Boy, Girl, Immigrant, American, Who Knew, is Theme in 'Middlesex'

Review of MIDDLESEX (Macmillan Audio 2004)
By guest blogger Star Lawrence
Author, Jeffrey Eugenides; read by Kristoffer Tabori

Even though Oprah recommended this book and it won a Pulitzer Prize, I liked it.

Turns out, the narrator of this gender bender family epic, Calliope Stephanides, later to become Cal, knew a lot about his family. This even led me to ask my sister if she remembers much anyone told us about our grandparents—we only had snatches, not an epic journey that carried them from Greece, to Turkey, to Detroit, to destiny itself, like Desdemona and Lefty Stephanides.

But they carry a secret under the surface and one that was to wrench Calliope/Cal’s life in a new direction at age 16.

This book is sometimes in the third person, sometimes the first person, but Jeffrey Eugenides does it seamlessly. It rollicks along, by turns fascinating, funny, and horrifying, as read by Kristoffer Tabori, a grumbly, dignified sort who does not overact the accents.

I confess I liked the first half better than the second. The story of Desdemona and Lefty’s escape from Greece prior to World War I was glorious and weirdly romantic and touching (there’s that “secret” again).

The one thing hanging fire was why Cal’s brother is named Chapter Eleven, apparently not a nickname and never explained. People were plunging up and down in the Depression melting pot, but no businesses went under around the time of the tot’s birth. Just quirky to be quirky, I concluded. The title, too, Middlesex, is an arch pun—their house is named that, but it could also refer to . . . the not-so-secret secret.

Do you ever stop to think what chromosomes lurk in your innards and link you down the ages to those who came before? And which—don’t forget—you are blithely squirting into your own kids? I never gave it much thought, either, not that we can do much about it. But this book made me think . . . opa . . . and feel like dancing.

Star Lawrence owns the health humor site Health’s Ass at http://healthsass.blogspot.com. She can be reached at jkellaw@aol.com.