Rating: 
Summary: Maybe there's hope for American literature.
Review: At a time when publishers are driven by bottom lines and commercial interests in the industry have spawned unprecedented and even shameless literary mediocrity, i.e. Stephen King and the National Book Award (God help us!), the Pulitzer Committee got it right this time in Middlesex. Eumenides is the real thing: this epic novel is immensely inventive, witty, engaging and written with a literary originality that provided one of the most satisying reads in many months. Middlesex explores new ground and there is an undeniable profoundity when Cal says that s/he is "what's next." This novel is a memorable character-driven tale in which every figure is uniquely scuplted with three-dimensional qualities that breathe life into them. The dialogue is true to life and the story line gets high marks for its ambitious, risk-taking and off-the-charts creativity. This novel will be remembered years from now for the daring literary high ground that Eumenides has claimed by virtue of the talent evident in his insightful and distinctive literary voice. Maybe there's hope for contemporary American literature, after all.
Rating: 
Summary: I guess I have to repeat myself
Review: This book is garbage. Don't praise it like a monkey just because it won the Pulitzer. You know you don't enjoy this book, so stop lying to yourself. Eugenides doesn't need anymore empty adulation. He already has enough brainless sycophants to last him a lifetime. You don't owe this guy anything, nor should you respect the Pulitzer Prize on baseless grounds. Come on, you know you hate this novel, just admit it, you have nothing to lose. Acceptance, after all, is the first step towards liberation.
Rating: 
Summary: Nicely done
Review: This is a terrific story full of deep and complex characters, situations and a plot that keeps you guessing
Rating:
Summary: Middlesex is worthy of the Pulitzer.
Review: Great writing excites me. No, better than that, it elevates me. It raises my own personal writing bar. And that is exactly what Middlesex does for me. Eugenides is a storyteller's storyteller. His story is colorful, exquisitely descriptive, haunting, humorous and tragic. And, most of all, it is intelligent. Except for my brief encounter with the movie "The Angry Inch," I know almost nothing about what it means to be a hermaphrodite, and "The Angry Inch" is too blaringly offensive to elicit any kind of empathy from me. But with "Middlesex," I find myself so empathic with the characters that I am actually entering the body of hermaphrodite Cal Stephanides and feeling the roiling emotions of what it means to be this intelligent misfit. "Middlesex" begins with the words: "I was born twice..." And like most novels, I am mildly interested in the storyline in the beginning, although I'm aware immediately that the style of writing is new and refreshing. So the prose is what keeps me reading, and then the storyline catches on fire, and I am staying up late at night just so I can get a few more pages read of the 529 pages. I stay this way until late last night, when I read page 529, and I am sad that the story has ended. I want to email Eugenides and ask, "Then what happened?" Add intermarrying relatives to the "family script," and you begin to understand the complexities of the multigenerational cause and effects that hermaphrodites supposedly inherit. The story begins with the marriage of Desdemona and Lefty Stephanides in Turkey and follows their immigration to Detroit, Michigan, then traces the family tree down to Calliope Stephanides, the narrator. Along the way, we get a Forest Gump look at historical Detroit. It's personal and compelling. So much so that I am looking at the back flap of the book at Eugenides' picture, wondering if he is writing an autobiographical story. So much of the story is close to the author's personal history. My thought is, how can one truly understand what it means to possess both genders in "one body" unless one has had the real experience? Of course, this is pure conjecture. So let's put it this way: If Eugenides is not a hermaphrodite himself, then his ability to portray one in this story is ingenious and, well, worthy of a Pulitzer.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly shocked
Review: I thought the writing was wonderful. The title "Middlesex" was certainly proper. I plan to read the author's other book.
Rating:
Summary: What's that smell?
Review: Oh yes, i recognize that smell. It's the fetid stink of mediocrity wafting through my cerebral cortex--a Eugenides type reading experience indeed. I thought he was bad when he wrote the Virgin Suicides, but this longwinded, turgid, aimless novel far surpasses the banalities of the previous release, launching Middlesex into the realm of full blown charlatanism. bravo, jeffrey. those writing workshops have done wonders for your craft. not only are you drab and pretentious, but you are also destroying literature as we know it, squashing the enthusiasm that any reader might have had in arts and letters, crushing hopes left and right for anyone who expects more out of the literary world than mere word play and cleverness. oh, eugenides, you've out done yourself. the world of literature now has its new anti-christ.
Rating:
Summary: Audiobook highly recommended
Review: An avid consumer of audiobooks, I rank the unabridged version of Middlesex my favorite to date. I loved Eugenides' writing. Add to that Kristoffer Tabori's amazing performance in the audio version, and WOW, you've got a combination that can't be beat. Middlesex is filled with eccentric characters, and Tabori gave each a distinct and dynamic voice. Desdemona, Lefty, Callie, Milton -- they all came to life in my imagination as I listened. Tabori infused much humor into the novel with his inflections and intonations that I might have missed had I simply read Middlesex. I have only one complaint: I found this audiobook to be so engrossing that during a long car trip I missed major turnoffs THREE times! Oh well, it gave me more time to listen to Middlesex.
Rating:
Summary: This was a wild ride!!!
Review: I had no idea what to expect when I ordered this book. However, since it was winner of this year's Pulitzer Prize for fiction I said "what the hell." I was not disappointed. Although, it was a strange bird, it was very entertaining and well worth the 21 hours I spent listening to it. If you enjoy a wild ride, (in the tradition of Wally Lamb's "I Know This Much is True") this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a Greek Salad!
Review: Middlesex combines the fun of a family saga with the pain of adolescence through a young girl's quest for her sexual identity.
Jeffrey Eugenedes manages to get to the heart of America through the eyes of a young girl and her Greek immigrant family in the tumultuous 1960's in Detroit. The author leads us through the arrival of young Callie's grandparents'to Ellis Island and their trials and tribulations acclimating to their new American lifestlye. Through their eyes we experience World War Two, The Civil Rights Movement and The Vietnam War (just to name a few).
How do all these factors, from ancestry and family to world events affect our young heroine? Eugenedes keeps us in suspense throughout the novel. I couldn't put this book down. I warn you readers, I was even late to work a few times trying to sneak in some early morning reading time. Through twists and turns, one more interesting than the next, everything comes into very clear focus. We get a glimpse into the multitude of factors that shape, for better or for worse, human sexuality in America and in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Put this on your list!
Review: A great family drama. As you begin the novel, the narrator immediately informs you that he is a hermaphrodite. Cal, formerly Calliope, takes you back to war-torn Smyrna in 1922 where we meet his grandparents and the recessive gene that travels across the Atlantic to America and eventually results in his birth. Fantastic images, interesting characters, and a flurry of themes that weave together a fabulous saga. A great read.
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