Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

This was our lastest book club pick and it was fantastic. Everyone loved it. Its been a long time since I've read a book that I'd rather read than watch tv, but I couldn't put this one down. The narrator is a hermaphrodite that is raised as a girl then at puberty discovers, she's actually a guy. But the majority of the book isn't even about the narrator - it traces the origins of the mutation in his family starting with the grandparents and following it through to his/her birth. The story starts in Greece as the grandparents are forced to flee burning Smyrna, then moves to Detroit.

While the story itself is unique and captivating, one of the things I liked best about the book is the way its written. For instance, the emphasis of the characters in the book kind of mimics life. There isn't a sharp point where the book is suddenly about the next generation, it just flows so that by the end the grandparents have moved into a guest house on the family's property and are almost forgotten by both the family and the reader.

Anyway, its a fantastic read - just don't let the incest turn you off!