The Virgin Suicides: A Review

Title: The Virgin Suicides

Author: Jefferey Eugenides 

Publisher: Picador

"It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper then death, and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together."

Synopsis: In a quiet suburb of Detroit, the five Lisbon sisters; beautiful, eccentric, and obsessively watched by the neighborhood boy commit suicide one by one over the course of a single year. As the boys observe from afar, transfixed, they attempt to piece together the mystery of the family's fatal melancholy, in this hypnotic and unforgettable novel of adolescent love, disquiet, and death. Cecilia, the youngest sister is the first to commit suicide, that eventually leads up to the death of her four sisters exactly a year after her first attempt.

My Thoughts: This book was a complete mind trip, I couldn't stop turning pages. I am extremely happy that i read it, and it is so profound due to it's unique and some what surreal plot. Including in the synopsis on the back of the book that all of the girls were going to commit suicide, lead me to be really skeptical as to how I would enjoy the novel. I figured since they revealed pretty much the entire point of the book that reading it wouldn't as worthwhile because the whole "shock factor" was long gone. However Eugenides wrote with such precision and instead of the suicides being the majority of the novel he crafted mystery into it as well. The majority of the novel was the neighborhood boys' interpretation of what seemed to be happening in the Lisbon house, and the secretive un-revealing nature of the girls made it even more difficult for them to truly figure them out. Therefore, when the suicides took place the reaction to it was not "oh my goodness they committed suicide" but "why the hell are they committing suicide" I hope that makes sense. Anyway up until the very end I was confused, incredulous, skeptical, angry, enthralled, and emotionally unstable which is exactly what I like to experience when I read. 

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to the critical thinker that can read beyond the words, and can accept the unspoken truth, and is able to come to their own conclusions. This book does not simply end, there's no explanation and there is no sequel, and I find that not a lot of people can handle that. Another thing to keep in mind if you are considering reading this book, you will get emotionally attached to the girls, it's inevitable, the boys' obsession rubs off on you whether you want it to or not, and getting emotionally attached to characters that are going to die sucks. So just be aware of that too.

The movie was a good visual depiction but I don't think it really captured the true essence that the novel gave.