Book Club choice - Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."


Middlesex tells the story of Callie and several generations of her family, their Greek heritage and how they came to live in America.  Eugenides' writing somehow blesses the forbidden love between Callie's grandparents, who are sister and brother, and the reader finds themselves empathic and the situation completely acceptable.


The novel tells of Callie's coming of age, with the added complication that at 14 Callie officially discovers she is both male and female due to a genetic condition inherited from her grandparents.  The novel documents her mixed feelings as she tries to reconcile this knowledge, even though it is something she has long suspected.


This book is both witty and sad; I laughed and cried throughout.  I felt like an old friend's visit ended when I finished it.  I think this is going to initiate a lively discussion around the table come the next book club meeting :)