AltMedia Review - Books: Middlesex

I'm having a hard time writing a review for this one. Do I start with the plot, or what I thought of it. Let me just say this: Middlesex (by Jeffrey Eugenides) is not a book I would have normally read. I like mysteries. I like British humorists. Fantasy is up my alley. But if the director of our office in L.A. hadn't recommended this (because it takes place in Michigan and we both spent a lot of time there) and handed me the book, I likely would have never heard of it, let alone read it.

It's the story of a hermaphrodite who, over time, discovers her (and I'm just going to use "her," as she thinks of herself as a her for most of the book) true gender. About 99% of the novel is flashback, with Calliope (the hermaphrodite) acting as narrator as she takes us back in time to her grandparents formative years in Greece, her parents growing up in Detroit, and finally her own youth. We see how the chromsomal mutation insinuates itself in each generation of her family, leading up to her own confused days growing up in Grosse Pointe.

I don't know what it was...but I did quickly become sucked into the characters and the story. From the forbidden love that her grandparents feel for each other to the young classmate she falls in love with...it was a real entrancing story. The best part, I think, was just as the book was coming to and end, I asked myself "Whatever happened with so-and-so?" Sure enough, on the next page, the narrator comments "You're probably wondering what happened to so-and-so." I was a little stunned, but it was pretty amazing...to almost feel like my thoughts had been read by the author.

So...would definitely recommend this. If you are in the habit of reading Pulitzer Prize winning novels, check this out. You won't be able to put it down. If you tend to be stuck in a certain genre or two (as I am), it can't hurt for you to give this a try...it will be a quicker and more entrancing read that you expect.