Middlesex

Book: Middlesex
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Pages: 529
Time to read: more than a month
Claim to fame: Oprah's Book Club

This book isn't exactly a page-turner, at least not until the last two or three chapters, but it is interesting in how the author writes the book. He interupts himself so many times in this story that you'd think you'd get annoyed and want to throw the book down, but you don't. You don't because each interuption gives you another look into some part history, whether it's the author's history or world history. It's a facination read in that sense.

"Middlesex" is about a person, Callie/Cal, who is born a hermaphrodite. As a child, no one knew anything was wrong, so she grew up as a girl. To be honest, most of the book, Callie is present. In order to get to the present of what is happening, the author carries the reader back to Greece, where her grandparents grew up. Eugenides slowly tells the story about how Callie/Cal came to be by explaining the details of first her grandparents' lives, then her mother's, father's, aunt's and aunt's husband's lives, and finally comes to Callie growing up. Throughout this, each chapter opens with Cal speaking about his life at the current time (age 25-35?).

To be forthcoming, this book involves love in all forms: incest, inbreeding, homosexuality, hermaphroditism, etc. One thing I will credit the author with is writing about love from all these angles and never writing about it like it's wrong. It made the family in the story seem that much more real because they were the ones living this life and if they didn't believe they're feelings were right, then the reader would have had much more difficulty reading this story.

If you're looking for a long, in-depth read, try this book out. Otherwise, it may not be your cup of tea.