Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides I have wanted to read this book for a few years, but other books kept popping up. A friend of mine recently read it and recommended it to me, so I put it on my short list of need-to-reads. What a great book! It tells the story of the Stephanides family, who moved to Detroit from Greece, in the 1920s. Desdemona and Lefty are a tight knit couple, in more ways than one (but I don't want to give away any secrets here, so you'll have to read it to find out their whole story). They start a family and have two children. Their son, Milt, ends up marrying his first cousing, Tessie. They have two children. Their second child, Cal, is the narrator. Cal tells the family story, and Cal's own story. It is social history and coming of age, and gender identities all rolled into one. Each character is so well drawn that you feel you know the whole group very well. And the writing! "It wasn't like a car chase in the movies. There was no swerving, no near collisions. It was, after all, a car chase between a Greek Orthodox priest and a middle-aged Republican. As they sped (relatively speaking) away from Grand Trunk, heading in the direction of the river, Father Mike and Milton never exceeded the speed limit by more than ten miles per hour." If you like fiction with a little meat on its bones, you'll like this book. (JS) 1:07:48 PM

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