Jeffreu Eugenides

touched millions. His first book The Virgin Suicides was turned into an intriguing

movie directed by Sophia Coppola. Middlesex, his most resent book release, is making its way up the charts. Eugenides is most famous for his insight into the human mind and challenging perils of life which most view as quite disturbing. Some have wondered how he could have imagined such situations without actually having lived them, and present them in such a convincing matter. What drives him to write these compelling novels about five suicidal girls going through adolescence and a teenage girl who realizes she isn't just a she but a he?

On March 8, 1960, Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit, Michigan. Eugenides went to Brown University and received his B.A. in English, and later went to Stanford to receive his M.A. in creative writing. He now lives in Berlin, Germany. He originally considered becoming a priest or monk after he spent a week with Mother Teresa in India while on a break from college. He explained to the Calgary Herald, "I was so unformed in my personality and was trying on different personas; being a saint was a bit tight on my shoulders, though. At 20 you

Middlesex, Eugenides' second book, was published in 2002. In this book Calliope Helen Stephanides-now the forty-one-year-old male narrator, tells us how he came to switch sexual identities; how he kept his secret; and what happens once his true nature is exposed. Calliope finds out she has what is called 5-alpha-reductase deficiency syndrome a mutation caused by intermarrying within a single blood line. Calliope begins her narration by saying, "I was born twice: first as a baby girl on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974." (Eugenides, Jeffrey pg.3)

Also, while working on his new book, he had been awarded a Berlin Prize Fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin for the academic year 2000-2001. The Academy is an institute for the advanced study of the arts, culture and public affairs and welcomes scholars, artists and professionals who wish to engage in independent study in Berlin for an academic semester or year.

The focus of the book is to show the way we (as a person) feel, and the memories and images we come away with. Throughout the book the teenage boys, who are neighbors to the Lisbons', wonder what actually goes on in the Lisbon house and who the Lisbons really are. They start to collect pictures, articles, and even diaries of the girls.

For the time being Eugenides is not currently working on anything, but taking time off to be with his daughter. Everybody is eagerly awaiting his next excellent book, but don't expect to see one soon.

The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex compare and contrast in many ways. In The

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