Will I love Middlesex?

When it comes to family sagas turned myth, it’s hard to top Calliope Stephanides tracing the passage of the hermaphroditic gene—transforming Callie into Cal—through three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family.

An epic origin story that moves from Asia Minor to Detroit, Michigan, complete with incest and a nuanced exploration of gender identity. It also has one of my all-time favorite novel openings ever. “Sing now, O Muse, of the recessive mutation on my fifth chromosome!”

Another Pulitzer Prize winner, Middlesex deals with two types of strangers.

First, we follow a Greek family fleeing the horror and death of the 1920-22 Turkish-Greek war, eventually coming to the United States as immigrants. Second, a descendent of the family, variously known as Cal or Callie, is born intersex, with physical characteristics of both sexes.

Frankly, I had sort of avoided the book, fearing a tedious diatribe on suffering and intolerance. Imagine my surprise to find a story told with a delightfully light touch and great humor – and all the more touching because of it.

I’m always intrigued by novels set in places I’ve visited. In the ’60s, I first traveled to Greece and then in 2017, my husband and I spent a month there. And if you haven’t visited The Henry Ford Museum of Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan, don’t miss it. This novel had me on two counts. It’s the startling story of a Greek American family told through the eyes of a young girl who is becoming a woman. The family lands in Detroit as it becomes the automotive capital of the world and then collapses during the ’60s race riots. The rich… show more.

Yes, it won a Pulitzer. Yes, it’s been around a while (published in 2002). The world is (finally, hopefully) catching up to the fact that non-binary people are part of it. But in its time, Middlesex was considered astonishing—for its main character (identified as intersex) and the family secrets he reveals. This was and still is one of my favorite stories. The writing is flat-out stellar, for one. I ached with empathy and love for Calliope, later known as Cal, but the harrowing immigration tale of his grandparents, Lefty and Desdemona, seeking escape to America from their tiny village in… show more.

There is something in the tone of this novel that I loved at the time I read it and which I appreciate even more now. This is a story about intersex “Cal” whose gender identity was chosen by their parents, hidden from them throughout childhood, then revealed in adolescence when they negotiate a strange gender landscape devoid of signposts. There is no outrage or placard-waving certainty in the novel, just gentle, sad confusions that resonate with far more common teen experiences of parental betrayal (“for their own good”) and sexual perplexities.  

In this coming-of-age story, praised by some as the next Great American Novel, Eugenides creates an in-depth discussion of intersex anatomy and emotions while exploring gender identity. The story of Calliope (her feminine identity) transitioning to Cal (his masculine identity) follows the effects of a 5-alpha-reductase gene deficiency over several generations. Themes include rebirth, nature vs. nurture, and differing views of society’s concept of polar opposites between men and women. A lot of research went into this book, which I feel is important. Mythology is also intertwined, with symbolic references to the Chimera and Minotaur. The writing is beautiful and… show more.

This is the compelling story of an intersex individual (technically, a true haemophrodite i.e. with both male and female genitalia). Calliope is, to all appearances, a girl at birth — but due to a rare recessive genetic disorder, begins to grow male genitalia when they reach puberty, thus transitioning to Cal. A fascinating tale that spans generations.