Thursday, July 28, 2016

Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)



I’m finally getting around to reading Jeffrey Eugenides’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex over a decade after it was published.  Better late than never I suppose, as this was one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time.

Yes, this is the story of Cal/Calliope Stephanides, a hermaphrodite, but it’s also about so much more than that. It’s a sweeping tale of three generations of the same family, starting with Calliope’s grandparents, Desdemona and Lefty. They flee their home to come to America and share a big secret, one that will eventually affect Cal/Calliope in a big way.  Tessie and Milton are Cal’s parents and love both of their children dearly.

The perfect combination of warmth, humor, heartbreak and surprise, Middlesex takes you on a journey with the Stephanides family that you won’t want to see ever come to an end. It gets my highest rating.

MY RATING - 5