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Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) (平装)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
| Category:
Hermaphrodite, Family, Novel |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
The brilliance of this book emerges not from the superficial story of a hermaphrodite but from the context - historical, scientific, psychological, political, geographical - of Cal's birth and subsequent rebirth. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 15 items |
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Thomas E. Hayden (MSL quote), Detroit, MI United States
<2007-01-24 00:00>
After finishing this novel, I began to try to find a good book to compare Middlesex to. I was unable to. This book is monumental in scope, family, and history. As somewhat who has studied Detroit history and being from a family like Calliope's, I was amazed by the honesty and realism of the narritive. Milton's reactions to politics and race is portrayed amazingly as is almost all of the aspects of living in Detroit from the 1920s until today.
The novel is not just about Detroit, but about family and identity and uses many literary techniques and comparisons to show how "one day you can be one thing and the next day you can be something else" - like Detroit.
This is a book I would genuinly feel bad revealing any plot details in my review, therefore I can only highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a story that will leave you saying "wow" after the last page. I'd say this book is a mandatory read for anyone who grew up in Detroit or had family during the 20th century in Detroit.
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Tocco (MSL quote), Greektown, Detroit
<2007-01-24 00:00>
A very clever title for a very clever book.
Middlesex Boulevard is an actual infamous street in the famous lake front enclave of wealth known as Grossse Pointe. Grosse Pointe is the home to Michigan's rich and famous (especially old auto money such as the Fords, Dodges, Fishers etc....) just north of Detroit, Michigan.
Middlesex is the street on which the author actually grew up. It is also famous as being the current residence of the alleged Boss of the Detroit mafia and a member of the infamous national La Cosa Nostra commission. For decades this mansion lined boulevard was home to many alleged high ranking mafia members. Several of the homes were connected by underground tunnels.
For an area that reportedly has the highest concentration of old money millionaires in the country this street of mafia millionaires was not only unusual but it held a fascinating mystique.
This fabulous novel combines the real and fascinating details of the authors chidhood neigborhoood and home into this epic story.
Middlesex is also a clever reference to the books main charachter. The creative selection of the books title is a reflection of the type of creative genius found throughout this excellent book. Definately one of the best works of epic fiction of the past decade.
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H. Case (MSL quote), Michigan
<2007-01-24 00:00>
I thought the premise of the book was so interesting, and it's obvious that Jeffrey Eugenides has considerable writing talent. I had many friends who highly recommended this book to me, and when I felt like giving up on it by page 200 or so, they urged me to finish it. So I did.
I have to say that while this book had a lot of potential, I think it was ultimately doomed by taking too heavy of a hand with the back-story. Obviously the Pulitzer judges and most of the Amazon reviewers disagree with me. I felt that far too much time was spent in telling about the events Cal/Calliope's parents and grandparents experienced. Some of the background was necessary for the story, but I would have greatly preferred it if the many pages devoted to things such as the Detroit race riots were instead devoted to telling us how Cal coped with life as an adult once he understood his true identity. Cal/Calliope's story was what I was interested in, not in the background of multiple generations before his existence.
Ultimately, though the book contained beautiful prose and some aspects of the story really captivated me (such as Calliope's relationship with The Object), I think this book could have been so much more engrossing if less time had been devoted to the earlier generations. By the time I got to the end of the book, I was disappointed that I had spent that much time slogging through more than 500 pages.
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A reader (MSL quote), Richmond, VA
<2007-01-24 00:00>
What I liked about this novel is the beautiful way it's rendered. Jeffrey Eugenides did his homework (and I hope he is taking his merry time with his next work and not being pressured to come up with another "hit" by his publisher!)-all ten years' worth-and it pays off here.
This is also a story about the American experience in the 20th century; about the rise of the Motor City and so many events (the Detroit riots in the late 60's, for example) pertinent to earlier and current generatons-as it tells us this interesting and curious tale of these Greeks and their odd genetic quirk. Hence: Calliope.
This is an excellent story on so many fronts: it is richly entertaining, humorous, and substantive. And you can see that Eugenides is enjoying himself in telling us this story. Something certain writers need to be reminded of: it must come from a real and true place within...not "externals" such as big checks dangling from the publisher to create another "hit "(as we have with the dreadful SATURDAY and so many others).
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F. Hoffmann (MSL quote), Toronto CA
<2007-01-24 00:00>
Yes, everyone loves that book. It has everything to please the reader: action, tragedy, humor, and of course a bitter-sweet love-story. And it even won the Pulitzer-price so you can feel as a part of the "intellectual reader community", right!?
Well, and then the book is about everything: about Greek-Turkey conflict, first world war, second world war, Korean war, uprise of Detroit, racial segregation and discrimination, riots in Detroit, the fall of an industrial city (Detroit), Vietnam, Hippies, Fall of the Berlin wall, and of course the individual in the capitalist US-society. Oh, and everthing is described by a gender-neutral individual so that the description is not gender-biased.
It is really like that! To tell such a story you are either a genius and write a 6 book series about 20th century america, or your book is a shallow account of everything you can come up with. For "Middlesex", the latter is the case.
In wanting everything, the book attains nothing. Eugenides cannot focus, cannot distinguish between the important and the unimportant. There are so many little anecdotes in the book which do not add anything to the storyline.
The worst however is that Eugenides handling of narrative is very poor. To keep track of the complexities in the story he chooses to tell it linearly. In that way, he does not create any deeper link between the episodes and the figures. You could as well start or end the book after the first quarter, of after half, or after 3 quarters.
For example, in the first half, Desdemona has a large role. In the second half she does not appear at all and you ask yourself: where is Desdemona? What is her role in the story? How was the main character influenced by her? Then, almost at the end, when you almost have forgotten her, Eugenides writes something like: you wondered what happened to Desdemona? Well, she lied in bed the whole decade while our protagonist was developing. Ah yes, great way how to relate those figures.
Why do I give 2 stars? Well, there is the teen-love-story somewhere in the middle of the book, and I really thought it was very well written. But that is just for around 100 pages, and then it is over and the book becomes shallow and unconvincing again.
Don't read "Middlesex", go straight to Franzens "Corrections".
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1 2 Total 2 pages 15 items |
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