Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides was recommended to me by a friend years ago, and I’ve been toting it around genuinely intending to read it since then. Finding myself for the first time in years without a class reading list, I’ve finally found time to pick it up. This book has stayed with me since I’ve finished it, in the way that the characters and stories of good novels don’t leave you when you’ve finished the book. The novel tells the story of Callie, born a 
hermaphrodite, and two generations of her ancestors. While the stories of her Greek grandparents and parents are said by most reviewers to be the better written part of the novel, the entire first thirds of the novel seem to build towards Callie realizing “who she really is” to use the age-old adage. Callipoe is raised a girl, and for most of her childhood she appears to be one. It isn’t until puberty that her difference becomes apparent- she doesn’t menstruate or grow breasts and has an unusual amount of facial hair. Her genitals are a combination of male and female- she posses what is alternately described as an enlarged clitoris or an undeveloped penis. Ultimately, against the wishes of her doctor and parents, the teenage Calliope runs away and decides to live as a man.
Callie completes this transformation by cutting her hair, growing a beard and wearing a suit. Aside from this her character doesn’t seem to change much- as a reviewer from the New York Review of Books points out, there is a void in the novel regarding the very topic it commits its focus to- gender.
The insecurities Callie feels as she grows up don’t appear specific to gender-confused teens- she worries about her body and feels the need to fit in just like any teenage girl. She has sexual feelings for other girls, also not unheard of. When Callie runs away to live as a man, she ends up working in a strip club as and survives attempted rape, twice. Eugenides adeptly describes her feelings of performance when Callipoe attempts to pass as a man. In the end the character admits she is not much different as a man than she was when she was living as a woman.
The paradox the reader is left with is the essentialist vs non-essentialist arguments. Either gender is assigned from birth, as Callie chooses to live as a man despite being raised female, or all gender is performance, as Callie never feels at home in her skin as woman or a man. Either way Eugenides seem to suggest one must decide. The novel certainly suggests Callie cannot continue living in gender ambiguity, at least in a society so intent on enforcing sexual identity. What Middlesex accomplishes is establishing an empathetic connection between the main character and the reader. We cannot help asking ourselves what would change if one day we found out we were genetically a different sex.
