Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
A unique coming of age story. While the main character in this novel is dealing with gender identity issues the main focus of this brilliantly written story is the confusion we all face as we grow into the person we were meant to be. The reader finds himself identifying with the main character's experiences. This is a brilliantly written story. The prose is honest in a way that few authors dare to write. Every word, every action, every thought, is symbolic of the common human experience.
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Community Reviews
LOVED it! I was fascinated! His writing style really pulled me in and I found myself laughing and crying. I was upset about one death (won't spoil it!), I'm not sure how necessary it was to kill that person.
This book was released in the early 2000s, back when I was still working for Borders Group, the bookstore chain. Everyone in the publishing and bookselling world was head over heels for it, including my then-boss Annie, who encouraged me to read it. For some reason, I didn’t.
Even though it was set in my mother’s birthplace, Detroit, Michigan. Even though the story of an intersex youth piqued my curiosity.
The book sat on my shelf for years. It moved across the country with me twice, and then, in 2016, it was sold in an estate sale.
Last year, my husband was looking for some good reads. I remembered all the praise Middlesex had received, so I bought another first edition, just like the one I’d had for years and never read, so he could read it. He didn’t.
Last week, I finally decided to give it a go. And guess what? I’ve now placed it on my short list of the best books I’ve ever read.
Jeffrey Eugenides is an amazing, beautiful, eloquent, humorous, intelligent, soulful storyteller. Not since A Gentleman in Moscow (another of my all-time favorites) have I hung on every word of a book.
Middlesex is epic in scope—beginning at the turn of the 20th century in Greece and taking us to America through the eyes of immigrants in 1923, the same year my own immigrant grandfather arrived through New York and eventually settled in Detroit. We follow the Stephanides family, with all their eccentricities, ethnicity, and hardships, through the 1970s.
Told by Cal, our narrator, the story sweeps you up and pulls you in.
A must-read. Maybe I wasn’t meant to read it until now. Maybe it took me this long to be ready.
Even though it was set in my mother’s birthplace, Detroit, Michigan. Even though the story of an intersex youth piqued my curiosity.
The book sat on my shelf for years. It moved across the country with me twice, and then, in 2016, it was sold in an estate sale.
Last year, my husband was looking for some good reads. I remembered all the praise Middlesex had received, so I bought another first edition, just like the one I’d had for years and never read, so he could read it. He didn’t.
Last week, I finally decided to give it a go. And guess what? I’ve now placed it on my short list of the best books I’ve ever read.
Jeffrey Eugenides is an amazing, beautiful, eloquent, humorous, intelligent, soulful storyteller. Not since A Gentleman in Moscow (another of my all-time favorites) have I hung on every word of a book.
Middlesex is epic in scope—beginning at the turn of the 20th century in Greece and taking us to America through the eyes of immigrants in 1923, the same year my own immigrant grandfather arrived through New York and eventually settled in Detroit. We follow the Stephanides family, with all their eccentricities, ethnicity, and hardships, through the 1970s.
Told by Cal, our narrator, the story sweeps you up and pulls you in.
A must-read. Maybe I wasn’t meant to read it until now. Maybe it took me this long to be ready.
Middlesex is a fantastic book. Eugenides is a master storyteller and really captures the voice of an adolescent. There are many visual scenes that would play well as a movie, Callie on her bike through the Detroit riots, Milton’s accident in the bridge, the burning of the town in Greece, His descriptions are so vivid , you are seeing a movie in your head.
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