3.5 Liked it but did not like it enough as the other reviews made me expect. I am confused about this book, this is my third rating and can be more. There are parts I enjoyed that ran effortlessly, and there are parts I wanted to just skip but didn't. Its the story of a Greek family that lived in Turkey and moved to USA. The writer begins his story at 1912 and narrates the story as if he was there, in an imaginative mode. A very complicated story of a genetic disease that grips a large family and keeps coming up during the book like a jack in the box. There is open expression of hostility to Turks; there is incest and immigration issues and working class history of US.

5 alpha reductase deficiency is an autosomal recessive disorder (meaning you only get it if both of the copies you inherit from your parents are defective) that results in pseudo-hermaphroditism.

For your information, excerpt from NIH site:
5-alpha reductase deficiency is a condition that affects male sexual development before birth and during puberty. People with this condition are genetically male, with one X and one Y chromosome in each cell, and they have male gonads (testes). Their bodies, however, do not produce enough of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT). DHT has a critical role in male sexual development, and a shortage of this hormone disrupts the formation of the external sex organs before birth.

Many people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency are born with external genitalia that appear female. In other cases, the external genitalia do not look clearly male or clearly female (sometimes called ambiguous genitalia). Still other affected infants have genitalia that appear predominantly male, often with an unusually small penis (micropenis) and the urethra opening on the underside of the penis (hypospadias).

During puberty, an increase in the levels of male sex hormones leads to the development of some secondary sex characteristics, such as increased muscle mass, deepening of the voice, development of pubic hair, and a growth spurt. The penis and scrotum (the sac of skin that holds the testes) grow larger. Unlike many men, people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency do not develop much facial or body hair. Most affected individuals are unable to have biological children without assisted reproduction.

Children with 5-alpha reductase deficiency are often raised as girls. Some of these individuals adopt a male gender role in adolescence or early adulthood, while others adopt a female gender role.

Jeffery Eugenes 2002 Pulitzer Price Winning novel is certainly something different!
A multi-generational epic of Cal(lie) Stephanides a intersex male with a gene defect mutation from his three generations Greek family narrates his experiences of having grown up as a girl.

The first half of the novel predominantly consists of Cal's family history dating back to Turkey in 1922 and follows both the incestuous relationships of his grandparents Lefty and Desdemona.
With the husband and wife/brother and sister arriving in America, the couple have two children Milton and Zoe.
Things get even more complicated and tangled as Milton marries second cousin Tess and eventually Callie is born...

As you can imagine this half us quite dense but the backdrop of Twenty Century American history keeps the plot moving.
Left working for Ford was really interesting and the Detroit race riots helps cement the family history in important real events.

It's the arrival of Callie in January 1960 that really helps speed up the narrative.
The author makes some interesting points of how male and female gender are placed into certain groups, from the types of clothes worn to various sports and hobbies expected from each sex.

Of course sex also plays an important role in the book itself, with Callie's thoughts on virginity and the expectations of her first period.

There's so many layers that makes this novel worthy of its prize giving status, the two main aspects that I'd loved the most was Cal's humourous first person narration and the vivid historical context that runs so strongly throughout.

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.

à la surprise de : personne je n'ai absolument pas aimé ce livre qui était, dans ses meilleurs moments, vaguement divertissant (de la même façon que le mauvais jeu de mots d'un collègue vous arrache une ombre de sourire), dans la plupart de ses moments, un peu pointless, et dans les pires de ses moments, réifiant et sexiste af, ce qui est un peu dommage pour un roman qui prétend déconstruire le genre et mettre en lumière le sort des personnes intersexe.

déjà : énorme, énorme, énorme avertissement car personnellement je n'ai AUCUNE envie de lire ce genre de récit, encore moins si je ne m'y attends pas, ce qui était hélas le cas ici : les 100 bonnes premières pages du livre sont consacrées à une histoire d'INCESTE entre les grands-parents du narrateur, qui étaient frère et soeur !!! et c'est censé être rigolo !!! vraiment !!! c'est mâtiné de petites anecdotes en mode #grotesque ou #insolite haha on rigole bien dites donc on doit mentir pour que personne ne sache qu'on est frère et soeur et mariés hahahaha des BARRES DE RIRE PUTAIN QU'EST-CE QUE C'EST COCASSE non c'est pas cocasse moi je trouve ça nauséeux traitez-moi de police de la pensée si vous voulez mais j'assume avec à peu près zéro difficulté de trouver nauséabond tout texte qui rigole de l'inceste, ou le normalise ne serait-ce qu'en partie, et présente ça comme une sacrée situation haha !!! dites donc !!!!!

énorme malaise également quant à l'OBSESSION de l'auteur pour les parties génitales de son protagoniste, dont il s'entend évidemment qu'elles jouent un rôle important dans sa construction, précisément parce qu'elles sont stigmatisées et font l'objet de violences médicales comme hélas c'est le cas pour bcp de personnes intersexes, évidemment qu'au moment de l'adolescence le regard sur son propre corps peut être très intense, mais il n'y avait PAS à verser dans une telle fétichisation - encore moins excusable que par la suite, quelques rapides personnages trans ou intersexe passent de façon fulgurante dans le texte et n'existent, en gros, que par leur anatomie avant d'être évacués et qu'on n'en reparle plus jamais !!!!! youpi !!!!

également nausée absolue de passer 80 pages sur "l'histoire d'amour" entre le narrateur et une jeune fille appelée l'Objet. oui. l'Objet. c'est ainsi qu'elle sera désignée. 3 à 4 fois par page. pendant 80 pages. est-ce à l'image de la façon dont elle nous est décrite, présentée et caractérisée ? je vous laisserai le deviner. vous avez deviné.

bien sûr qu'Eugenides sait écrire, que c'est fluide (raison pour laquelle je suis allée jusqu'au bout, en plus de vouloir constater jusqu'où ce roman allait être repoussant), qu'il y a certains passages çà et là qui recèlent une vraie poésie, mais tout ça est noyé dans un océan de digressions tantôt lassantes, tantôt agaçantes, avec des transitions si maladroites que c'est un miracle que les pages tiennent toutes debout dans la reliure (je vous jure, on a des trucs du genre "mais revenons à l'année 1922 où mon grand-père... [anecdote]. Cela ressemble un peu à ce moment où en 1981 je suis à Berlin et je fais ceci et cela... [anecdote]. Mais pour en revenir à 1922 (iopjgfiogodgdi bref je deviens FOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU fais un effort (en fait c'est ça qui me saoule avec les écrivains mec cishet tout ce que vous voulez : ils font pas d'effort. ils savent qu'on les lira. ils n'ont pas à faire l'effort d'être lisibles. ça me fout tellement en rogne que je reviens un rognon) structure ta narration lisse tes ellipses FAIS UN TRUUUUUUUUUC je vous laisse je vais manger de la soupe adios muchachos

Real Rating: 1.5* of five

This is an unpopular opinion: I can't tell the 90s Nexus of Interchangeability men apart. This guy, Franzen, Foster Wallace, Auster, Easton Ellis, Rick Moody...I have to check the spine every so often to see whose work I'm reading. It's not bad, per se, but undistinguished and therefore indistinguishable. I've had it up to the back teeth with this blurry-edged author's stuff and don't want to read it anymore.

There. I said it. *dons anti-flying-monkey helmet and armor* Come on. Let's hear your opinions of my opinion. Nothing's gonna stop you from telling me, so might as well invite it. BTW, I don't care what y'all think of what I think...but that's never stopped a-one of y'all from sayin' it anyway.

The book attracted me from the first phrase. I really liked the language of the author and the subject. The negative for me was the too long descriptions of Detroid.

I knew nothing about this book (not having seen Oprah's book list recommendation many years ago until just this minute), but I did know that Eugenides was awarded a Pulitzer for it, so I figured it was worth a shot.

I found the story-telling a unique mix of present, past, past-as-present, all blended in such a way that I was intrigued rather than confused. I never had to look back to figure out who was who, which happens to me with long family sagas.

My attention span isn't great, and I read in small bits in bed at night, making it hard to hold onto the thread of a slow or boring story. This was neither.

It didn't feel like jumping between times and ages as much as it was like when you remember past feelings while still being aware of what is happening today. Like meeting a childhood friend 30 years later and being overwhelmed with memories. We see each other now but also see each other as we remember.

Eugenides captures this with his use of flashbacks which don't feel flashed back. Everything seemed to fit - today, yesterday, and ancient Greek history, all mixed up - which led us from Greece custom to Desdemona and Lefty to Calliope.

The girlish/ageing Desdemona, the girlish/boyish Calliope and all the family connecting them are just wonderful.

As is the book - just wonderful.

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.

It goes without saying that this is one amazing book and my first Pulitzer winner as well. I took two weeks to read this one, but this is my issue, as always. I was incredibly inpatient, with a lifestyle that does not do well in relation to not being instantly gratified. This is such a special story, there is no instant anything. It is to be savoured and appreciated, there cannot be any rushing. I think I’m best in this instance to just write about my experience whilst reading this top notch book. Everyone knows the story, a story which I consider to be Cal’s and Cal’s only.

As always, my reading experience is so much better when I learn something, and this award winning book expanded my vocab (how many new ones did I come across here?!) and my knowledge of American lifestyle around the prohibition era, bits and pieces that unfortunately went over my head about Plato and all that jazz, and Turkish slash Greek historical events.

I am glad I read this, but I should be careful not to have high expectations in savouring books. I spent the last ten pages reading while playing cars with my 3 year old, I’d arrived at the point where I was so engrossed in coming full circle with Cal and his coming of age, that I simply had to keep going. I’m so glad Cal resisted in being swept up in ill-informed medical opinions from a man that had no idea of the person that was attached to the genitalia that he so harshly poked and prodded.

Then how nice was it to come across Desdemona at the end, I wondered what her ending was to be. I thought it fitting that it was she that communicated her long held secret to her grandson. A very ineloquent review to describe an amazing book, one that I recommend you become immersed in if you can grab the chance.

Calliope (Cal) Stephanides, born after World War II, was raised as a girl until the teenage years. Then, at 14, puberty kicked in and Cal matured into a boy.



Doctors found that Cal was a hermaphrodite with male (XY) sex chromosomes, intersex genitals, and a recessive genetic mutation that messes with the sex hormones.

But Cal's story (and genetic troubles) started long before, in 1922, when his Greek grandparents lived in Smyrna, Turkey. Unable to find suitable mates a brother and sister - Desdemona and Lefty Stephanides - fell in love. Driven out of Smyrna by a Turkish rebellion Desdemona and Lefty married on the boat to America, determined to keep their sibling relationship a secret.


Turkish Rebellion



Unfortunately Desdemona and Lefty each carried one copy of the mutated gene that would eventually cause Cal's troubles.



But this sprawling novel - in turns dramatic, funny, and tragic - is much more than the story of a hermaphrodite. It tells of life in Smyrna, the experiences of Greek immigrants in Detroit, arranged marriages, complicated family interactions and intermarriages, the silk industry, riots in Smyrna and Detroit, the rise of Islam and black power in the United States, and much more.


Greek immigrants in Detroit


Silk industry


Riots in Detroit

At the heart of the book is Cal's fascinating trajectory. Always feeling that something was wrong, Cal was an awkward girl who fell in love with a female classmate, had first sex with a boy, and was devastated when her "male" condition was revealed. Cal has a dramatic reaction to this revelation which leads to the book's climax. Definitely a book worth reading.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....

This was my first book by Eugenides, and I wasn't sure what to expect really. I expected a coming-of-age story, yes, but not like this.

This book has a little bit of everything. Part memoir, part family tree, part medical case study, part sexuality enlightenment, part love story, part cultural history and identity revolution... Eugenides could have called his book "Baklava" and been perfectly accurate. There are many layers to this story, each one adding their own little bit of deliciousness to the whole. :)

This story was really touching in a "This is my life & I'm just telling my story" kind of way. I didn't feel like Eugenides was trying to plunge his hand into my chest to tug at my heart-strings, but they were tugged nonetheless. At times, especially towards the end of the book, I was literally on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen. When Callie looks herself up in the dictionary, I couldn't help but be heartbroken for her.

I remember being a 14 year old girl and going through adolescence and puberty. It was hard enough without the added anxiety and strain of not knowing who you are. Calliope is one of the best characters I've read in a long time. Even through her fears and uncertainties about herself, she remains true to the essence of who she is underneath and refuses to let others decide her fate for her.

One of my favorite things about this story was the narrative. Eugenides prepares us for this with his first paragraph, stating that Calliope was born twice: once as a baby girl, and then again as a teenage boy. Cal's narrative shifts between first person narrative (when he speaks of himself as male) and third person (when he speaks of Callie as female, and when relating details about the family, their history, etc). I really felt that there was a defining line between Callie and Cal, and that while they ultimately are the same person, they were also two unique people living a single life at different stages.

Cal's omniscient recounting of events was sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always honest and brave. At least it felt that way to me. I really felt for Cal and wanted him to not only be accepted but to be truly loved. He is definitely a character worthy of love in my opinion.

This was a great story. There are some slow moments, but even during these, Eugenides writing carries the story. I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you for recommending this one, Jon!

This was my second time reading Middlesex, and I have to admit I approached it with some trepidation, wondering if I would enjoy it as much the second time, if I would be as swept up in the story, if, indeed, it would hold up.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the recent changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook