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Middlesex is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A dazzling triumph from the bestselling author of The Virgin Suicides--the astonishing tale of a gene that passes down through three generations of a Greek-American family and flowers in the body of a teenage girl. 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.So begins 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 l967, before they move 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, Jeffrey Eugenides's Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.

Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club) by Jeffrey Eugenides

In this bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Eugenides tells the extraordinary story of Calliope Stephanides, a Greek-American hermaphrodite. Born with both male and female genitalia, Calliope is raised as a girl, but is later diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that causes her to develop male characteristics as she enters puberty.

The novel follows Calliope as she struggles to come to terms with her unique situation, and to find her place in a world that is often hostile to those who are different. Eugenides' lyrical prose and complex characters make Middlesex a powerful and moving novel about identity, family, and the meaning of love.

Here are some of the key themes in Middlesex:

• Identity: Calliope's journey of self-discovery is at the heart of the novel. She must grapple with the question of who she is, both physically and psychologically, and come to terms with the fact that she does not fit neatly into traditional categories.
• Family: Calliope's family is a complex and troubled one, but they are also the source of her strength and support. Her relationship with her parents, siblings, and extended family is explored in depth, and Eugenides shows how family can be both a source of pain and a source of healing.
• Love: Calliope experiences a variety of relationships throughout the novel, both romantic and platonic. These relationships help her to learn about herself and the world around her, and they ultimately help her to find her place in it.

Middlesex is a beautifully written and thought-provoking novel that is sure to stay with readers long after they finish reading it. It is a must-read for anyone interested in identity, family, or the human condition.