosen by Oprah for her book club. But now that I have read the book, I have discovered that this work is an accurate study of genetics in story book form AND an epic of Greek proportions and grandeur set not only in ancient Greece, Turkey, but in Detroit no less!
Detroit now has a favorite son in Jeffrey Eugenides.
The book is a great read, a classic with beautiful poetic verse. It is funny, poignant, touching, compassionate, educational and imaginative. It stretches your understanding of subjects that maybe you were at first not very comfortable hearing about; let alone read. The book is laid out as a modern Greek epic in the style of the ancient epics reminiscent of the Iliad and the Odyssey. You will learn more than you ever thought you would about ancient Greek mythology.
Along the way you will meet the endearing Stephanides clan and follow their tragic/comedic path from Turkey/Greece to America (settling in of all places Detroit). This family chronicle will introduce you to their history, their genealogy, their genetic make-up, their family ties, their fears of immigration and their assimilation into the American way of life. You will meet Desdemona, Lefty, Father Mike, Zoe, Sourmelina, Milton, Tessie, Chapter Eleven and finally Calliope Helen Stephanides.
From the very first line of the novel, "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkable smogless Detroit day in January 1960, and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974,"..the reader suspects that he is in for an interesting adventure of epic proportions.
The discoveries that Calliope makes along the way in uncovering "her" true self are told with great delicacy by a master storyteller. And the startling choices she makes before Cal finds "his" way home again take the reader on a breathtaking journey which you will not forget.
The Los Angeles Times summed up what this author has been able to do with this uncomfortable subject matter, "Eugenides has taken the greatest mystery of all-What are we, exactly, and where do we come from?---and crafted a story that manages to be both illuminating and transcendent."
All that I can say is, "Don't miss this book." It was well deserving of the Pulitzer Prize and it will keep you up at night turning the pages. You will be hooked by each hidden detail of the Stephanides past.
I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.
Bentley/2007
Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)