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)

Epic and Incredibly Engaging

If you could sum up Middlesex in three words, what would they be?

Epic, Engaging, Comforting

What did you like best about this story?

This story was so well written and nuanced it's hard to pick one thing.

What does Kristoffer Tabori bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It was easy to get lost in the many characters Tabori's voice brought to life.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The final moment between Cal and Desdemona

Any additional comments?

The music in this audiobook was not well matched to the action. The transitional pieces were clunky and dated. The music was wrong, overbearing and way to high in the mix when used within the reading (watching porn with the Doctor, Milton's flight in Caddy). I found it tremendously distracting during key parts in the book.

my big fat Greek family history with a twist

wonderfully funny and real -- history and family and heart. Detroit parts especially lively. Literary but not so you'd notice.

creative

Would you listen to Middlesex again? Why?

no, I am a one time gal

What other book might you compare Middlesex to and why?

I cant think of a book like it thats what I liked about it

Have you listened to any of Kristoffer Tabori’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

not sure

The description doesn't do this story justice

What did you love best about Middlesex?

It read like a memoir. Calliope was so REAL! What I really loved was the backstory and history that spread throughout generations.

Who was your favorite character and why?

These characters are so rich I truly cannot choose one. Mr. Eugenides created a family and communities that are rife with stories, struggles, and secrets.

What about Kristoffer Tabori’s performance did you like?

He WAS Cal/Calliope. His reading increased the "I thought it was a memoir" quotient. He didn't try too hard to make his voice sound feminine for those characters, which I appreciated. His pace was perfect!

Who was the most memorable character of Middlesex and why?

Desdemona. Her life-long struggle with the guilt vs the love of her husband, and the shattering consequence of their marriage, made her a memorable character.

Any additional comments?

I don't recall learning why/how Calliope's older brother was named such a very unusual name.

Really exceptional novel.

This book has everything and then some. I will definitely read it again. A must read, in my opinion.

Slow Beginning, Strong Ending

I thought the story started out too slowly. It was hard to get into initially, but it's worth it if you hang in there. It picks up before too long and has a good pace and it's an engaging story overall. The ending was satisfying. I would have given 4 stars, but had to deduct a star for the narrator, who I thought overused an unconvincing accent that sounded more like NY than Detroit to me. There was also oddly misplaced music in the second and third parts that was fairly distracting.

If you have the time, you might want to read this instead of listening to the audio version.

I really enjoyed this book

This was a really good story and the narrator was fabulous! I would highly recommend this book

Remarkable Story!

Jeffrey Eugenides is an excellent storyteller. Constantly engaging. This is a remarkable story, beautifully written, fantastically narrated. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

the voice of cliope

the narrator was the best!! he had the most captivating energy with every voice the whole way!!

Brilliant narration!

I was hooked from the beginning. Beautifully written with the best narrative performance I've ever heard on an audio book.