Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: Book Review

Résumé du document

'Middlesex' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides and published in 2002. By 2007, 1.3 million copies of the book had been sold.
Jeffrey Eugenides is a half American, half Greek writer, born and raised in Detroit. He also wrote the best seller "Virgin Suicides", which was published nine years before Middlesex. He was therefore already considered as a famous writer by the time he published his second novel. His inspiration for "Middlesex" came from Herculine Barbi's Diary, a hermaphrodite convent girl. Deducing that she didn't relate enough to the emotions and fears of a hermaphrodite, he decided to write the story he had enjoyed reading from her diary, in his own style. Following his researches on hermaphroditism, he started writing his book.

Extraits

[...] Lina gives birth to a daughter, Theodora or "Tessie". Later, Lefty decides to open a bar and gambling room, calling it the Zebra Room. A few years later, Tessie and Milton (who are second cousins) get married and have two children: Caliope (the narrator) and “Chapter Eleven” (That's how the author calls the second boy). Caliope is raised as a girl, but when she turns into a teenager, things get complex: she doesn't have her period at 16 and has no curves whatsoever. [...]

[...] Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides: Book Review Introducing The book and Author: Middlesex is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides and published in 2002. By million copies of the book were sold. Jeffrey Eugenides is a half American, half Greek writer, born and raised in Detroit. He also wrote the best seller “Virgin Suicides” published nine years before Middlesex. He was therefore already considered as a famous writer by the time he published his second novel. His inspiration for “Middlesex” came from Herculine Barbi's diary, a hermaphrodite covent girl. [...]

[...] I chose “Middlesex” because it is my favorite novel, I read it last year and it really moved me. I believe the subject of hermaphrodism mixed to a Greek family's saga is very interesting and innovative. Hermaphrodism is still a taboo subject, which is why I admire the author's courage and audacity to write about this topic. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes Ancient Greek's allusions, and who would be interested in sexuality disorders. All in all, the novel succeeded in portraying its Greek immigrant drama, and the painful story of a hermaphrodite. [...]

[...] However, Jeffrey Eugenides denies the fact that the book was autobiographical. He is not a hermaphrodite; he was just interested in the subject. However, he and Cal share a lot of things in common: they are both Greeks raised in the United States, both in love with Mythology, and finally, they were raised in Detroit. I think the author's style of writing is what I enjoyed the most about the novel: I believe it is very well written, it's like feeling the Cal's emotions throughout the story, even when he's not yet born, we sense his omniscience, which gives the book a humoristic but also ironical and tragic genre (the part where he runs away after being told that he is a hermaphrodite). [...]

[...] A few years later, he returns back to Middlesex and finds out that his father Milton passed away. Desdemona confesses to him that Lefty and herself practiced incest, since he was her brother. Finally, the book ends with Cal being a diplomat stationed in Berlin, is describing the readers a Japanese woman, with whom he intends to start a relationship. ANALYSIS: The title “Middlesex” is a reference to both the street where Cal and his family lived in Michigan, but also a reference to Cal's sexuality, his hermaphrodism. [...]