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Middlesex
 
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Middlesex (Paperback)

3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)


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Product Details

  • Paperback
  • ISBN-10: 0965045641
  • ISBN-13: 978-0965045643
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #248,063 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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2 Reviews
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3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Long and Rambling, October 24, 2008
By Jiang Xueqin (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
When I watched Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" I was slightly bemused by what I perceived to be Coppola's guilelessly glib and trivial rendering of Jeffrey Eugenides' debut novel. Now after having finished "Middlesex" I realize that the glibness was entirely Eugenides'.

"Middlesex" is a long and rambling affair about a hermaphrodite which isn't really about a hermaphrodite. Like its protagonist "Middlesex" struggles for an identity, and is very conflicted and confused: is it an epic of a Greek-American family or the sexual awakening of a person who happens to be two sexes at once? The protagonist's story does not, in fact, really begin and take shape until two-thirds into the novel. By then I don't really care about any of the characters and don't really care about what happens next -- I just keep on reading because I know at some point Jeffrey Eugenides, who I hope is not a hermaphrodite, is forced to write about what it is like to be a hermaphrodite.

And the result is lame and pathetic. The climax involves the young teenage protagonist, who is amidst a violent transformation from young pretty innocent girl to testerone-ravaged boy, falling madly in love with another girl. It's very cliche and hackneyed, and at this late stage in the novel -- even when the young protagonist runs away, which then leads to a chain of events which concludes with his/her father's death -- it's impossible to feel anything. I couldn't be sad, or laugh, or even grow angry at how the author has rudely wasted my time. I was perfectly numb, and I couldn't help but feel that was Jeffrey Eugenides' mental state as he finished this novel.

Perhaps when Jeffrey Eugenides began the novel he felt something, and had real ambitions about where he wanted to take this novel and what he wanted to say. But the more he worked on it the more invariably he felt this novel was like his protagonist a contradiction of things, and the only way he could survive the process was to detach himself from it.

I am only conjecturing here. I am assuming that America's literary critics have some legitimate reasons to call Jeffrey Eugenides a literary talent, and if Jeffrey Eugenides is a literary talent he could only be numb and apathetic once he handed this book to his publisher, who couldn't have cared less about its literary merits because he knew it was going to be a bestseller based on the success of "The Virgin Suicides."

And so how does a literary talent feel when this long and rambling book -- a child he'd like to abandon -- wins the Pulitzer, becomes a national best-seller, and cements his literary reputation? There must be that awesome awareness of his incredible luck -- that he could from now on write whatever crap he chooses and still be hailed as genius. But hopefully -- if he is true to himself -- he felt mostly disgust, with himself and with the publishing world -- a disgust that sends him into a dark depression that matures him as a writer. And when he finally emerges from the darkness then he might produce something that is deserving of the awards and praises.
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0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars exactly what I expected, September 19, 2008
By R. Soltis (Ann Arbor, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
The product was exactly what I expected. It was in great condition, shipped in a timely fashion, and received within the estimated time frame.
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