Back in the era of the paper book (before people started furtively reading Fifty Shades of Grey and Mein Kampf* on their tablets and whatnot) there were certain books that you'd see everywhere; bedside tables, in this hands of fellow commuters, and staking out beach-chair territory.

Even in the digital era, there are books that it seems like everyone is reading. When this happens, I exhibit a distinct (albeit self-defeating) behavioral pattern wherein if I don't read it hot off the presses, I then feel all late to the game, can't decide when it's the right "moment" for me to pick it up and, thus, miss out on all the fun.†

For me, n  n    Middlesexn  n fell prey to this cycle, so many thanks to Steve for suggesting I pick it up, because it was most definitely worth it. This book contains multitudes. It's a multi-generational epic (our narrator, Cal, invokes the muses), reminiscent of John Irving in that the passage of time shifts your focus as characters age, and cede the limelight to younger generations.

Middlesex certainly lends itself to the discussion of biological pre-determinism, the difference between gender and sex, and all sorts of topics pertaining to heteronormative cultural expectations. But, I just don't feel up to the task. Furthermore, I don't want to reduce the story arc to those standout frameworks. Cal reflects on his (as narrator he identifies as a male- so, go with it) own reticence to be an activist or icon, often leaning towards the path of least resistance (or avoidance) in his adult relationships:

n  n    “A word on my shame: I don't condone it.”n  n

Likewise, there is more to identity than gender and sexuality, and social stigma is bred from a variety of sources. This is a story of immigration, assimilation, wealth, race, inequality, generational disconnects, and the horrible, awkward, universal experience of adolescent becoming.

n  n    “The adolescent ego is a hazy thing, amorphous, cloud like. It wasn’t difficult to pour my identity into different vessels. In a sense, I was able to take whatever form was demanded of me.”n  n

The book is not without faults, but flows in spite of certain clunky edifices. It even made me laugh a time or two – the Canada commentary toward the end was a favorite moment of the jingoistic elderly in rare form.

“But who knew what would happen once he got to Canada? Canada with its pacifism and its socialized medicine! Canada with its millions of French speakers! It was like…like…like a foreign country!”

________________________________
* This is (depressingly) true. Hitler's Mein Kampf tops ebook download charts regularly (see article speculating as to the why here).
† I'm currently doing this with n  The Goldfinchn, so someone make a note to remind me to get on that if haven't read it in a year or two.

Τι είναι το “Middlesex”, τελικά; Είναι ένα queer μυθιστόρημα που τολμάει να θίγει θέματα ταμπού, όπως η έμφυλη ταυτότητα και η αιμομιξία; Είναι μια ιστορία ενηλικίωσης: Είναι ένα οικογενειακό saga που διατρέχει τρεις γενιές μιας ελληνοαμερικάνικης οικογένειας; Μήπως είναι και μια καταγραφή ενός μεγάλου μέρους του 20ου αι. στην Αμερική;

Ναι, είναι όλα αυτά.

Πρωτίστως, όμως, είναι ένα μυθιστόρημα που αγκαλιάζει αυτούς που δεν διστάζουν να επαναπροσδιορίσουν τον εαυτό τους, ερχόμενοι σε αντίθεση με αυτό που θεωρείται κοινωνικά αποδεκτό, να τον γνωρίσουν καλύτερα και-τελικά-να συμφιλιωθούν μαζί του. Και αυτό δεν είναι καθόλου εύκολη υπόθεση.

Γι’ αυτό και το “Middlesex” είναι ένα σπουδαίο βιβλίο και ο Eugenides απ’ τους πιο τολμηρούς-και ευαίσθητους-συγγραφείς που έχω διαβάσει.

n  “I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.”n

I'd heard Middlesex was about a character who was born intersex and raised as a girl - a compelling enough premise on its own - but I didn't realize this book was a rich, complex family drama, spanning multiple generations and featuring heavy subjects like incest, immigration, family secrets and twentieth-century America.

It seems some readers were disappointed about this and wanted more from our protagonist and narrator, but I honestly love these kind of stories. So many characters came in and out of this novel, and were in turns likeable, deserving of sympathy, annoying and downright insufferable (but kind of in a good way). I love it when authors create such well-drawn individuals who feel so completely real and alive - it makes me far more invested in their stories.

And there is so much going on here. We are taken on a journey of familial (and genetic) history, from a small Greek village to Detroit (prohibition, race riots and many cultural changes) to suburban Michigan. Eugenides allows Cal to explore his identity and come to terms with who he is by taking his story way back to the beginning. Back before he questioned his gender; back before he was even conceived.

I actually quite liked the idea that a person has been years in the making long before they're born. That our stories begin way before us in far off lands, in communities and societies that are foreign to us. Not to get too cheesy, but there's something pleasantly overwhelming about novels that make me feel small amid the vast expanse of the universe.

I really liked it. I liked the science. I liked the history. And I really liked the novel's humanity - all these unforgettable characters each having an important part to play in the story of Calliope "Cal" Stephanides.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Youtube

Brilliant! An engaging family saga, immigrant tale (Greeks fleeing the 1922 fire of Smyrna when the Turks took over at the end of the Turk-Greco War and renamed it Izmir), coming of age story, medical and genetics drama, national and cultural sociological tract. Solid 4 1/2 stars.

I've read quite a few reviews of this book saying that it was patchy in places, or it bogged down in the historical parts, the character not being believable in others, etc.

I have not read the novel, so perhaps this is true. As an audiobook however, it was magnificent. The story was compelling, the history inseparable from the development of Calliope, and the voice of the reader - Kristoffer Tabori - was genius. His character variations made an interesting concept into a fascinating narrative of a little girl who was born different.

Middlesex elbows its way into my top 5 favorite listens with her awkward limbs sticking out to both sides like a boy's, hips swaying like a girl's.

ce carte!


*dorind în secret și restul prozei lui Eugenides, iubind toate referințele făcute la cultura/mitologia greacă, la faptele politice din America și Turcia (cum se repetă istoria la scară mare)
și imaginându-mi că 30 de pagini din final nu au existat, era mai bine fără ele.

Dar Middlesex e despre mult mai mult de atât, e despre mai toate experiențele (căutarii) identității de gen, despre incest, homosexualitate, transexualitate și despre limita dintre gândirea tradițională și genetică.

Engaging epic of the three generations of a Greek family, the Stephanides. The first generation is composed of siblings, Desdemona and Lefty who leave their country during a political unrest, go to Prohibition-era Detroit and there have an incestuous relationship as husband and wife. Born to them in Detroit are son Milton and daughter Zoe. Milton marries his parent's cousin's daughter, Tessie and move to Michigan. Born to them are son Chapter Eleven and a daughter Calliope or Callie. At 13, Callie is diagnosed to be a hermaphrodite and she leaves Michigan to San Francisco to build a new life as a young man Cal. I am not telling you the rest of the story as that would be too much of a spoiler.

This is my 2nd book of Eugenides and he is still to disappoint. It still has Eugenides's strong engaging and flawless narration. His is a feast to the senses. When he tells a story, he makes it a point that you could visualize, hear, feel, taste and even smell what is going on. My favorite is that part when Desdemona is looking for a job and Eugenides is describing what she is seeing in Detroit during the 30's. It is like being there walking with Desdemona and seeing the surroundings in sepia. That part when Milton is serenading Tessie with his clarinet? I swear I can hear the music in the air and touch Lefty's perspiration on the bronze edges of his clarinet and feel the trembling of Tessie's skin. There are many reviews of this book here in Goodreads and I agree with most of them. Still, my take on Eugenides is a that his prose is one of the most engaging among those novelists who are still alive. What a gifted novelist. What a wonderful reading experience.

This book felt like two stories fused into one: the Greek immigrants in the US and how is it to be a hermaphrodite. The only experience I had about hermaphrodite was when I heard a restaurant-owner Aling Sally in Casimiro Village, Las Pinas when I was working there over a decade ago that her lesbian daughter had a long clitoris. I thought that it was her justification why her eldest daughter was a lesbian. It just did not interest me in any way. This book only reminded me Aling Sally's too personal statement while we were eating lunch in her place. I remembered I was eating big noodles and she was talking about a long pencil-like clitoris which was the same way Eugenides described Cal and other other hermaprodite's organ in this book.

This is the reason why I preferred the story on the Greek immigrants over the hermaphrodite's. I also felt that Milton's story could have been made stronger as a bridge between the first generation's Desde's and the third generation's Cal's. Save from the last 2 chapters of the book, I thought that the story went down from being totally amazing (5 stars) to so-so (2 stars) and it was saved by the last two: a fast-paced chapter and a well-executed denouement in the very last chapter. It was almost anti-climactic if those two chapters were not as well-written or if you take those out and end the story in San Francisco.

Anyway, I really enjoyed reading this book and I am now looking forward to read more Eugenides's works. What a guy!

Thanks to Marian and Reinaj for the readalong! Thank you, Angus, for encouraging us to read this!

Exactly the flawless masterpiece you've heard it is. I've read hundreds of novels in my day, & this is in the top 3 (On equal shelf with "A Confederacy of Dunces" & "Blonde." (My own personal trifecta perfecta: The THE the best novels of ALL TIME!)) I will never stop lauding this book. Unbelievable, mythic; the stuff from the Gods to anyone with an eye & brain to receive from the way-up up up heights.

This is LIFE AFFIRMING literature that's meant to be treasured for the rest of your blessed life. The main character will stay with you until the day you die...

Άρωμα και μνήμη.
Το _Μιddlesex_ είναι σελίδες γεμάτες με ιστορία, ποίηση, κωμωδία και τραγωδία.
Είναι ένα ταξίδι με ακυβέρνητο καράβι,
ο νόστος ενός ελαττωματικού γονιδίου, στο οποίο οφείλεται η ρευστότητα του φύλου.
Χρωμοσώματα, καρυότυποι, γενετικές ανωμαλίες, σύνδρομα ταυτότητας φύλου ή παραδοχής γένους, σύγχυση αρσενικών και θηλυκών χαρακτηριστικών
και πολυκεντρική απόδοση της ασυνήθιστης προσωπικής ανάπτυξης ενός μοναδικού χαρακτήρα.

Ο ερμαφρόδιτος αφηγητής και πρωταγωνιστής του βιβλίου
( ίσως δεν έπρεπε να είναι έτσι, ίσως ένας πιο αποστασιοποιημένος αφηγητής να μας εξιστορούσε γεγονότα που θα μπορούσε να ζει, να θυμάται, να αναβιώνει, να αποκαλύπτει, απο ουδέτερη οπτική γωνία, πιο ψυχρά, πιο ρεαλιστικά, πιο απάνθρωπα)
επικαλείται όλες τις αισθήσεις και το συναισθηματικό του βάθος για να μας παρουσιάσει την οικογενειακή ιστορία της εκτοπισμένης του φύσης ως αδιαμφισβήτητη πραγματικότητα.

Όλα αρχίζουν σε ένα χωριό της Μ. Ασίας, λίγο πριν την καταστροφή της Σμύρνης απο τους Τούρκους και τελειώνουν, πολλά χρόνια μετά, κάπου στο Βερολίνο, μιας εξίσου ερμαφρόδιτης Ευρώπης.

Στη Μ. Ασία γνωρίζουμε το γονίδιο της μετάλλαξης, ένα κρυμμένο απο ντροπή γονίδιο στα σκοτάδια της δεισιδαιμονίας επανέρχεται στο προσκήνιο και φανερώνει τις ιδιότητες του χάρη στο άπλετο φως που του ρίχνει η αιμομικτική αγάπη ανάμεσα σε δυο αδέλφια.

Η οικογενειακή ιστορία γενεών συνεχίζεται στην Αμερική, την βιομηχανοποιημένη Αμερική της πολλαπλής κρίσης. Οι Έλληνες μετανάστες προσπαθούν να ενταχτούν στην κατασπαραγμένη ήπειρο χιλιάδες όνειρα μακριά απο την πατρίδα τους.

Ο Ευγενίδης, στήνει με απίστευτη λεπτομέρεια και άπειρα χρώματα το σκηνικό που εξελίσσεται ο εκτοπισμός και η ηθική ανάγκη της «διαφορετικής» οικογένειας.
Στο πεδίο ενός επικού μυθιστορήματος απεικονίζονται οι κοινωνικές, πολιτιστικές, φυλετικές, σεξουαλικές, θρησκευτικές και πολιτικές αναταραχές στα μέσα του 20ου αιώνα.
Μέσα σε όλα αυτά η τραγική ποιητική κωμωδία του Middlesex.
Οι χαρακτήρες στην πλειοψηφία τους άριστα δομημένοι. Αγωνίζονται για τις επιλογές τους και τηρούν τα βιολογικά έθιμα της σεξουαλικής γιορτής, έστω κι αν η φύση παρεκκλίνει απο το κοινώς αποδεκτό.
Ακόμη κι όταν παρεκκλίνει απο τους δικούς της νόμους, πάντα υπερισχύει, πάντα επιβάλλεται, για να προκαλέσει και να αποκαλέσει «ίδιο» καθετί «διαφορετικό».

Προφανώς δεν μιλάμε για κάποιο αριστούργημα της νεότερης λογοτεχνίας, υπάρχουν αρκετά σημεία που επιδέχονται επικρίσεις ίσως και διευκρινιστικές αλλαγές.

Ωστόσο ο συγγραφέας πληρώνει το τίμημα της διαμαρτυρίας και μπορεί να ισχυριστεί πως η λεπτομερειακή περιγραφή και η πολυπλοκότητα που κάπως διασπούν την αναγνωστική συνοχή, μετατρέπουν το έργο του απο ιστορία μυθοπλασίας σε τέχνη.


Καλή ανάγνωση.
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

A storytelling hermaphrodite chronicles his family's history beginning with his grandparent's emmigration from Turkey to the US in the 1920s.
Incest. Mythology. Dysfunctional Greek families. Explosive secrets. Humor in the most unexpected places. Drugs. Sex. Hippies. Riots. Hitchhikers. The Illiad.

WHY AREN'T YOU OUT THE DOOR YET? GO. BOOKSTORE. PURCHASE. READ. YOU'RE WELCOME.

When the Turks invade Smyrna, two Greeks, Lefty and her sister Desdemona, embark for America with their little baggage and a recessive chromosome, waiting patiently to wake up. The circumstances are favorable since Lefty and Desdemona profit from landing in an unknown land to live their forbidden passion and marry. Their son marries his cousin. The little Calliope is born, a girl for everyone, although having the gonads of both sexes.
The novel is divided into two main parts: the first tells the story of the emigration of the Stephanides family to the United States and the adventures accompanying it: the rise of Ford and the assembly line, prohibition, illegal bars, and riots in Detroit due to racial discrimination.
The second part deals with hermaphroditism and Calliope's difficulty in understanding a body that continually sends him contradictory signals. The opportunity for me to learn a little about intersex is not so rare that it (from 1 to 15 people in 1000 involved) is treated until there is a minor amputation.
Eugenides offers us a beautiful journey of almost a century, oscillating between the story with a big H and the tribulations of a family carried away by these events without boring us for a single second.

Inicié el libro pensando que sería algo así como Trainspotting, no sé por qué. Mal inicio que no presagiaba nada bueno. Sin embargo, me gustó la parte turca de la historia, menos la del desembarco americano, la vida en América me pareció meramente interesante y me defraudó la última parte, esa que esperaba ansiosamente desde el principio, desde que leí este párrafo:n  

“Yo poseo un cerebro masculino. Pero me educaron en sentido femenino. Si hubiera que concebir un experimento para evaluar las respectivas influencias de la naturaleza y la educación, no podría encontrarse nada mejor que mi vida.”

nNo me gustó la solución. Siempre he mantenido que las novelas están más para preguntar que para responder, pero si aun así alguien se aventura a dar su opinión no me parece correcta la indefinición. Eugenides resume su postura en una sola frase a cien páginas del final con “una nueva y extraña posibilidad” que aleja la cuestión de determinismos sociales o genéticos: el libre albedrío. Una tercera vía que el propio autor califica de debilitada, indefinida y desdibujada. Porque, vamos a ver, ¿qué coño es el libre albedrío?