Jeffrey Eugenides’ Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Middlesex, tells the story of Cal Stephanides’ 5-alpha-reductase deficiency by following three generations of the family as they emigrate from Greece to America. Narrated by Cal, the book starts off with Desdemona and Eleutherios “Lefty” Stephanides, who happen to be siblings and Cal’s grandparents, in 1922 in Bithynios, a village in Asia Minor. Orphans of the ongoing Greco-Turkish War, they board a ship for America and marry when their village is burned. They start their new life in Detroit, living with their cousin Sourmelina and her husband. Over time, they struggle to fit in amongst their American neighbors, and the inbred family continues to inbreed.
Two generations later, Cal Stephanides is born. As a result of the inbreeding, he has 5-alpha-reductase deficiency, meaning that his genitals are underdeveloped and appear female at first glance. He was raised as Calliope “Callie” Stephanides, but during puberty realizes his true sex. Cal struggles with his identity, both as a Greek-American and as someone born intersex.
I did not like this book. For starters, Middlesex is much more about the family’s journey and the American Dream than Cal’s identity crisis, so I felt that the advertising was a little misleading. The first 300 pages or so focuses on Desdemona and Lefty as they come to terms with their attraction for each other and the life they build in America, while the last 230 pages relates Cal’s parents and their struggle to build a business.
Cal’s personality seemed underdeveloped, and his entire story came off as secondary to the American Dream storyline. Cal’s “identity crisis” did not seem like a crisis at all; rather, Cal tried passively to live up to whatever societal roles he thought applied to him at any given point in his life. When living as a girl, he desired breasts, waxed his mustache, and waited impatiently for his period to start. As soon as he realized he was genetically male, he immediately put on a suit, cut his long hair, grew out his facial hair, and tried to walk and talk like the stereotypical man. I felt like Cal’s whole storyline was without purpose, except to highlight how Cal is a hybrid of Greek and American culture, part of both but never truly belonging to either, just as he feels connected to both men and women but never wholly one or the other. But again, the book is marketed as revolving around a child born intersex, so either Eugenides got seriously sidetracked when writing about the Stephanides family or the book summary was purposely misleading.
The writing, like I said before, is very pretty, but so horribly verbose. The book could easily be cut down without losing anything vital to the plot. I was often distracted by the rambling of the text. However, Middlesex was one of the first books to explore the emotional impacts of being born intersex (although in my opinion the exploration was limited). Yes, this book won a Pulitzer Prize, but I don’t think I’ll be rereading it anytime soon.
Some other reviews you might enjoy:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jeffrey-eugenides/middlesex/
Thanks for the book review, at least I know what to avoid if I wanted to learn more about gender identity. While limited, how insightful was the book to you about gender identity? Also, why do you think this book won a Pulitzer Prize? It seems to me that you think this is a average book, there must be some reason this beat all the other contenders.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The Irish Elk seem pretty awesome. I can't imagine Elk with antlers almost twice their body size.
Well, Middlesex was one of the first books to really explore the emotional impacts of being born intersex, and some people found the writing absolutely beautiful. I'm not really surprised that it won a Pulitzer Prize, even if I don't agree with that decision.
DeleteI didn't find it all that insightful in regards to gender identity. Like I said in my review, I didn't feel like Cal struggled much with his own identity, but went along with whatever he thought he was supposed to do. I did think it interesting that he never felt he truly belonged to either gender, though.
I finally finished Middlesex, and there was one paragraph I really liked where Cal talks about how scientists were fighting over whether gender identity was based on nature (genetics) or nurture (upbringing), and he says, "It’s not as simple as that. I don’t fit into any of these theories. Not the evolutionary biologists’ and not Luce’s either."
ReplyDeleteHis ultimate suggestion is the importance of free will, the freedom to choose regardless of the two previous categories. I think that would explain how suddenly, in a day Callie became Cal. It was most of all a decision.
That being said, I don't think this point was well-executed and it definitely was not something I would have realized had Eugenides not stated it directly. My problem with this book is it gets trapped, as you said, in essentialism--where men wear suits and like women, while women wear dresses and bows and like men.
Very well said, Nicole. I think Eugenides gets close to an interesting point, but gets lost on the way. Thanks for reading/commenting!
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