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Summary: Too Real To Be Fiction
Review: If this book is truly fiction, than it is the most unbelievable piece of fiction I ever read. When I read this book, it felt so real, I found myself double and triple-checking whether it was fiction. Either Eugenides did not want to admit there was truth in the tale or he is truly a mindblowing writer for making this story come to life so well. I would have loved for the book to go on a bit further to find out how Cal deals with his discovery and have to admit the Chapter Eleven mystery is driving me a bit nuts, but other than that, highly recommended!
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Summary: Chapter Eleven? An anagram maybe??
Review: This was a wonderful read. It reminded me of Empire Falls in that the decisions of multiple generations seem to create the momentum leading to the ultimate conclusion. It also feels very real. I don't believe that this is entirely a fictional story. What's up with Chapter Eleven? All of the characters were so carefully named -- you know that there's a puzzle here in the name. An anagram maybe? My scrabble letters and I have not been able to unscramble anything. Anyone have any ideas?
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Summary: The best book I've read all year
Review: I'm always searching for a great book to read, and frankly this one was way down my list due to the subject matter, which I didn't think would interest me. How wrong I was! Eugenides' writing sings! I laughed out loud at one point, and I felt the character's pain in others. His masterful ability to weave this story across three generations of an eccentric Greek family makes for fast and enjoyable reading. Several times he put into words concepts and feelings that are not usually conveyed in print. A wonderful book that I will recommend whole-heartedly to my bibliophile friends. Usually I don't bother to review a book, but in this case I think that Eugenides should be encouraged to write another book as quickly as possible! This is one writer that I'll be on the look out for in the future.
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Summary: Middlesex: Middle of the Road
Review: I'll start by saying that this is a good book. I really liked the Virgin Suicides and, in my estimation, Middlesex is a bit of step down. The positives are a fascinating story line about a young girl coming to grips with her Greek heritage and a confused sexual identity. The only negative is that the story too often veered off-course to encapsulate the entire history of the '60s and '70s. The overall tone of the book is lighthearted, kind and definitely worth reading.
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Summary: Chapter Eleven
Review: "Middlesex" is a beautifully crafted novel. It's like a five (or six) course meal each part of which is succulent within itself. I kept checking out his sources on p.iv--how does Eugenides "know"? Extensively researched. However, there is one glaring error and I don't know how else to address it. From what source does Chapter Eleven get his name. Even if it's a pseudonym given him by Calliope, it needs to be explained. My fiction teacher tells us something as noticeable as that cannot be gratuitous. It feels significant and should be explained--somewhere. Author????
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Summary: More than excellent!
Review: Hands down the best book I've read in quite some time. I hope we don't have to wait another 9 to 10 years before Eugenides publishes another fantastic work of fiction.
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Summary: A hemaphorodite's family history
Review: More than just the memoir of a 41 year old hemaphrodite, Middlesex is his family's history, focusing on his grandparents, a brother and sister who married, passing on a gene that determined Calliope Stephanides fate. The story goes back to their native Greece and the civil strife that led the grandparents to America, where they settled in Detroit, whose own strife, racial riots in the 1960s, would help determine the family's fate. Callie grows up amidst all of it, a happy go lucky girl early in life who doesn't develop the way her friends do at adolesence, which is when things get interesting. The family goes to New York to see the world's foremost gender research doctor, who suggests hormones and minor surgery to restore Callie's feminity. But Callie calls him a liar and takes off, heading West to SF where she lives for awhile, displaying herself in a porn shop. In the end is a family reunion, the high point being a conversation with her grandmother, in her 80s and nearly gone, but lucid enough to admit the truth about her past, which sheds light on Cal's present. A fascinating and impressive book.
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Summary: Another Peculiar Darkly Humorous Masterpiece
Review: After nearly ten years of waiting, Jeffrey Euginides fans everywehre can rejoice with the arrival of "Middlesex." In his second book, the twisted yet darkly humorous tale is organized into four parts, all narrated by Cal, a 41-year-old hermaphrodite who spend the first 14 years of his life (and most of the book) being raised as a girl in and around Detroit, Michigan.
The book's title is derived from several different aspects of the novel, including Cal's odd situation and a house he grew up in.
The story begins with Cal, born as Calliope, telling about his life in the present day. He then goes back in time to introduce his grandparents in Greece, follow them to the United STates where they raise their family and continue with the biography of Cal's parents all the way to Calliope's birth.
Calliope knows by her teens that she is not a girl like other girls. She knows it when she gets her first kiss, smokes her first blunt, and realizes that she is attracted to other girls. Only on a trip to see a New York doctor does she find out that she is not really a girl at all.
Yoiu will feel compassion for Cal/Calliope as you read of adventures from hitchhiking through the Midwest to working at a strip joint in San Francisco. Though these wild adventures are not common practice, a connection forms between you and the main character. Euginides uses his words to climb into your brain, and if you aren't careful, you may begin to think that you are Calliope.
Pieces of interesting medical material scattered throughout give the story a feeling of reality and a greater idea of what it means to be like Cal/Calliope.
The 500+ page book is also well organized, divided into four sections that make the task of reading it seem like less of an overwhelming project. The method of organization is such that the four different books compliment each other yet focus on one main point in themselves.
Euginides occasionally goes into such detail that readers may find themselves skimming through sections of the book. Toward the end there is a full three to four page physicians report, written in the dull medical language that even some doctors find to be difficult reading.
Euginides is best known for documenting the little known ways of life. If a shorter sampling of his writing is what you desire, pick up "The Virgin Suicides," a quick read and a contemporary classic. Eudinides' work can also be found in past issues of the "New Yorker" and the "Best American Short Stories" series.
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Summary: Sorry, Can't Tell You....
Review: I have been asked countless times what this book is about. Sorry, I can't tell you. This isn't a book about one thing. This isn't a book about a few things. This book covers more than just a life, more than just one lifetime. I loved "The Virgin Suicides", and I figured that I wouldn't be able to go wrong with another Eugenides book, even though I wasn't quite sure about the subject. Hermaphrodite? Greece? Detroit? Not things I'm that versed on, or ever thought I was that interested in. The book starts with a man named Cal, who, the first of his life, was known as a girl, named Caliope. Callie, as she was called, knew she was a little different, what she didn't know was that this was predetermined by not her parents, but by her grandparents and beyond. Hers is a struggle that not many people know, but one that will make you think of her/him for a long long time after finishing this book. Think you wouldn't enjoy reading a book about hermaphrodites, Greece, Turks, Detroit, incest, silkworms, Prohibition, race riots, runaways, Muslims, Hercules Hot Dogs, and an innocent confused girl/boy in the middle of it all, then you're wrong. You will.
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Summary: Ended too quickly.
Review: I enjoyed this book. I wish that we had spent more time with Cal after the discovery of her true sexual identity - I wanted to learn more about how s/he coped with the discovery. I felt the book screeched to a halt a bit too quickly. That said, it was a good read, interesting and well written.
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