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First published in 1993, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES announced the arrival of a major new American novelist. In a quiet suburb of Detroit, the five Lisbon sisters--beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched by the neighborhood boys--commit suicide one by one over the course of a single year. As the boys observe
… More »First published in 1993, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES announced the arrival of a major new American novelist. In a quiet suburb of Detroit, the five Lisbon sisters--beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched by the neighborhood boys--commit suicide one by one over the course of a single year. As the boys observe them from afar, transfixed, they piece together the mystery of the family's fatal melancholy, in this hypnotic and unforgettable novel of adolescent love, disquiet, and death. Jeffrey Eugenides evokes the emotions of youth with haunting sensitivity and dark humor and creates a coming-of-age story unlike any of our time. Adapted into a critically acclaimed film by Sofia Coppola, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES is a modern classic, a lyrical and timeless tale of sex and suicide that transforms and mythologizes suburban middle-American life.
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Add a QuoteAt some point, we looked up into the sky to see that all the fish flies had died. The air was no longer brown but blue. Using kitchen brooms, we swept bugs from poles and windows and electrical lines. We stuffed them into bags, thousands upon thousands of insect bodies with wings of raw silk, and Tim Winer, the brain, pointed out how the fish flies' tails resembled those of lobsters. "They're smaller," he said, "but possess the same basic design. Lobsters are classified in the phylum Arthropoda, same as insects. They're bugs. And bugs are only lobsters that have learned to fly."
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Add a CommentEugenides is one of my favourite authors. This is beautifully written, but story itself seemed pointless.
Certainly not in the class of his later book "Middlesex". The first part not bad; but, the second part drags on and on with the same repeating detail.
The reverent language with which this book is written shouldn't be confused with the glamourization of suicide. The narrators' collective obsession with the Lisbon girls and anything connected to them is the obvious source of this impression; the focus instead seems to me to be stunted potential within a repressive environment, the cynical side of growing up and the rabid devotion of youthful obsession. The way it's written somehow manages to recall the idealization and rosiness of memory - beautiful. From what I recall of the movie adaptation it was really well done and well cast.
I actually quite liked this book. My first Eugenides! I'd seen the movie ages ago, so I wasn't sure what I would remember (basically not much except for Kirsten Dunst). The collective "we" of the narrator(s) was an interesting point of view and I thought it really brought out the voice of a group of adolescent boys. The character/setting of this suburban town was really brought to life by Eugenides' poetic language and were some of the best written scenes. The characters of the Lisbon girls are so interesting despite the feeling like we never really get to know them and they slip away from us just when we are hoping we'll finally get a glimpse inside their heads. The book was quite a page turner in a way where you almost don't know how much you've read yet a couple hours have past, especially since you know at the beginning that the girls are going to die. This was definitely a great book club pick as there was lots to discuss.
Reached the middle of the book. I do not want to continue reading it despite the beautiful language. I don’t understand why there is so much choking admiration of this book. Suicide, any, and especially of teenagers’, it is a tragedy for everybody. So what can be funny about the suicides of five Lisbon girls? From the first pages of the book you can feel kind of mockery about tragedy.
Never saw the film. Book is better than expected. Will read more of Mr. Eugenides.
This book was really good. It did drag in certain places but other than that it kept my attention completely and made me want to finish it just so I could find out how it really ended with the girls. I was impressed that even though they gave away the endings in the beginning of the novel it didn't bore me as I waited to actually get there; it takes a brilliant writer to be able to pull that off, especially this being his first published book. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a read that is sad but doesn't dwell on the subject in a melancholy way.
Great beginning, but the story lags, possibly because he gives away the ending and uses superfluous detail as filler.
I read this during a particularly depressing period in my life and it seriously affected me. I was able to see things from the Lisbon girls' perspective and identify with them in a way that I've never identified with characters before.
One of the most poignant things I've ever read. Every teenager should read this book.