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Content snapshot
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Violence
Some
1967 Detroit race riot violence; some wartime violence in historical sections
Language
Barely any
Mild language
Sexual Content
A lot
Incest between siblings (historical); intersex sexual coming-of-age; some explicit content
Substance Use
Barely any
Some alcohol and substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Identity confusion, grief, and the psychological complexity of gender discovery across generations
What this book is about
Cal Stephanides, born intersex and raised as a girl named Callie, narrates the multigenerational story of the Stephanides family—from a Turkish village in 1922 through 1970s Detroit—uncovering the incest that set his unique genetics in motion and the sexual coming-of-age that revealed his true nature. Eugenides's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is an epic American immigrant story, a meditation on gender identity, and a deeply compassionate examination of what it means to find yourself.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Incest between siblings (grandparents; central to the plot)
Intersex anatomy and sexual coming-of-age
Detroit race riot violence
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