Middlesex

I loved this Pulitzer prize winning book, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.  This tale about Cal/Calliope, a kid growing up in the 1960's in Detroit was fascinating.  Cal is a hermaphrodite raised as a girl and changes into a man as a teenager.  The tale of how that change goes over with his Greek family is both sad and funny.  Cal tells the story and in this book, he has unusual insight into the thoughts of his parents, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  I suppose that makes it easier for the author to write the book while avoiding any he or she pronouns.  The story is more than gender identity though because it is also a story about Greek immigrants, family, the city of Detroit, the 1967 riots in Detroit and the prejudices endured by all of us.  I will definitely be reading more by Jeffrey Eugenidies who, by the way, is Greek and from Detroit but not a hermaphrodite.