[.ca] Middlesex (ISBN 2879293626)

From Amazon.com:
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." And so begins Middlesex, the mesmerizing saga of a near-mythic Greek American family and the "roller-coaster ride of a single gene through time." The odd but utterly believable story of Cal Stephanides, and how this 41-year-old hermaphrodite was raised as Calliope, is at the tender heart of this long-awaited second novel from Jeffrey Eugenides, whose elegant and haunting 1993 debut, The Virgin Suicides, remains one of the finest first novels of recent memory. Eugenides weaves together a kaleidoscopic narrative spanning 80 years of a stained family history, from a fateful incestuous union in a small town in early 1920s Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit; from the early days of Ford Motors to the heated 1967 race riots; from the tony suburbs of Grosse Pointe and a confusing, aching adolescent love story to modern-day Berlin. Eugenides's command of the narrative is astonishing. He balances Cal/Callie's shifting voices convincingly, spinning this strange and often unsettling story with intelligence, insight, and generous amounts of humor: Emotions, in my experience aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." … I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrid emotions, Germanic traincar constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of sleeping with one's fantasy." ... I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by failing restaurants" as well as for "the excitement of getting a room with a minibar." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered my story, I need them more than ever. When you get to the end of this splendorous book, when you suddenly realize that after hundreds of pages you have only a few more left to turn over, you'll experience a quick pang of regret knowing that your time with Cal is coming to a close, and you may even resist finishing it--putting it aside for an hour or two, or maybe overnight--just so that this wondrous, magical novel might never end. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Chronique amazon.fr:
Qu'est-ce qui définit le plus le sexe d'un enfant, les hormones ou l'éducation ? Calliope Helen Stephanide est une jeune fille de 15 ans. Cal, un homme de 40 ans. Leur point commun ? Ils ne font qu'un ! Middlesex raconte l'histoire d'un hermaphrodite et plus largement l'histoire d'une famille : des immigrés grecs arrivés aux États-Unis en 1922 après avoir fui leur ville natale envahie par les Turcs. Des terres d'Asie Mineure aux quartiers de Detroit, Jeffrey Eugenides dresse un portrait de l'Amérique des années 20 aux années 70. À la fois épopée et roman d'apprentissage, Middlesex mélange les genres avec une harmonie frappante et un rythme passionnant. Dix ans après le succès de The Virgin Suicides, Jeffrey Eugenides revient avec une saga historique, originale et pleine d'humour. On est loin du thème de son premier roman, même si l'on retrouve des personnages énigmatiques, différents, qui se cherchent et se construisent. Un chef-d'œuvre déjà récompensé par le prix Pulitzer 2003. -- Nadia Krovnikoff

Not My Cup of Tea:
It took me 3 tries to get through this book because it just couldnt hold my intrest. I picked it up the first time because of all of its wonderful reviews, the second time because I was in a waiting during a friends surgery and she had lent me this book to read and when I was finally successful in finishing it I was litterally in the middle of nowhere with nothing else to do. For me it was mearly an alright read not a novel worth of all the awards it has been bestowed

an interesting read:
I just finished reading "Middlesex" and thoroughly enjoyed it although, I think the same story could be told in about 200 less pages. Having been born and raised in Windsor, Ontario I was very familiar with the references to Detroit. Near the end of the book it tells of Milton chasing Father Mike over the Ambassador Bridge in the winter of 1975. It mentions freighters blowing their whistles on the Detroit River. Wait a minute - all the lake freighters are tied up for the winter and certainly not blowing their horns then. The only boats that might have been running would be the "train boats" but they ran further east down the river nearer downtown Detroit and Windsor. Also it referred to people going to Windsor at 2 a.m. to go to the Windsor strip clubs and casinos. I don't think Windsor had a casino in 1975. There are 2 there now. I'm not aware of strip clubs either but that's possible there might be some now.

Middling praise for Middlesex:
In the main I enjoyed this book, and found it to be a story of many stories, with descriptions that really took you to the places being described. Quite a lot of this book requires a hefty "suspension of belief." For instance the incestuous marriage between Desdemona and Lefty ... and the whole "contrived" shipboard romance. However, I found the descriptions of the sacking of Smyrna only too realistic ... really horrific, and I shed tears over the murders of Dr. Phil's family. I was fascinated by the whole story of Detroit and its rise as the Motor City. I've never been to Detroit so have no preconceived ideas as to how it was (and is today) so can only believe that the glimpses of what it was like during prohibition, the depression and the race riots were pretty factual. Milton and Tessie's courtship was a hoot ... literally, with his oboe doing all the talking. I could really see him going off in a huff when she got engaged to Father Mike, but you always knew she was going to end up with Milt. But can anyone explain to me why Cal's brother was called Chapter Eleven? I checked back and forth, but couldn't find a reference or a reason. Mainly, of course, it is Cal's own tangled story and her struggles with her/his emerging sexuality. I thought some of the descriptions of the girl's school - and the complicated relationships that resulted, were excellent. Overall I enjoyed the first half and found it really interesting -- a small glimpse into a history of several generations of a family and also of a country that is growing up, as well as the foreshadowing of the nature of Calliope's problems. The writing is fluent and the narrative never seems to lag. I did not enjoy the second half of the book as much as the first. I found Dr. Luce a creepy and manipulative character, and the whole section on the tests and examinations that Calliope had to undergo was somewhat drawn out. I recognize that this was a vehicle to show the apprehension and fear that is building inside Cal ... and I really DID feel for her when she uncovered the word "Monster" in the dictionary ... but the whole sequence of the run-down hotel - a fore-runner of the sleazy time that was to follow ... just seemed a bit too much to me. Her father was a wealthy man. Why didn't they just book into a decent hotel after the first night? And all the medical-techno babble and obfuscation got on my nerves. I realize that this was also intentional - and meant to show how difficult it was for the family to understand - but I found it irritating anyway. Then the whole section after Cal runs away and gets involved with one weirdo after another was just way too much. I kept waiting for the author to introduce the bearded lady, the elephant man and the two headed baby. Suddenly we have all this sensationalism ... gays, transvestites, sex changes, street kids, winos ... a lot of people living on the edges of society, if not the underworld ... and yet, apart from the beating in the park, Cal comes through it physically unscathed. He was extremely naive, and yet he seemed to tread an almost hallowed path. And the whole thing with Father Mike as pseudo kidnapper just didn't ring true for me. He was such a weak character that I can't see him getting up the nerve to do this ... since it was pretty likely he would get caught out at it. This just didn't hold water for me. In the first part of the book everything is described in great detail, every feeling examined, every thought lingered over ... then towards the end everything seems to be bundled up as quickly as possible. Milton's death, Cal's return to his family, his grandmother's fortuitous return from senility long enough to fit the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle in place ... all the ends are woven in and tied in a bow ... yet we are left with no idea of how Cal got from age 15 to age 41. The ending really fell flat and the obvious question of why, as an adult, he didn't have corrective surgery leaves me wondering if a sequel is planned.

Middlesex:
What an exceptional book. A brillant story, a wonderful protagonist, incredible historical facts and references thrown flawlessly into a rich work. I loved this book. It reminded me of why the written word molded by a talented author can be so vastely entertaining. Jeffrey Eugenides takes the reader on a journey of discovery combining the weirdly wonderful parts of human nature with the evolution of modern psychiatry, transgender issues, purberty, love and family dysfunction into a story that is wonderful to read. Make sure you have a couple of days off work and a comfortable chair you will not be able to put this book down.

Beautifully written:
I always have this dream that I will one day become a writer. Books like Middlesex excite me and scare me at the same time! Eugenides writing is incredible. There were moments where I actually said "He wrote that?" "How do you write like that? How do you know to say such things in such a clever, and entertaining way?". I truly enjoyed the story of Calliope. I too will have to read The Virgin Suicides after experiencing Eugenides genius!