Middlesex

By: Jeffrey Eugenides

Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori

In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school in Grosse Pointe, finds herself drawn to a chain-smoking, strawberry-blonde classmate with a gift for acting. The passion that furtively develops between them - along with Callie's failure to develop physically - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. In fact, she is not really a girl at all.

The explanation for this shocking state of affairs is a rare genetic mutation - and a guilty secret - that have followed Callie's grandparents from the crumbling Ottoman Empire to Prohibition-era Detroit and beyond, outlasting the glory days of the Motor City, the race riots of 1967, and the family's second migration, into the foreign country known as suburbia. Thanks to the gene, Callie is part girl, part boy. And even though the gene's epic travels have ended, her own odyssey has only begun.

Spanning eight decades - and one unusually awkward adolescence - Jeffrey Eugenides' long-awaited second novel is a grand, original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire.

Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Audie Award for best unabridged fiction, Middlesex marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America's best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker.

Check out more selections from Oprah's Book Club.©2002 Jeffrey Eugenides (P)2002 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

Audie Award Winner, Fiction (Unabridged), 2003

"Eugenides proves that he is not only a unique voice in modern literature but also well versed in the nature of the human heart. Highly recommended." (Library Journal )

"Not only are his interpretations of the characters astonishingly credible, but his internalization of the narrative is nothing short of amazing." (Publishers Weekly)

"A towering achievement...a story that manages to be both illuminating and transcendent...[Eugenides] has emerged as the great American writer many of us suspected him of being." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)

Anything but middle.

I thouroughly enjoyed this novel both for it's content and narrator. I was packing to move, and once I got well enough into it, I lay on the couch for hours listening. Packing my apartment was delayed for three days. Eugenides' painstaking detail and insight unravel one human experience. It seemed as though I were listening to an autobiography. Tabori brought each character alive with distiction. I recommend.

Outstanding!

The author and reader have created a wonderful book! At first, I was a bit concerned that 21 hours of listening might be too much, but I almost wanted more when it ended. The book really pulls you into the story. Highly recommended.

Incredible story telling!

This is one of the best audio books I've heard! The story is rich, compelling and strong. It reminds me a bit of John Irving. It's unexpected, but believable. The story traces 3 generations of a family in an unexpected way. The characters are rich and well developed and the story moves quickly. The narrator does a really good job, making clear the different characters with changes in his voice, but he doesn't over do it, which is refreshing.

I can't wait for more books from this author.

Engaging, Exciting and utterly memorable

I picked out this book without knowing anything about it. It was one of the top books I've experienced with Audible. Completely engaging from start to finish. Never dull. Rich, lush, and unique.

An OK listen

This book was OK for me. It was a little hard for me to keep my interest. The book covers the stories of three generations of a family, so after the first generation, I had a hard time leaving one set of characters to move on to the next generation. The story begins beautifully, with a story of the character's grandparents, and the first third of the book was five stars in my mind. Then my interest dwindled as the characters aged and the focus moved to other generations. I kept on wanting to hear more in depth about the life of the original characters, and I wanted them to grow. This is why, for me, the book is just three stars.

On a side note, at first, I was a little apprehensive about spending my one credit on a book that seemed to be centered around such a potentially uncomfortable topic for pleasure reading -hermaphrodites. I wanted a pleasant story to listen to, not something that would be sexually explicit. The topic is handled well in the book, and while the thread that the story follows is a physical abnormality caused by a mutation in genes, the story is more about the secrets, strengths and lives of three generations of a family.

Loved it.

Fantastic characters & really unique storyline. The main character kept me hooked. I really loved the narration.

Just can't get into it

I have a feeling this is probably a decent book. But I am listening to NPR in the car rather than listen to this. I am not gripped - I find the narrator's rendition of female voices excruciating. I think I'll get the print edition...

Excellent story and narrator

Found myself totally emersed with these characters. The wonderful narrator gave me a visual image of everything he read. I'm off to look for more audiobooks by author Jeffrey Eugenides and narrator Kristoffer Tabori.

Long-Winded Introduction

The synopsis advertising this story should be revised to prepare the listener of the long background.
The story of Cal doesn't come till after the 13th hour of listening. The first 45% of the story dealt with a long introduction starting from the grandparents' leaving their old country to come to America with new lives. Then, the story of her parents blending modern American culture with their Greek heritage.
Though the background wasn't bad, it took too long for the main story/plot to come into view. Before reaching the year 1974 in the story, I was just half listening with little interest, and left it for about two weeks. I came back because it would eventually unfold to Cal's story.

The Best Audible Book I've Ever Listened To!

This book is so wonderfully written and the performance of the narrator when above and beyond any book I've ever listened to. This is a great American novel spanning generations. I was totally enthralled by the entire massive work. I can easily see why it won a Pulitzer prize. And won an Audible Book award too. I feel like I understand the Greek culture a lot better. This story is not so much the story of a hermaphodite than that of a family. This epic novel enthralled me to no extent. I HIGHLY recommend this audible book.