Middlesex sat on my shelf for years mainly because I knew that the story revolved around a hermaphrodite. I thought it would be full of kinky sex and I really didn't think I'd be into that too much. Middlesex was an easy book to ignore since its cover is missing. It came to me that way from my sister. Her dog must have picked it off the shelf and done the damage. I couldn't blame a coverless book on Ginger this time. So it remained on the shelf incognito for a very long time.
I loved this book! I loved everything about it. The characters are rich, the story comedic, set against a backdrop of Detroit in the 20th century. Desdemona and Lefty come to America on a dream and a prayer. Their lives as immigrants making a life in the Motor City is full of ups and downs. The lives of their children Milton and Zoe emulate those of second generation Americans who are bound and determined to be only American and leave the old country ways behind.
And then there's Calliope who narrates. We learn the family's story through her or is it his eyes? When Callie tells the story her voice is distinctly different from when the male voice Cal is narrating. The author did a masterful job writing this character's voice. Callie, as a teenager, tells us of Desdemona taking to her bed, permanently. Then Callie and Cal's story really gets interesting. I thought the author had forgotten to resolve Desdemona. I kept flipping back thinking I'd missed something. But I couldn't have. Long gone are my days of drinking, reading a book before bed and then having to reread the same part again the next day because I couldn't remember what had happened.
I was ready to reduced my rating to a four from a five all because of Desdemona. And then, suddenly and without warning, the author explains where she's been and why. Desdemona, the keeper of the family secret kept it no more. It was a wonderful ending to a brilliant story. Middlesex won my reading heart and my writing mind, earning a rating of five out of five.
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