I recently finished Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugnides. It's the same guy who wrote The Virgin Suicides, which I loved. I loved Middlesex, too.
In brief, and oversimplified, the story follows three generations of a family culminating in the narrating character's genetic makeup. Cal has 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. While initially appearing to be a female, and raised as a girl, the narrator's genetic makeup is XY (male). Once puberty hits, she doesn't develop as a girl, but instead, begins exhibiting male secondary sex characteristics.
But the story really isn't about Cal. In the end, I'm not sure it's about anybody, except maybe Cal's Grandmother, Desdemona.
There's a lot I could say, but I'll limit my comments to one particular thing that struck me. At one point, Cal discusses being able to move in both worlds, male and female. The comment reminded me about something I'd thought of before: our society's need to categorize people (and, to a certain extent, things) as either masculine or feminine. This appears in a lot of other cultures, as well. Note, in the romance languages, that everything has a gender--tables, chairs, foods, and cars (though, in the US we may talk of a masculine or feminine car, in France all cars are one or the other--I forget which).
Does it have to be this way? Why must we emphasize differences so much when, at the core, men and women are far more the same than different? It also seems like this divide getting worse in our culture. I saw a study recently (I'm too lazy/short on time to find the link) that said that while book-reading overall is declining, the drop in the male population is precipitous. This makes a certain amount of sense--to a large extent reading narratives is about connecting and relating with other people, a task our current culture seems to put in the "feminine" category.
Back to Cal. I find it interesting that rather than try to be himself, a mix of the raised-a-girl and genetically-male, Cal must choose one or the other. Our society simply will not tolerate someone who doesn't fit in one category or the other. Some gender-bending is ok, even being gay or lesbian is more accepted. But even then, a person is a man or a woman.
Maybe there are larger implications, maybe not. I'll leave those for people with more knowledge than I. But Middlesex reminded me of all these thoughts I'd had before, and made me reexamine my own feelings on this issue. For that, if nothing else, I highly recommend it.
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