Middlesex

By: Jeffrey Eugenides

Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori

Length: 21 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

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)

Middlesex

If you listen to this book while driving to or from work beware... You're going to wish you hit a traffic jam. This is one of the best Audiobooks I've ever listened to. At first I thought Kristoffer Tabori was the person who wrote the book. His accents, voices and naration are second to none. And the book itself deserves the best narration possible. This book will leave you laughing an crying. It will make you want to camp out in your car.

Maybe I'm Jaded

And maybe this is damning with faint praise, but I thought this was a good book, not a great book. I would offer five stars only to a classic, and I think "Middlesex" unlikely to become one. The scope of the book was amazing, the characters well developed, and the story lines neatly tied up. It is a very handsome package, but not exactly a great gift.

For a book of its length, the listener should love the narrator. I found this one good at interpreting the characters and giving them distinctive voices, but occasionally over-the-top in his delivery -- sometimes even grating. I felt in some chapters that I was being harrangued -- not led -- through the narrative.

Still it is a gratifying glimpse into several subcultures and multiple time periods. It is well worth listening to, but hard to compare to Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" (as many do) except in the most literal aspects of the main character's sexuality. Whether this is literary fiction or just good best seller writing, I do not know.

Big Fat Greek Saga

Although I found this novel entertaining, it was not as advertised, and not what I expected. The descriptive blurb on audible.com gives no indication of the relative narrative weight of the familial history and the novel is really more of an ethnic saga than an exploration into the emotional issues of Cal/Cal, the alleged protagonist, centered on his/her gender identity. I say "alleged" because there are so many characters with all their whims, foibles, and petty, tiresome neuroses that it is difficult to find any single perspective. Enough already! I was so looking forward to an introspection about Cal/Callie's life story and the gender issues it presents, and this is not what I received. To me, the writer has truly missed the real story. However, if family drama is your thing, then this book is for you!

One additional thought - the narrator's style does not help. Way too dramatic! I am one of those audio book readers who prefers his/her prose to be read without extra emphasis. I can supply that myself.

I will also add that I am now an audible.com addict and know no better way to commute, exercise, travel and relax, and will continue to subscribe, eagerly awaiting my next audio credits, despite the occasional glitch in the programming! Thanks again for the great service.

Amazing writing

As I listened to this book from start to finish I was amazed by the genius of the writer. The story is interesting and enjoyable but its the writing that makes it special. His use of language is continually surprising, thought provoking and wonderful

Different BUT well worth the time!

Obviously - a quick read of the synopsis of this book will either turn people away or draw them in -- those who turn away will miss a fascinating story while those drawn in are about to reap a large reward!

The story is multi-leveled and does NOT over-focus on the "sex" angle and, in doing so, makes that part of the story even more real and touching. The narration is great as well -- add this to your cart and you won't be sorry!

Great, but what's with the musical interludes?

The book is very good, but it is the reader's performance that makes this one of my favorite audiobooks ever. Mr. Tabori gives each character their unique voice and makes the story come to life. I lost myself in their world as the West Side Highway traffic crawled each day and was sad to reach the end of the book. I just don't understand who decided to include the unrelated music at the end of certain chapters (and why).

One of the best in years . . .

From the plot description, I had no idea that this story would be as well-crafted and well-told as it turned out to be. From the opening of the book, the reader is sucked into the story of the narrator and the history of several generations of a family that hailed from a small Turkish village and endured as a changing world offered one challenge after another. The characters throughout the book are so well-developed, I feel like I know them personally. The reader of this version was an incredible choice. I don't think I've ever heard someone so perfect for the story they were reading. I cannot do this story justice with a short review. Get it! It's worth the download...

Slow Starter - but WOW!

Once the novel moves past the 1st reported generation, it is excellent, fun, and unbelievably detailed. Takes you right back to the 70s. If you were an adolescent in the 70s, you will absolutely love this novel.

Go ahead and get it- the 20 hours will fly by

This story is extremely memorable. I probably will never forget the burning of Smyrna and the flying Caddy parts-ever! I started to tell a friend what a great audio book this is and she wanted to know about the story. I couldn?t do it justice and if you only heard a brief premise you might incorrectly assume that the book wasn?t for you. It humanizes a difficult situation and brings you as close as you can get to Cal?s current plight in life, which otherwise might be judged based on preconceived notions. Instead the author brings you face to face with Cal's world, his parent?s world and his grandparent?s world which explains where he is today. Absolutely wonderful story. Thanks to the author and reader!

Did I get a different book ?

An extremely long saga of a Greek family -- and eventually a little about the life and times of Cal/Cal. An entertaining story, but it far from what I was lead to expect. The character development is great -- but after about 15 hours.... Certainly a good book but, in my eyes (ok ears) not the masterpiece I was lead to believe. The narration was well done and added much to the story.