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.

"Some people inherit houses; others paintings or highly insured violin bows. Still others get a Japanese tansu or a famous name. I got a recessive gene on my fifth chromosome and some very rare family jewels indeed."

Let me say first that Jeffrey Eugenides is an extraordinary storyteller! Why I’ve waited so long to read one of his books is beyond me.

Middlesex is an epic multi-generational saga of a Greek family with one of the most engaging narrative voices I’ve come across in quite some time. Calliope/Cal is an intersex person."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." I couldn’t help but be charmed by Cal. The author takes us into some places that are uncomfortable - those shadowy places that could get quite dark if handled differently. Instead we are taken there with a voice that is often humorous while still managing to be sensitive and respectful – an admirable accomplishment!

I’m not going to go into any further detail about this book – there are thousands of other reviews and my goal is to catch up on mine before summer slips away. I’ve failed to mention that this book is also rich in historical detail, and I’m always a sucker for that. Eugenides manages to weave so much history throughout and he does so quite seamlessly. Motor City, the Detroit race riots, Asia Minor conflicts, immigration issues, and family dynamics are all explored. But Middlesex is much more than that. It’s also a drama about the human condition that is so compelling that you will feel an emotional attachment to Cal. If you can set aside any feelings of uneasiness regarding some graphic sex scenes , and just allow yourself to get swept away with Cal’s story, then you are in for a real treat. A 5-star book that I highly recommend!

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.

Hmmmmm.... what to say, what to say...

I sometimes go into a book "blind" - to be as unpolluted in my expectations as can be, looking only at the star ratings of my Goodreads friends in order to determine whether I will try a book. I knew only that an overwhelming number of my friends enjoyed it, and that it won the Pulitzer in 2003. Both great reasons for me to pick up this book.

I didn't realise until I looked on the jacket cover that the book was about an individual, Calliope (later, Cal) who is a hermaphrodite. Okay, intriguing. I also didn't realise until about 20 pages in that it all began with Cal's grandparents, who... yeah... were part of the same nuclear family. Alrighty...

This is my first experience reading Jeffrey Eugenides, and he certainly knows how to write. BUT... (here's where I have to list my reasons for my three star rating on a much beloved book - I'll try to be brief)

1 - 529 pages. 529 pages!
2 - It took almost 400 of these pages before Cal's story comes into play.
3 - At times I really felt like I was getting a history lesson, and so much of it seemed superfluous to the "real" story at hand.
4 - I found the Father Mike story arc quite unbelievable.
5 - Why does he insist on calling his brother "Chapter Eleven"?
6 - His habit of switching from 1st person to 3rd somewhat randomly, felt a little jarring.
7 - It seemed to me a rather grandiose PSA for "Don't Marry Your Sibling and Then Have Your Child Marry Their Cousin and Have Babies"

I don't mean to be too harsh. (Don't hate me!) As I said, Eugenides is a skilled writer. There are some sex scenes - which I believe are very difficult to write well - involving our protagonist that were beautifully rendered. He created some very memorable characters. My main problem is with the epic nature of this book. I wondered, is this a historical family saga, or is this the story of Cal? I wanted him to decide.

Фантастична книга! Просто фантастична. Не можех да спра да чета, а спирах ли, не можех да се отърся от мисълта за тази история... Не знам защо чак сега стигам до нея, "Мидълсекс" е истински шедьовър!

For some unfathomable reason, I decided to start working Pulitzer Prize winning novels into my regular reading. I'd already read several, and it just seems like a good idea.

Middlesex wasn't exactly what I expected. Heck, I'm not really sure what I expected. What I knew was that the protagonist was a girl who discovered that she was really a boy at the age of 14. What I didn't expect was a warm, loving, often funny family saga. Jeffrey Eugenides quite clearly has a fondness for his Greek heritage and treats his characters with a great deal of affection. Middlesex reminded me a lot of The World According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving. While it's not as zany as Irving's work, it has that same affectionate quirkiness. It's hard not to like the characters and feel sympathy for them even when they're doing the wrong thing. I thought Eugenides' use of a first-person omniscient narrator was probably the most daring aspect of the book. For some reason, the incest, the sexuality and the gender confusion weren't in the least exploitative or titillating. I came away feeling like I understood what it must really be like to be a man who was raised as a girl. I felt I understood the Greek immigrant experience. I loved the back-drop of twentieth-century Detroit and how the setting was as much a character as the people. I felt like Lefty, Desdemona, Milton, Tessie, Chapter Eleven and Callie were my family and I loved them like family, quirks and all. This was definitely worth reading.

This Greek family saga, as narrated by a hermaphrodite, has many pages, but I flicked through them easily like so many moistened labia. Moments of tragedy lay concealed within, like undescended testes, but warm humour dominated, swelling forth like a budding penis.

«— Хіба не легше було залишитися тим, ким ти був?
Я підняв голову, зазирнув мамі в очі й сказав:
— А я й залишився.»

Зізнайтеся: час від часу багатьом з нас дуже хочеться його – грубенького роману, цеглинки на сотні і сотні сторінок, історії родини в різних поколіннях, цікавенного історичного тла, живих персонажів, з якими за час читання можна буквально породичатися. Хочеться, правда?
Це саме такий роман! Він включає в себе все-все перелічене, ну, і ще рецесивний ген п’ятої хромосоми.

"Middlesex" von Jeffrey Eugenides ist ein Roman über das 5-alpha-Reduktase-Mangel-Syndrom. Calliope Helen Stephanides wird 1960 mit eben diesem Syndrom geboren. Die Ärzte sagen den Eltern, dass ihr Kind ein Mädchen ist. So wird Calliope dann auch erzogen. Im Alter von vierzehn Jahren ändert sich Callies Situation. Sie entscheidet sich dafür, ein Mann zu sein.

Der Roman verhandelt zwei Formen der Identität. Im ersten Teil des Buches geht es um nationale und kulturelle Identität. Die Großeltern von Calliope fliehen nach dem Massaker von Smyrna im Jahr 1922 und wandern in die USA ein. Die griechisch-orthodoxe Kultur lebt vor allem in der Großmutter weiter. Diese Kultur trifft auf die amerikanische Gesellschaft, die durch Aspekte wie die Autoindustrie, Selfmade-Geschäftsmänner oder den Vietnamkrieg geprägt ist. Dieser Teil des Romans ist ein großes Epos. Es gibt viele Referenzen zur Antike (Calliope, Teiresias, Hermaphroditos). Ein Zeitraum von etwa fünfzig Jahren mit Themen wie Krieg, Flucht, Integration, Wirtschaft oder Rassismus wird in einer sehr szenischen Art und Weise erzählt.

Der zweite Teil des Romans behandelt die geschlechtliche Identität. Calliope befindet sich zwischen den Geschlechtern. Genetisch ist sie durch X- und Y-Chromosom ein Mann, sozial ist sie eine Frau. Im Englischen würde man wohl von Sex versus Gender sprechen. "Denk dran, Cal. Geschlecht ist biologisch, Gender ist kulturell." Die szenische Erzählung ändert sich im zweiten Teil. Der Text ist nun weniger episch, er ist eher ein fokussiertes Drama mit vielen reflektierenden Passagen.

Das Buch ist vor etwa zwanzig Jahren erschienen. Die Themen und die Sprache haben in diesen Jahren keinerlei Staub angesetzt. Der Roman ist auch heute noch spannend. Themen wie Flucht, Integration oder Gender sind überaus aktuell. Da die Themen hier grandios in Literatur umgesetzt sind, wird dieser moderne Klassiker wohl auch noch in fünfzig Jahren gelesen werden. Ich jedenfalls habe ich mich gerne auf "die Achterbahnfahrt eines Gens durch die Zeit" begeben.

I've been lounging around in bed all day today, slobbering on this book like a crushing schoolgirl. I'm reluctant to use the word, but this book is truly "epic," and not in a frat-boy kind of way. I don't want to give anything away, so I won't discuss any plot points. But really, the plot plays second string to Eugenides' style. Never in my life have I read a book so smooth, like a malty drink, like a wet porpoise, like clear mountain air. (so maybe these metaphors aren't apealing, but it's an attempted imitation that falls laughably short.) Fuck. Terrific, explosive, obsessively-woven style. I mean, there's not one fucking word in this whole book that doesn't fit perfectly in. There's an unobstructed flow. If this were a movie, not one single shot would be stationary, complete movement of the camera, and not just through the physical space, but through time, plot, and unseen ironies. I couldn't put it down. My roommate barely stopped me from changing my facebook status to "I got Stendhal Syndrome from the Middlesex." I can't say a bad thing about this book. Dizzyingly, intimidatingly fabulous writing. You're a dumb shit if you don't read it.

A rich family saga, quite wonderful in places and a little drawn out in others. I enjoyed the grandparents’ and Calliope’s storylines the most, although really the whole thing is Calliope’s story.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides is a surprising and wonderfully written story about the life of Calliope/Cal Stephanopolis who in the opening lines "was born twice: first, as a baby girl...and then again as a teenage boy." The subject of hermaphroditism or intersexuality is addressed throughout as the book as a running theme as the cinématographique narrator Cal looks back at his childhood as Calliope and explains his complex incestuous family history from the origins of her grandparents as Greeks fleeing Smyrna as the Turks invade to Detroit from the 20s up to the 70s.

The narrative time shifts between his life as a 41 year old man Cal to this running family history written in a witty, humorous style which I found fun and engaging. The text ingeniously woven together from history and science with many recurrent themes (silkworms, Greek orthodox beliefs and practices, guilt and redemption, etc). I couldn't put this book down. This is the only Eugenides book I have read but it will definitely check out his other books.

An interesting sidenote: trying to explain the book "daddy is reading" to my 7yo daughter and my 10yo son, I was able to painlessly explain why brothers and sisters cannot get married (a very common kid's question) and even reproductive functions in a painless and intuitive way: since Callie has organs of both sexes but the penis ("zizi" in kid's French) is inside her vagina ("zezette") she cannot have babies and will never menstruate ("clean the house where the baby can live"). She also has too many male hormones to develop breasts which happens about the same time or just before menstruation. This deformation was the improbable result of the union of a brother and sister two generations back. Nature wants to ensure a varied gene pool and thus it is better to seek love outside one's own family. This explanation seemed to satisfy both of them :)

UPDATE: Great recent article at good housekeeping.com: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/...