Middlesex & I Know This Much is True

Francis and I went to this really cool panel at the LA Times Festival of Books this year about Time. There were different authors and scientists talking about time and it's relation to different parts of our lives, as tangible as time when we sleep or memory and time, to as vast as time in the universe, and what we know about what it can and cannot do. Entropy and Time. We know time can go forwards, but why not backwards? I must say, these types of conversations don't register too high on my interest level. I appreciate that people dedicate their lives to this science, not because I think we'd be lost without knowing these things, but because their dedication is admirable. Find your biggest passion and go after it full force.

I just have my doubts about how much we need to know when it comes to certain things. The fact that time cannot go backwards, only forward, is something that I'm willing to accept. The daytime sky is blue, grass is (usually) green, and the earth is in orbit. If time travel is limited to science fiction novels it would be fine with me. I guess it's similar to the Man of Science vs. Man of Faith debate. Don't get me wrong, science is very interesting to me, and everyone knows it's important. Without science exploration we might think the world is a square and that the moon is made out of cotton and we'd all still have polio. But I'm willing to have faith that things are the way they are, just because. And although I believe in the old adage that "anything is possible," there are some things we may not be able to do. And I'm okay with that. We're only humans, after all.

I've never given too much thought to psychology. I guess what I mean by that is, I never really think much about the inner workings of the brain, about who we are based on how our genes map us out before we can even speak, neurology. Nature vs. Nurture. It's very interesting but I've never gone out of my way to study it. I am grateful for those that do, because the brain is a complicated bunch of mush. What has me thinking lately about psychology in particular is that I read two books back to back recently with similar topics. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb.

Middlesex is a book about Calliope Stephanides, born a Greek girl in Detroit, Michigan. She tells her story beginning with her Greek grandmother and grandfather who leave their homeland due to the Turkish invasion, and are able to survive by pretending they are French to board a ship to America. The kicker: Calliope's grandmother and grandfather are also brother and sister who realize their love for one another just before fleeing their village. They are able to marry on the ship by pretending they met there, and they begin their life fresh together in America, moving in with their cousin and her husband in Detroit.

Eugenides is a brilliant writer, and manages to capture an entire family history before really honing in on our main character, Calliope. Her story is relatable, as she manages to make it through awkward youth, feeling different and out of place. She's tall and lanky and has long, wild hair that she uses as a personal comfort zone. She goes through periods with a girlfriend she meets at her all-girls school, becomes very close with her and begins to develop feelings. Eventually, she realizes that there's something there that is different from others as she continues to feel out of place in her own body. Calliope is a hermaphrodite. The reader knows this from page one, Calliope knows this while telling her family history, but for most of her childhood until her teens, she and her family do not. When she finds out, her world is turned upside down and she doesn't know who she is anymore. Her first person account of what she goes through, from undergoing tests with a doctor in New York, to running away and hitchhiking to San Francisco, make a coming of age story like no other. It's a very interesting take on how a family history can affect a person, and how everyone is different and must carry on the way they feel comfortable.

After Middlesex I picked up I Know This Much is True. My sister read this awhile ago and loved it. It follows main character Dominic through his struggles with his twin brother Thomas, a troubled schizophrenic. The two brothers are raised in a household with their mother and stepfather, and are unaware of their biological father's identity. Dominic, now in his late thirties, hates his abusive stepfather for how he treated his stepsons, but maintains a shallow relationship with him because he is the only father he knows. Dominic feels a constant obligation to take care of his brother, both because he is his twin and because he promised their meek mother that he would. What's interesting to see in this novel is how Dominic, who has a lot of anger, learns to deal with his own demons. He's always been the "normal" brother, but in reality, he's far from stable.

The very interesting part of this novel is when Dominic reveals that his mother gave him his grandfather's long life history. Dominic and Thomas were born after their grandfather's death, and Dominic finally decides to get it translated from Italian and begin reading it. What he reads is interesting; his grandfather tells of coming to America from Italy and working to make his way. Dominic finds his grandfather to be arrogant and horrible, but he continues reading. His grandfather takes us through pieces of Dominic's family history, something that Dominic has had no prior knowledge of, and somehow helps him deal with the anger he no longer wants to have and the person he does not want to be.

One of the things I love most about books are when they get you thinking about things you aren't prone to thinking about. Seldom do I consider my family history and the choices my ancestors made and how they got me to where I am. I rarely ponder the functionality of my brain or the psychology of my life. I know that there are many troubled souls out there, and if we didn't have a few in our own family than who would we be? And who would they have on their side? And most of all, we've got to get through some trying times in this life. Hopefully we can be all the better for it.