Middlesex follows the journey of Calliope Stephanides, who is born intersex and later identifies as a transgender man named Cal. The novel explores Cal’s complex family history, his struggles with identity, and the impact of societal expectations on his sense of self.
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Year of publication: 2002
Pages: 529
Project: Identity – sexual
Complexity
CEFR: C1/C2
Plot Complexity: high
Language Complexity: high
Ideas Complexity: high
Middlesex features a complex plot with intricate narrative structures, character development, and multiple interwoven story lines. The language used in the novel is sophisticated, employing advanced vocabulary and complex sentence structures. The ideas explored in the book are intellectually challenging, addressing profound themes and demanding critical thinking and analysis from readers.
Blurb
Middlesex tells the breathtaking 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 1967 before moving out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret, and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.
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