Jeffrey Eugenides won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his novel Middlesex, and this month it’s the selection for Perth’s Queer Book Club.
Eugenides’ best seller has sold more than four million copies since it’s publication. The book draws from his own experiences of life and his Greek heritage, but it’s not an autobiography. In the book the central character is intersex, while the author himself is not.
He said he was inspired to explore what life is like for people who are intersex after reading the autobiography of Herculine Barbin that was published in 1980.
Eugenides first came to prominence with his 1993 novel The Virgin Suicides which was adapted into a film in 1999 by director Sophia Coppola.
After winning the Pulitzer Prize with his follow up Middlesex, Eugenides has only published one more novel, 2011’s The Marriage Plot. He’s also written many short stories.
Perth’s Queer Book Club is an initiative of GRAI: Gay Rights in Ageing and was established after years of members of Perth’s LGBTIQA+ communities expressing a desire for a book club. People moving to Perth from other cities were often surprised to discover we didn’t have one.
GRAI President David Gibson spoke to OUTinPerth about club and said those attending always had a diverse range of opinions about the book of the month.
“There’s definitely no group-think!” Gibson said. “We rate each book in unicorns, five is the top and zero is obviously the bottom number, and we’ve never had a unanimous, ‘Hallelujah! This is the best gay book ever!’ moment.”
Gibson shares what most people get out of the club is a discipline to read the book in time for the meeting at the end of each month, and admits that he himself does not always love the book selected by the group, but appreciates how it opens up different viewpoints and perspectives.
“It gives us an ability to see different points of view, and it’s a safe space which is a credit to everyone involved.”
Gibson says one of the great benefits of the Queer Book Club is its an intergenerational space which sees teenagers sitting next to people in their seventies and sharing their experiences.
“When we first began I worried about how the conversations would go between the different age groups. Would everyone be respectful enough to understand the different viewpoints? Not only has everyone been respectful, some have swayed each other’s views, some have been able to learn hip new, and hip old phrases, and it’s been a lot of fun!”
Each month a different selection of people turn up to the discussion, and it’s a welcoming space where people aren’t compelled to speak if they go along.
The group meet up on the last Wednesday of each month to chat about the monthly selection with refreshments provided. Find out more about the group at their Facebook page.
