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Middlesex – Book Review
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Jeffrey Eugenides’ “Middlesex” is another beautifully written book. ‘Cal’ Stephanides, the narrator, is the intersex grandchild of Greek immigrants. This was our book for book club this month, and all of us expected that the entire book would basically be about Calliope/Cal dealing with the switch from female to male. Instead, the book was essentially an epic family novel.
Although not what we expected, this book was a fantastic read. Eugenides chose a very interesting style of storytelling. The primary story thread was chronological. However, Cal was nearly an omnicient narrator looking back on his family’s story from a view in the ‘present’ and occasionally describing his present life as well.
More than anything, this novel was a story of the immigrant experience and the experience of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants. 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants who just happen to be dealing with a recessive gene causing hermaphroditism and the discovery of a young person raised as a girl who discovers at puberty that he is actually male.
This book is absolutely fantasic and I truly recommend it.
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I loved this book when I read it in my pre-blogging days!
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I read this last year and absolutely loved it!
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This has been on my ever-growing to-read stack for a while now. I may have to move it closer to the top, thanks to your review!
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I loved it, too. Oprah definitely got it right when she recommended that one.
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I’ve been wondering about this book every since I finished The Virgin Suicides. Good to know its a great read.
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Middlesex is one of my alltime favorite books. I thought it was superbly written. So glad you and your book club enjoyed it!
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I read this before Oprah announced it and really liked it as well
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I read this last summer. Having grown up in Detroit it was really cool to read a book that was (mostly) set there. I liked this book a lot but there were parts I didn’t care for.. like the scene when the dad dies.. the car chase with the uncle-I thought that was stupid.. also the underwater sex place (I can’t remember exactly what that was- but I hated that part). The coming of age story with Cal- that was the best part for me. So I guess I liked the middle of the book best, and the beginning was good, but the end- not so much.
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I would like to win Middlesex in your contest.
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Okay Mom, you’re entered.
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I enjoyed this one very much when I read it a few years back.
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I loved this book too. I read it a while ago and then recently my book club chose it also so I re-read it. On my own I wouldn’t usually read a book again but I am glad I did this time. I got even more from it when I could discuss it with others than I did when I read it on my own.
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Absolutely loved this book. I remember that I finished reading it on a business trip and read the very end in the airport lounge with tears running down my face. I also read it for a book club and we had a few people who were really disturbed by some of the story, but they were a tiny minority.
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Just read middlesex and eager to know if it is based on a true story. Does anyone know?
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Yemeshree,
I don’t believe that it is, but it sure could be the way Eugenides writes, couldn’t it?
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Sounds like a very good book. Thanks for the review!
.-= Karlynn Johnston´s last blog ..Childhood Obesity Could Shorten Children’s Lives =-.
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[...] by Jeffrey Eugenides. Those of us who read it really quite enjoyed it (you can see my review here). Our wine for the night was Albarino which is a white from Spain. I must say, I thought better [...]
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