History Literature / Middlesex

That's not really the point, though. Most of the book is a GenerationalSaga which recounts the story of Cal's parents and grandparents who happened to make such a trait possible.

Calliope (later Cal) Stephanides was born with a rare genetic condition that caused her to look externally female, but in adolescence begin developing male characteristics.

* ACupAngst: One of Calliope's big concerns while she still thought she was a girl.

* BestYearsOfYourLife: Callie's carpool driver, Mrs. Drexel, tells this to her carpoolies. Callie, age 12, hates her for this.
* BlindMistake: The fact that the doctor who delivered Callie was nearsighted and didn't notice her unusual genitalia had huge effects on the lives of everyone involved, especially Callie.

* BrotherSisterIncest: Desdemona and Lefty. Because of the era they lived in, they knew incest was taboo, but no one ever explained genetics to them... or at least, didn't explain it to them ''before'' Desdemona was already pregnant. She gets freaked out and spends the rest of her pregnancy praying that she's sorry and didn't know--it would be stupid for God to punish her when she didn't know--so please let her baby be ok. The baby is. The genetic repercussions don't show up until a generation later.
* ClosetKey: "The Obscure Object" for Cal, as meeting her gradually makes Cal realize her attraction to girls.

* FramingDevice: The modern-day segment of the story features Cal [[spoiler:now identifying as a man]] working as a diplomatic attache in Berlin, and trying to court a Japanese-American woman living in that city.

* GroinAttack: Played for drama. Certain forms of physical activity proved to be excruciatingly painful for Callie's undescended testes back when she wasn't aware of having them.

* HurtFootHop: When Calliope is running away from Jerome, she jumps over a historical marker, grazes it with her foot, and hops in pain.

* JustifiedTitle: Middlesex refers not only to Cal's condition, but also to the street where Calliope spent her late childhood and adolescence.
* KissingCousins: Tessie and Milt are second cousins. Tessie's mother Lina is cousin to (both of) Milt's parents.

* LastHetRomance: Cal's newest flame mentions that she tends to be this for guys that use her to determine their sexual orientation. [[spoiler:When she finds out that Cal is a male pseudohermaphrodite, Cal reassures her that she's the first woman with whom he wanted a serious relationship]].

* MatchmakerCrush: Desdemona tries to get Lefty to marry one of the two eligible girls from their village, Lucille or Victoria. Desdemona helps get both of them dressed up, and sends Lefty off to meet them, then goes to bed and has a dream about him herself.

* MaternalImpression: After returning home from a vaguely sexualized production of the play ''The Minotaur'', Desdemona and Lefty have sex, as do Lina and Zizmo. Desdemona--who is actually HappilyMarried, but also quite old-school, and doesn't always feel comfortable about ''wanting'' sex--pretends to be asleep. Milton and Tessie are both conceived that night, and these circumstances of their conception are not particularly imprinted on either of them. But years later, when they grow up, marry each other, and have Cal, he sees reflections of himself in his parents' conception.

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted in that periods are ''discussed'', but since Calliope doesn't have a uterus she can't ''actually get them'' and fakes them so her mother won't suspect anything.

* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery: To determine Callie's sexual orientation, Dr. Luce has her watch a low-budget porn film called "Annie Delivers To Your Door," in which the titular pizza girl has sex with a different man at each house, starting with a pool boy. Callie finds the film too raw and unpleasant-looking to be arousing, but she tells Dr. Luce that she's attracted to the pool boy because she knows that's what he wants to hear.
* PronounTrouble: Cal runs into a bit of this, and even trying to talk about them in this article is a bit awkward. According to Euginedes, this is why he wrote the novel in first person.

* RaisedAsTheOppositeGender: A non-standard case. Cal's parents did specifically want their second child to be a daughter, but bringing their baby up as a girl was clearly because of mistaking it as one, with no intention of forcing fake gender identity.

* TheRunaway: Calliope becomes one after realizing that they intend to surgically alter her body, so he cuts his hair, remakes himself as Cal and ends up in San Francisco as part of a strip joint show as "Hermaphroditus" and meets another intersex woman.
* SecretKeeper: Lina does not tell anyone her cousins Desdemona and Lefty are siblings, and they don't tell anyone she's a lesbian.

* TangledFamilyTree: Cal's family tree looks like this due to all the incest tropes above.

** As the result of 5-alpha-reductase deficiency. Genetically, Callie is 46,XY, but lacks the enzyme that converts testosterone to its active form. Thus, he has cryptorchid (undescended) testes, no ovarian or uterine structures, a nonfunctional vaginal pouch, and a microphallus (such that it's repeatedly mistaken for a larger-than-normal clitoris, both by Callie and by several doctors).

* WrongNameOutburst: In his youth, Lefty visited a brothel and chose a girl who resembled the sister he truly wanted. And he called the prostitute by her name. (He was high at the time.)