Middlesex

I just finished a great book by Jeffrey Eugenides, who also wrote The Virgin Suicides. This one was called Middlesex.


It is basically about a Greek family who emigrates not from Greece, but from a Greek-populated area near Smyrna, now called Izmir, in Turkey. If anybody has ever talked to a Greek, well, they hate Turks and everything that has to do with Turkey. To be honest and unbiased, it went both ways, with both Greece and Turkey dishing it out. The Ottomans were cruel to everyone in the area, especially Armenians, so maybe the regional hate towards the Turks was warranted. Who really knows who started it?


The book is about the immigrant experience in the Detroit area. It is about a Greek family, and all that being family implies, and I enjoyed understanding the Greek expressions used in the novel. It is also about a Hermaphrodite (?!?), but believe me, it makes sense once you read the book. It is also about finding out who you are as a person, no matter what gender you are.


It was written from a semi-omniscient Cal Stephanides, grandchild of the original immigrants from "Smyrna". S/he narrates events predating her birth as if s/he had been present, making for a unique perspective.