The Ending Of Middlesex

As I continued to read this novel, I begin to notice that the relationship between Desdemonia and her brother is closer then most brother sister relationships are. A possible explanation for this might be that Desdemonia and her brother, Lefty, both grew up most of their lives together alone due to the fact that thier parents died when they were young children. Even though I may not be able to grasp the reality of losing parents at an early age, I can sense that the close relationship that both of them share is something that both Desdemonia and her brother need in order to cope with the loss. Then, Calliope begins to tell her story about how her family ended up coming to America on a ship from Greece. As Calliope tells the story of her grandparents, I find that it is hard to really get into the minds of the characters because it is always in a third person sense which makes it feel very impersonal. However, the actual story that Calliope tells is remarkable....

Desdemonia and Lefty made the decision to come to America after riots and terror began occurring in their town. The reason alot of these attacks are occuring is because this is taking place during the time when the Turks were killing the Armenians. However, many of the Greeks were leaving because the Turks were coming to invade. As Desdemonia and Lefty were out on sea, their relationship began to change into one that is romantic. I am unsure if at this time, this was a common practice to marry a close family member, but evidently this is what happens. Desdemonia ends up in Detriot, where the Stephanides family lines begins. Here, it is where the reader will finally be able to understand Calliope's story....

While Calliope's story is one that is unqiue and rare, I find that there are elements to her story that the reader might be able to relate to. The concept of her being different from others and having to accept it is one theme that many teenagers are able to connect with. Jefferey Euglenides adds alot more emotion and detail into the story of Calliope, which allows for the reader to better connect and understand Callie's point of view. While I thought that Callie's story was well written, I was a little disappointed overall how the rest of the story was written because I found that it was a little confusing to follow and that it did not really hold my interest. The historical explanation of her family moving to Detroit was very descriptive. In my opinion, I think that the historical portion of the novel should have been kept to a minimum so that the reader could learn more about the main character.

Overall, I would say that my reading experience with Middlesex was okay. I did enjoy Euglenides concept and idea of having Calliope be the narrator for the novel, but, I think that this only caused the reader to have a disconnection with the characters in the book. I also found that this novel did contain some older English words, which made the meaning of sentences confusing at parts. However, eventually I was able to understand what was happening.

I would definitely recommend this book to reader who do not mind reading a novel that contains a lot of historical background and does not mind waiting until the middle of the book to finally understand the main character's story. I would also say that the readers of the book should be mature so that they would be able to understand the ramifications and problems that occur with Callie's condition.