Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides

I was reluctant to read this at first, mostly because it was about Greeks and I had just finished that book about the Minotaur. When I started it, I almost discarded it right away, loath to seeing even more facile references to mythology.

I am so glad I didn't. Eugenides doesn't just write about Greeks, he is one. He doesn't just reference mythology, he lives it. His book feels real, feels deep, feels, if one can say this, felt. It is comedic and tragic, deep and wise, well-researched and interesting. The story of Calliope, born a hermaphrodite, raised as a girl, and ending as a man, was somehow, through its hundreds of pages, never dull. Cal's voice is compelling and unique, and, through it, Eugenides not only relates the story of a family, starting with Cal's grandparents in Greece and descending to Cal him (or her-)self, but also addresses issues of gender: to what extent do we depend on nature? Or nuture? Is Cal really, fundamentally, male or female? Or something else altogether? The genius of the book, therefore, is Cal's voice, the narrative that draws us along, forcing us to ask ourselves these questions--Eugenides carefully writes a voice that could, conceivably, be male or female. It is somehow precisely the prose one would expect from a figure like Cal--measured, even, weighing, judging, open-eyed, open-hearted, and somehow neither strikingly male or female. It is, in a word, genius.

Lest all this weighty stuff deter you from reading, though--and that, plus the length, almost deterred me--let me also testify to the story, its craft, its drive, its sympathy, and its inherent interest. This is, without a doubt, one of the best novels to be published in recent years; it fully deserves all the acclaim it has received. I couldn't put it down, and, when I did, the only disappointment I felt was in finishing--what would I do with my life, now that I've read this? Luckily, life goes on, and so will I, but all the while hoping for another masterpiece like this one to come along.