Book Title: Middlesex 
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Year Published:  2002
Reviewed By: Gail Burne
Date: 02-09-08         

Review:

“Middlesex tells the story of Calliope Stephanides, and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family, who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of the 1967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan.” Calliope is not like other girls and she finds out why after discovering her genetic history that has been kept secret for generations.

For me this was a deeply moving, yet troubling book of the coming of age of a teenage girl. Not a page-turner, but at the same time I found myself compelled to finish it. The more you read, the more you question the author’s own genetic background. During an interview on TV, that very question was asked. He craftily avoided the issue.