by Jeffrey Eugenides
Narrator: Kristoffer Tabori
Genre: General Fiction
Pages: Audiobook
Published: November 2004
Source: Library
Goodreads Blurb:
A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides, the astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl....
In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.
The explanation for this shocking state of affairs takes us out of suburbia - back before the Detroit race riots of 1967, before the rise of the Motor City and Prohibition, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie's grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set in motion the metamorphosis that will turn Callie into a being both mythical and perfectly real: a hermaphrodite.
Spanning eight decades - and one unusually awkward adolescence - Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America's best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker.
In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry blond classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.
The explanation for this shocking state of affairs takes us out of suburbia - back before the Detroit race riots of 1967, before the rise of the Motor City and Prohibition, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie's grandparents fled for their lives. Back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set in motion the metamorphosis that will turn Callie into a being both mythical and perfectly real: a hermaphrodite.
Spanning eight decades - and one unusually awkward adolescence - Jeffrey Eugenides's long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. It marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America's best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker.
My Review:
5 comments:
I had this book awhile back but I never read it. I ended up giving it away or putting it on paperbackswap. I'm glad to hear that I didn't miss anything. At least by your opinion.
The premise sounds really interesting. So even though you didn't like it I may still look into it.
Have you read his other book The Virgin Suicides? If I remember correctly it was fairly decent.
@ Megan Marie, I haven't read The Virgin Suicides. I would not want to discourage you from reading Middlesex because lots of people have loved this book. It was even highly recommended to me it just wasn't for me. :)
It's been recommended to me too. I'm not sure if I'll read it anytime soon after reading your thoughts. :)
Hm, I don't think this one is for me either, I appreciate your honesty! Sometimes certain books just don't click and this sounds like one of those.
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