Middlesex

While Middlesex was very strange, I think it was an important read as well.

I didn't know what a hermaphrodite was until I read this book, and I learned along with Cal as he discovered himself through the pages. It is not unimaginable to me to question who I am as I grow up, but to discover that you are really a completely different gender--that I cannot imagine, simply because I am a girl, and I will always be a girl, and I wouldn't want to be any different than I am.

However, it was interesting to read as the then-Calliope discovered her sexuallity and the changes her body did, or did not, make. I think a lot of her struggles were things that every teenager can relate to, if not to the full extent of the problems that she had. But it was great that it touched upon the acceptance of the people who are important to you and everyone else around you. Because no matter how hard we all try to deny it, other people's opinions do matter, and how they react to certain things can affect our lives forever.

Today's world has become more accepting of hermaphrodites, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, asexuals, transgenders, genderqueers, genderfluids, and any other variation of the labels we put on ourselves, so I feel like this book fit right in with the ways that a lot of people feel on the subject. For example, if my parents were to read this book, they'd find it much stranger than I did, just because of how their generation was raised. I think it's important for young adults to read books like this to discover that these people--even if they are a bit different than the "norms"--are just human beings too. They were born the way they are, and they shouldn't have to change just because society wants them to fit in. The more people who read first hand accounts--be it fictional or non-fictional--will understand that it is natural to be different. It's how we survive.

Even though I initially read the book as my language arts project, I really enjoyed the content. It was a fast read, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested on the subject. Even if you're not, it's good to experience other things so that maybe you can change your perspective on things you don't understand.