Hermaphrodite Literature

My last post gave off the impression (to me, at least) that the recommendation that I read Middlesex was a head-scratcher. That is not the case. Novels penned by Jeffrey Eugenides are worth reading simply because he is such an all-around talented writer. When combined, his words, as those of good writers do, reach into the innermost part of their readers and violently yank out emotions. Equipped with literary prowess, when Eugenides decides that he wants his reader to feel something, they FEEL it, and are powerless to stop the catharsis.

His personification of a fire engulfing a town in flames stuck in my mind superglue style. "...the fire dodges him and races up into the house. From there it sweeps across an Oriental rug, marches out to the  back porch, leaps nimbly up onto a laundry line, and tightrope-walks across to the house behind. It climbs in the window and pauses, as if shocked by its good fortune: because everything in the house it just made to burn..." (Eugenides, 56).

Before reading this passage, I thought that the only fire capable of marching, leaping, tightrope-walking and climbing was Calcifer from one of my favorite movies, Howl's Moving Castle.

My favorite personified fire

So...Middlesex is about a hermaphrodite. The story of his/her life, told by Cal (formerly Callie), begins two generations before him with the history of his grandparents' journey from Greece to Detroit. He tells the sequence of events from the first person omniscient (for those of you who dozed off in high school language arts, that means that Cal is the narrator and knows everything, even events he was not present to witness). This may not sound like a unique element of the plot, but he does so in an interesting way. At points, Cal observes the relationships of his family from his perspective as an egg inside his mother's ovary. How clever is that?

So, what is the story? How did Cal, formerly Callie, end up this way? Well, that IS the story, and I don't want to spoil hours of fun reading for all of you, so I will keep my summary as just the tip of the iceberg. Simply put, there is more scandal and drama in Cal's parent's and grandparent's relationships than there is in the Kardashian family. Cal pairs the chronicling his own family's immigration and formation in Detroit with the corresponding events in Greece and the United States, which gives the novel a historic element.

There are scenes in Middlesex that are uncomfortable to read. As I mentioned in my previous post, I personally did not find reading about a hermaphrodite right before bed to be particularly conducive to a good night's sleep. It is dense and demanding, but if those two alliterative adjectives don't frighten you, feel free to take this novel head on. It is undeniably quality writing, but not what to read if you are looking for quick and light writing. 

OMG, You NEED To Read That Book!

Over the past couple of weeks, there were two books vying for my undying attention, and I found a way to coddle both of their over-inflated literary egos. The first book is what I refer to as an obligation book: the boasting of its cover that it won a Pulitzer Prize and is part of the Oprah book club along with and my friend's constant, almost nagging recommendation of it make me feel that it is a necessary read. However, whenever a book is labeled as such in my mind, I instantly find that reading it becomes just another task on my to do list, and whether it is enjoyable or not, it becomes a chore.

I can still see some of you scratching your heads, befuddled and wondering what on God's green earth I am going on about, thinking "that crazy Marisa! There's no section titled 'Obligation Literature' at MY local Barnes & Noble!". First of all, you are wrong- that section just goes by a different name- "Required Reading by High Schools" or, "Book Club Reading" (although the second one is arguably a self-imposed requirement, since book club members join of their own accord, unless it is some kind of book club cult). Even the "Our Staff Recommends..." section somehow seems more obligatory than merely suggestive. Like a challenge almost; bet you can't read all the books we read!

There are two subcategories of obligation books: friend/relative-imposed obligation books and society-imposed obligation books (indicated in one way by the Oprah book club sticker). The first is rather dreaded and exactly what happened to me with my most recent read, Middlesex. Wow, it just took me two entire paragraphs to get to the name of book one of the two vying for my attention. I can't even imagine how much longer you will be sitting here waiting for me to mention the second.

You CAN'T ignore that "winner of the Pulitzer Prize" sticker!

I got myself into the obligation completely- I recognize my culpability. One day, while enjoying coffee with my friend, I mentioned how much I enjoyed reading The Marriage Plot by Jeffery Eugenides. My friend perked up (more than she already had from the caffeine) and said "ooh! You need to read his other book, Middlesex!" There it was: that dreaded "you need to read..." comment. I figuratively rolled my eyes, thinking, "please stop adding books to my reading list" but saying with mock enthusiasm "yeah, totally!"

Unfortunately, hers was not the only "you NEED to read..." comment pertaining to Middlesex. I can often shrug off such comments if there is only one. However, when I brought up my recent read in my acupuncture appointment, my acupuncturist recited the exact same words! "You NEED to read his other book..." I eyed her suspiciously after she said that, wondering if she and my coffee-drinking friend were in cahoots and plotting to ensnare me in the pages of an overly-engrossing novel. Whether they were or it was purely coincidental, ensnared I was. If you haven't read Middlesex, first of all OMG you HAVE to read it (ha! Gotchya! Have fun obligation reading for the next few weeks!). It is about a hermaphrodite and his/her  upbringing and life challenges. This made for dense and disturbing reading material that messed with my mind on a number of levels. The sequence of events triggered by once I finished the first page ended up reflecting those from the kid's book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. If you give Marisa a book about a hermaphrodite, she will look up "hermaphrodite" online from sheer curiosity. If she looks up "hermaphrodite" online, she will see disturbing images of genitals. If she sees disturbing images of genitals, she will not be able to fall asleep as they will come to the forefront of her mind right as she is trying to settle down. Okay, maybe not the best sequence of events for a kids book.

Here is where book two of the two books vying for my attention comes in: remember how, in a previous post, I said that Mindy Kaling's book tucked me in better than a Swiss au pere (I think Swiss was what I went with, I'm too lazy to check)? Well, it just so happens that so does B.J. Novak's (also an actor/writer from The Office) new collection of hilarious short stories. So, my method became: read Middlesex for as long as possible until I became mentally troubled, then read one or two short stories to lull myself to sleep. This worked like a charm!

Well, I would go into my reviews of the two books, but this post has already morphed into a tome, and I want to give you eyes a brains a reading break. Peace.