Middlesex

I've just finished Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. wow. what a book. I feel exhausted!
it's a huge project of a book, charting the history of three generations of a Greek emigre family, and mainly from the point of view of the "intersexual" granddaughter.

Don't get me wrong, there were lulls in the story, just as there are lulls in all lives, and passages that Kim found riveting, I tired of, and vice versa. However, overall, the pace was fast enough to keep my interest.

I am now fascinated to find out if the author speaks from experience of intersexual physiology, or has just done his research very, very well.

It also leads me on to the actress Daryll Hannah. someone told me that she too was intersex. Is this true, or an urban myth?

you can find the book on amazon:-


amazon - middlesex

this page has this review:-

Wholly original and un-put-downable, May 22, 2004

Reviewer: kimbofo (no relation :D) from London United Kingdom

This book has received rave reviews, been an international bestseller and won the 2003 Pullitzer Prize for Fiction. And no wonder - it is BRILLIANT. Middlesex is wholly original and unlike anything I've ever read before.

Just look at the opening line:
"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." How could you not be intrigued?

The narrator, Calliope Helen Stephanides, tells an amazingly entertaining story, tracing not only her own incredible history but that of her entire family's, beginning with her emigre grandparents, who have their own secrets to keep. By unravelling this secret, Cal is able to understand who she is and where she comes from.
This illuminating book not only explores the notions of sex and gender identity, but what it is to be a Greek-American in a racially-troubled society (a large portion of the story is set during the times leading up to and surrounding the race riots of 1967).
All in all this is a wry, humorous, moving, exhilarating and fascinating read. And it will do wonders for raising awareness of those born with this surprisingly common but largely hidden genetic mutation now referred to as "intersex"