Rating: 
Summary: Elegant Epic
Review: Middlesex is one of the better books I could recommend. It is sincerely deserving of the Pulitzer Prize. Haunting, elegant, and epic, Middlesex could be considered a defining novel in terms of the unparalleled ability to shift the narration from the voice of Cal and Cassie - the same person speaking from two different genders due to the unusual discovery that the person is a hermaphrodite raised as one gender (female) and then surgically born again as a male. The origins of incest are troublesome but handled with authenticity and delicacy. Reading Middlesex is almost hypnotic, that kind of extraordinary experience that make certain books not just enjoyable but somehow special to read; books like Running With Scissors, My Fractured Life, Secret Life of Bees, and of course The Virgin Suicides.
Rating: 
Summary: A Chronicle Of Implosion ... Like The City Of Detroit Itself
Review: Hmmm... up front, I'm not certain I initially liked the ending. And then, by and by, I came to two verities : 1) this is a Greek tragedy (involving not a person but a chromosome), albeit set mainly in America and 2) it is also a Grosse Pointe/Southeast Michigan story and anyone who is familiar with both knows that happy endings are not really possible. In fact, according to the dictates set by ancient protocol involving cultural literary narrative, it would be against the law. I mean, it's all there - the ethnic newcomers meet suburbia and become suburbanized themselves, much to their amazement: one family member comes out of the closet, one parent becomes alcoholic and/or eccentric/insane, a son/daughter drops acid and drops out, someone moves to Europe or the Coasts, another gambles away the family trust fund or business, the family priest is scandalized and disgraced, another child becomes a socialite, one more toils in academia, et al. Not that Eugenides follows this pattern precisely, but we recognize it. And of course, surrounded by the collapse of the wider culture (i.e, war, famine, suburban sprawl) - and its aftermath. I did feel that the W.D. Fard connection was a bit cheeky (almost Twain-like in mid-stream diversionary hilarity and comic relief), but all worthwhile works require gratuitous flaws. It keeps the author from sounding too preachy or authoritative. While a tragedy, this is, also, a memoir; a painful, personal palimpsest viewed through the lens of time, distance, revelation, and the imperfect attempt to bring some semblance of order to it all, while still holding open the possibility of hope and another tomorrow. All in all, not bad.
Rating: 
Summary: See under...topical trash
Review: Why is it so hard to write about present day America? Is the United States such a boring place that it's most prestigious literary award need go to a novel with a setting nearly a century ago? I am not one to read bad books until the end and I am only commenting on the 160 pages of Middlesex that I struggled to finish. I was eager to read a book about contemporary America and the intriguing topic of hermaphrodites. By the time I gave up, that part had not really begun yet, if it ever does. What I did read about was Lefty and Desdemona, a married Greek refugee couple from Turkish Smyrna immigrating to the US in the 1920s. Thanks to the fact that Lefty and Desdemona are brother and sister, we have a novel. They settle in Detroit where Lefty quickly learns English and works briefly for Ford, then runs a speak-easy during the Depression. They have two children and the child of the oldest of these is our hermaphroditic narrator. The narrator educates us about his condition; that is, as it pertains to the ambiguous nature of his sex organs ("he" was at one time a "she"). This is done with flash-forward breaks in the narrative to the present day in which he describes the difficulties of being an hermaphrodite, along with providing numerous medical and sociological factoids about his condition. This aspect is interesting enough, but hardly a novel in itself. The immigration chronicle, as well as the writing in general, is encyclopedic. In fact, the only thing that makes reading this any different from reading the encyclopedia is its spicing up with a Greek cultural reference tossed in here or there. The last scene I read involved Desdemona going to work, in the midst of the Great Depression, for a silk making operation run by the Nation of Islam where she is coerced to convert. Desdemona responds to a clasified ad for a silk farmer, which must have been the only one of its type in the whole decade, because her one skill is in silk farming, which she learned back home. We get to read, in full caps, the bizarre sermons of the eminent "prophet" heading the operation. The introduction of this subject matter is gratuitous and serves only to broaden the author's canvas. I'd had enough.
Rating:
Summary: The Finest Recent Literature
Review: I can't say enough about it. MIDDLESEX is superb - its plot and the way it unfolds, Eugenides's writing style, and his clever use of tense and time. It works, seamlessly. The book is unique, full, not a moment missing. It's smart and it's *interesting*, every page. I couldn't wait, each day, to get back to this book.
Rating:
Summary: please, for once DO believe the hype!
Review: Could it be that a novelist of greek ancestry wrote the best "american novel" of the year? it may well be so... Because Eugenides' ancestors notwithstanding, this novel is to be filed under the "american novel" label. It basically chronicles the life of the Stephanides family, starting with their peaceful life in Greece and the on, through myriads of adventures: the great depression, the Nation of Islam, the race riots in Detroit, etc.
It's a brilliant novel, cleverly written and entertaining. Once you start this you won't be able to put it down until the last page is turned.I also suggest a similar novel (it also won the Pulitzer): "the amazing adventures of Kavalier & Clay", by M. Chabon.
Rating:
Summary: Bored me to tears...no stars
Review: This book was so utterly dull I can't understand how anyone enjoyed it. It is not so much about the title character's gender issues then it it is about his boring ancestores. Save yourself-avoid at all costs!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: very good
Review: Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, is the story of an intersexed individual who is raised as a girl, becomes aware of hir condition as a teenager, and begins living as a male. Overall, I really enjoyed it. I don't think it's a Great Work of Literature, but any time I read a 530 page book in just under a week, you know it's engrossing if nothing else. Eugenides did a great job of inhabiting his narrator, which is rather a feat, considering the narrator's unusual circumstances. While reading it, I was thinking that it was definitely one of the best books that I'd read in quite a while, until I remembered the fact that I had recently read Everything Is Illuminated. Middlesex was neither as intellectually nor emotionally stimulating as that book, but was certainly worth reading nonetheless. I was impressed that Eugenides was able to create a story that was so thoroughly convincing about topic that is quite outside of most people's experience. In fact, he created three very convincing stories, if you consider not just Cal's own story, but that of hir parents and grandparents as well. Yes, all in all a very good book. It makes me quite interested in reading The Virgin Suicides as well.
Rating:
Summary: What an unbelievable read!
Review: I read the Virgin Suicides a few years back and was astounded at Jeffrey Eugenides writing style then. He impressed me even more with Middlesex. The book's historical detail, plot, and richly drawn characters is mesmerizing. Read this book everywhere. Crying in the end uncontrollably on the treadmill, of all places. This book pulls at your heart. I have been done with this fabulous book for a week now and still miss it. Eugenides writing is intellectually stimulating and emotionally arousing. Can't wait until his next book - WOW!
Rating:
Summary: I never wanted it to end...
Review: WOW, finally a book I could not put down. I took this book on vacation with friends and they were a little jealous of all the attention I gave to the book while on the beach... the story is very detailed, so not for the Mary Higgins Clark set, but if you like descriptive novels, you will be amazed at the beauty of Eugenides style and the magnificent character development. I try to read all of the Pulitzer Prize winning books, and this one ranks as one of the best in years.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Page-Turner!
Review: One of the best books I have ever read. If you liked Wally Lamb's book, "I Know This Much is True" you will like "Middlesex." Intelligent fiction can be hard to come by- - I'll be thinking about this one for years.
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