Middlesex

Thanks to the lovely Joolie, I wrapped myself around Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides over my holiday break. Seeing as it is a Pulitzer prize winning novel, it really isn't any surprise that it was very good. And, if you are like me, you might think of not reading it since Oprah made it a bookclub choice. But resist those thoughts! Join the masses! Because Middlesex is really quite a nice read.

The book follows the story of Cal, who is an intersex man who grew up as a girl, Calliope. We find this out at the beginning of the novel, but (in a very Tristram Shandy-like way), we then go waaaaay back to Cal's ancestral village on the slopes of Mount Olympus where his grandmother and grandfather are dealing with the death of their parents, coming of age, and getting forced out of their village by invading Turks. The novel traces the story of the hermaphroditic gene that has affected the village for years -- one in which a baby that looks outwardly like a girl begins to manifest male characteristics when she hits puberty. And due to the breaking of a taboo, a dose of chance, and the general mystery of genetics (and through nearly half the book), we follow the grandparents to America, and follow their genes into Calliope.

I liked the family-history part of the story -- Eugenides gives Cal a fun omniscience that gives the narration a unique perspective. But where the book really gets going is when Calliope hits puberty. The particularly involving part (for me at least) is how much I related to her feelings during this universally awkward time. I know I felt gigantic and gawky and weird and out of control when I was 14, just like Calliope. And every adolescent feels isolated and like the things that are happening to them couldn't possibly be happening to anyone else. Of course, in Calliope's case, she is right -- most of the other girls at her private school were going through puberty, but none of them were starting to display male sexual characteristics.

The book even has a very satisfying, if bittersweet, ending. So, Middlesex = yay! Go check it out.

[And finally, doesn't Eugenides have the greatest author picture? The author picture is one of my favorite photo genres, and he does it up perfectly. ]