MiddlesexIn the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school, Grosse Pointe, MI, 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 - leads Callie to suspect that she is not like other girls. The explanation for this shocking state of affairs takes us out of suburbia - back before the Detroit race riots of 1967, before the rise of the Motor City, to 1922, when the Turks sacked Smyrna and Callie's grandparents fled for their lives, back to a tiny village in Asia Minor where two lovers, and one rare genetic mutation, set in motion the metamorphosis that will turn Callie into a being both mythical and perfectly real: a hermaphrodite. Sprawling across eight decades - and one unusually awkward adolescence - Jeffrey Eugenide's long-awaited second novel is a grand, utterly original fable of crossed bloodlines, the intricacies of gender, and the deep, untidy promptings of desire. |
Contents
The Silver Spoon | 13 |
Matchmaking | 41 |
An Immodest Proposal | 80 |
Copyright | |
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American arms asked baby bedroom began body brassiere brother Bursa Cadillac Callie Calliope Chapter Eleven church clarinet climbed cousin dark Desdemona Detroit door dressed everything eyes face Fard Father Mike feel felt front gender identity girl going grandfather grandmother grandparents Greek Greektown Gremlin Grosse Pointe hair hand happened head hermaphrodite hot dogs inside Jerome Jimmy knew laughed Lefty Lefty's legs light Lina living looked Luce married Middlesex Milton morning mother moved movie never night nose Obscure Object Okay parents Philobosian play pulled rebetika rum-running shouted side silk silkworm smell smiling smoke Smyrna Sourmelina Stephanides stood stopped street tell Tessie Tessie's thing tion Tiresias told took turned voice waiting watched wedding crown window women worry yia yia Zebra Room Zizmo Zoë Zora وو