Middlesex

Spanning eight decades and chronicling the wild ride of a Greek-American family through the vicissitudes of the twentieth century, Jeffrey Eugenides' witty, exuberant novel on one level tells a traditional story about three generations of a fantastic, absurd, lovable immigrant family -- blessed and cursed with generous doses of tragedy and high comedy. But there' s a provocative twist. Cal, the narrator -- also Callie -- is a hermaphrodite. And the explanation for this takes us spooling back in time, through a breathtaking review of the twentieth century, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie' s grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set our narrator' s life in motion. Middlesex is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It' s a brilliant exploration of divided people, divided families, divided cities and nations -- the connected halves that make up ourselves and our world. Justly acclaimed when it was released in Fall 2002, it announces the arrival of a major writer for our times.

Review :
"Funny, sad, tragic, and beautifully rendered." -- "The Ottawa Citizen" "A tenderly rendered and often hilariously bizarre saga." -- "The Edmonton Journal" "This novel is longer, more populated, sadder, funnier, bigger in every way than its predecessor. What hasn't changed is what set its author apart in the first place: an empathy and curiosity that ranges across generations and gender, and a willingness to enter heavily mined areas -- especially with regard to sex -- where lesser writers fear to tread.... Eugenides has taken all the trials and joys of the traditional coming-of-age novel and in one fell swoop made them twice (three times?) as rich." -- "The Gazette "(Montreal) "Delightful.... infectious... bold... The story is more about genetics than gender confusion, more family saga than freak show.... It's about the transatlantic journey of a single gene and how the vagaries of love and hate generations removed come to bear on an individual life." -- "The Globe and Mail" "[Since The Virgin Suicides] we've been wanting a big fat novel that would consume us.... We have it now. I just finished reading it. Middlesex is in every way that big novel." -- "The Vancouver Sun" "He has emerged as the great American writer that many of us suspected him of being." -- Jeff Turrentine, "Los Angeles Times Book Review" "Sweeps the reader along with easy grace and charm, concealing . . . the ache of earned wisdom beneath bushels of inventive storytelling" -- Adam Begley," The New York Observer ""A wonderfully rich, ambitious novel -- it deserves to be a huge success." -- Salman Rushdie, "New York Magazine ""Here's your heads-up . . . Yes, it's that good. . . A novel of chance, family, sex, surgery, and America, it contains multitudes." -- Jonathan Miles, "Men's Journal ,,"."an uproarious epic, at once funny and sad, about misplaced identities and family secrets.... Mr. Eugenides has a keen sociological eye for 20th-century American life.... But it's his emotional wisdom, his nuanced insight into his characters' inner lives, that lends this book its cumulative power." -- Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times" "Jeffrey Eugenides's rollicking, gleefully inventive second novel," "Middlesex, serves as a tribute to Nabokovian themes. It provides not only incest a la" Ada" and a" "Lolita-style road trip, but enough dense detail to keep fans of close reading manically busy." -- "The Washington Post" "delightful... a big-hearted engine of a novel [with] epic-proportioned emotions and an intelligent, exuberant voice." -- Zsuzsi Gartner, "The Globe and Mail" "The pay-off for the reader is huge. Eugenides has taken all the trials and joys of the traditional coming-of-age novel and made them twice (three times?) as rich." -- "The Montreal Gazette" "Jeffrey Eugenides' expansive and radiantly generous second novel ... feels rich with treats, including some handsome writing....One of the delights of Middlesex is how soundly it's constructed, with motifs and characters weaving through the novel's various episodes, pulling it tight. The book's length feels like its author's arms are stretching farther and farther to encompass more people, more life.... It is a colossal act of curiosity, of imagination and of love." -- "The New York Times Review of Books " "Perhaps the most wonderful thing about the book is Eugenides' abilityto feel his way into the girl, Callie, and the man, Cal. It's difficult to imagine any serious male writer of earlier eras so effortlessly transcending the stereotypes of gender. This is one determinedly literary novel that should also appeal to a large, general audience." -- "Publisher's Weekly" "Jeffrey Eugenides is a big and big-hearted talent, and Middlesex is a weird, wonderful novel that will sweep you off your feet." -- Jonathan Franzen "Middlesex vibrates with wit. . . . A virtuosic combination of elegy, sociohistorical study, and picaresque adventure: altogether irresistible." -- "Kirkus Reviews" "Wildly imaginative and engrossing . . . [Middlesex] skillfully bends our notions of gender . . . with its affecting characterization of a brave and lonely soul and its vivid depiction of exactly what it means to be both male and female." -- "Booklist" " Funny, sad, tragic, and beautifully rendered." -- "The Ottawa Citizen" " A tenderly rendered and often hilariously bizarre saga." -- "The Edmonton Journal" " This novel is longer, more populated, sadder, funnier, bigger in every way than its predecessor. What hasn' t changed is what set its author apart in the first place: an empathy and curiosity that ranges across generations and gender, and a willingness to enter heavily mined areas -- especially with regard to sex -- where lesser writers fear to tread... . Eugenides has taken all the trials and joys of the traditional coming-of-age novel and in one fell swoop made them twice (three times?) as rich." -- "The Gazette "(Montreal) " Delightful... . infectious... bold... The story is more about genetics than gender confusion, more family saga than freak show... . It' s about the transatlantic journey of a single gene and how the vagaries of love and hate generations removed come to bear on an individual life." -- "The Globe and Mail" " [Since The Virgin Suicides] we' ve been wanting a big fat novel that would consume us... . We have it now. I just finished reading it. Middlesex is in every way that big novel." -- "The Vancouver Sun" " He has emerged as the great American writer that many of us suspected him of being." -- Jeff Turrentine, "Los Angeles Times Book Review" " Sweeps the reader along with easy grace and charm, concealing . . . the ache of earned wisdom beneath bushels of inventive storytelling" -- Adam Begley," The New York Observer "" A wonderfully rich, ambitious novel -- it deserves to be a huge success." -- Salman Rushdie, "New York Magazine "" Here's your heads-up . . . Yes, it's that good . . . A novel of chance, family, sex, surgery, and America, it contains multitudes." -- Jonathan Miles, "Men's Journal "" ...an uproarious epic, at once funny and sad, about misplaced identities and family secrets.... Mr. Eugenides has a keen sociological eye for 20th-century American life.... But it's his emotional wisdom, his nuanced insight into his characters' inner lives, that lends this book its cumulative power." -- Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times" " Jeffrey Eugenides's rollicking, gleefully inventive second novel," "Middlesex, serves as a tribute to Nabokovian themes. It provides not only incest a la" Ada" and a" "Lolita-style road trip, but enough dense detail to keep fans of close reading manically busy." -- "The Washington Post" " delightful... a big-hearted engine of a novel [with] epic-proportioned emotions and an intelligent, exuberant voice." -- Zsuzsi Gartner, "The Globe and Mail" " The pay-off for the reader is huge. Eugenides has taken all the trials and joys of the traditional coming-of-age novel and made them twice (three times?) as rich." -- "The Montreal Gazette" " Jeffrey Eugenides' expansive and radiantly generous second novel ... feels rich with treats, including some handsome writing... .One of the delights of Middlesex is how soundly it' s constructed, with motifs and characters weaving through the novel' s various episodes, pulling it tight. The book' s length feels like itsauthor' s arms are stretching farther and farther to encompass more people, more life... . It is a colossal act of curiosity, of imagination and of love." -- "The New York Times Review of Books " " Perhaps the most wonderful thing about the book is Eugenides' ability to feel his way into the girl, Callie, and the man, Cal. It' s difficult to imagine any serious male writer of earlier eras so effortlessly transcending the stereotypes of gender. This is one determinedly literary novel that should also appeal to a large, general audience." -- "Publisher's Weekly" " Jeffrey Eugenides is a big and big-hearted talent, and Middlesex is a weird, wonderful novel that will sweep you off your feet." -- Jonathan Franzen " Middlesex vibrates with wit. . . . A virtuosic combination of elegy, sociohistorical study, and picaresque adventure: altogether irresistible." -- "Kirkus Reviews" " Wildly imaginative and engrossing . . . [Middlesex] skillfully bends our notions of gender . . . with its affecting characterization of a brave and lonely soul and its vivid depiction of exactly what it means to be both male and female." -- "Booklist"