Middlesex - Brief Article - Audiobook Review

Jeffrey Eugenides. 2002. Read by Kristoffer Tabori. 14 tapes. 23 hrs. Audio Renaissance. 1-55927-780-7. $49.95. Cardboard; plot, author notes. A

Dazzling writing and a cast of offbeat characters combine to give us this strange and compelling 20th-century odyssey. Shortly after WW I, the Ottoman Empire crumbles, and young Lefty Stephanides flees to America with the woman who will become his wife. Unknowingly, each carries a time bomb--a recessive gene carrying a form of hermaphroditism. At the start of the 21st century, their grandchild, Cal, tells his tale: his birth as a girl in 1960; his "rebirth" as an adolescent boy in 1974; and his struggle to discover and celebrate his real self. Otherwise, the family's story parallels that of many immigrants to the U.S.: a stint in Henry Ford's auto factory, years of running a restaurant, and finally a house in the suburbs. Repeatedly, the action takes place against a backdrop of flames--the burning of the city of Smyrna; the Detroit race riots. Repeatedly, the characters leave new lives for old.

American actor Tabori, also an accomplished director, charges this story with energy and high tension. The 23 hours fly by, leaving us sad when the reading is finished. Because of the violence and explicit sex, a note on the package cautions, "this program is produced for mature audiences." Some readers may find that the story itself provides a maturing experience, for it stretches our understanding of sexual identity and the essential self. Helen Elizabeth Woodman, Andover, NH

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