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Summary: A rare,disturbing,marvelous,depressing masterpiece
Review: This book tells the sad tale of the five Lisbon sisters,who are fated to kill themselves through the course of a year. It explores the relationships between parents and children and boys and girls. After the death of Cecilia, the remaining sisters are slowly suffocated out of existence by their mother and their only hope for salvation is the neighborhood boys. The all too human truths and emotions that run rampant throughout this novel are what make it as genuine as a news article; they are what make this novel the darkly shimmering tale of a family's descent into a dark unending abyss of misery.
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Summary: A captivating tale that leaves you wondering
Review: This book was brilliantly written to keep you wanting to read more. It is written from the perspective of a narrator whose name and identity are never uncovered, and shows an outside view of what happens to this Lisbon girls. There are no views from the girls themselves, which provides the mysteriousness of the book. The story is real; often you do not know the story behind suicides or other tragedies. It allows your imagination to soar, and the brillance of the wording makes your mind race.
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Summary: wallow
Review: A bunch of middle aged men in a Detroit suburb serve as a sort of Greek chorus, narrating a tragic tale from their teen years as the five Lisbon sisters commit suicide. Unable to come to terms with their deaths, the boys have grown old obsessing over them. They've turned the suicides into the stuff of myth and made them the touchstones of their lives.But what if we readers aren't affected in the same way? Sorta weakens the narrative structure, huh? One of the great lies we tell ourselves is that deaths, but especially suicides, have some great secret meaning. For instance, what really gave the Whitewater scandal legs was Vince Foster killing himself. On some level, we all "knew" that he had to have died to hide some terrible secret. But what if he was just a weak, overburdened man who felt like quitting? What if deaths like his tell us nothing important? Well, that just doesn't seem fair somehow. In the first place, we have an understandable desire that the tragedy have some meaning. But secondly, and probably more importantly, we get a vicarious thrill from these things and don't want to be cheated out of the opportunity to wallow in them. If we can inflate them with portent, however false, we get to wrap them around us and roll around in them like pigs in slop, while claiming that we're concerned about their broader implications (witness these Columbine H.S. shootings). Eugenides has basically rendered an extended wallow without even bothering to look for reasons. Give this one a pass & try Ordinary People instead GRADE: D
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Summary: A lyrical and dark novel about youth innocence gone awry!
Review: What beautiful language! The Virgin Suicides is a tale of lost innocence. Jeffrey Eugenides introduces the lives of several young men and their obsession with the Lisbon sisters. The second person narrator took me on a journey that I hadn't been able to foresee -- the gothic feel of the novel has a very special brand of magical realism. Also, the novel is a satire of suburban life in the seventies. Which means that it contains the kind of dark humor that I love in literature. Even though there are some unanswered mysteries in this novel, it still sucks you in and doesn't let go until you are appalled by the chilling descriptions and makes you smile because of its sharp wit and humor. I haven't seen the film based on this book, but I am sure that it doesn't compare to the book. I highly recommend that you read this.
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Summary: Spine tingling stuff - this book will stay with me forever
Review: I loved this book and could hardly put it down. I must admit, I hadn't heard of it before I saw the movie a few weeks ago. I loved the movie too. Ten minutes in and I was hooked. Although I would not usually recommend seeing a movie before reading a book, I could at least picture all 5 gorgeous Lisbon girls as individuals, having seen the movie first. The book didn't give me any more answers than the movie did, but it explored things a bit deeper, which I was desperate to do after seeing the movie. I guess the thing about suicide is that there are never any answers for those that are left behind. And no one can ever really get inside someone else's head and know what they are going through, so the fact that the whole story was watching these girls from across the street through a grimy window was just that - symbolic. I loved all the symbolism in this story and it is one of those rare books that will stay in my memory and haunt me forever. I read at least a book a week and I can honestly say that on average only about 2 books a year affect me like this one has. And this is the only one this year that has done that to me. I loved everything about it and would thoroughly recommend it.
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Summary: Dispairingly Disappointing
Review: Delving into this book, I expected much more from it than what I got. I expected it to be morose and a bit dimented- I had heard such rave reviews, I expected a better understanding of the grief suffered by the suicidal as well as family and friends. Because I have lost a close friend to this tragedy, I expected to be able to somewhat relate to family and friends of the girls- This didn't happen. I more felt that the author was familiar with what a 'textbook suicide' was about- than really understanding such devastating and demoralizing sadness, anger and confusion that goes along with this tragedy. The story was an interesting one, we know from the beginning what the outcome will be and I didn't see much point for the wasted pages in between. I thought the story development was poor and there wasn't a single character I could really 'feel'. The sisters seemed so underdevoloped that it was hard for me to keep track of who was who and who did what. Much attention was paid to Lux and Cecilia and little to the other sisters. In fact, I think I better knew the callous mother than Mary, Bonnie or the other sister whose name slips my mind. I didn't expect a window into the suicidal mind, but I also didn't expect such lack of emotion. It just said the family was shutdown more so than it was before. The author confused me at times because in the introduction of the family- before the first suicide; he gave the family the image of overall dispair. It gave the overall family picture one of drearness from the day the girls were born. Later in the story the author seemed to try to paint a picture of 'happy and gay' family times- but he never explained when these times occured. I think sometimes, people are to quick to dubb something morbid, masterful; maybe to appear that they have a better understanding of something complex. The overall feeling I got from the book was dispassionate. The attitudes towards the final act seemed one of indifference. The book to me, seemed more about the boys obsession with the girls, than their troubles, the suicides or dealing with such turmoil. Perhaps a better (and less misleading title) would have been "Our Virgin Obsession"
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Summary: A little disappointing
Review: With a title like "The Virgin Suicides," I expected this book to be so much more than it actually was. The question is never if the girls will commit suicide, it's when and how. When the when and how finally came, I found myself dissatisfied. I was expecting much more out of the concept. That said, what Eugenides does do is very well-written. I truly felt for the Lisbon girls and how overwhelmingly sheltered they were. Still, I must add that I was a little annoyed in how he portrayed them as a whole. He emphasizes how the girls all seem alike to the neighborhood boys, yet the story of the Lisbon girls really centers around Lux. I feel that he should have either made them all an enigma or gone into detail with each girl instead of focusing on Lux. Overall, I felt like this book had a great concept, great build-up, great description, and then . . . nothing. The climax is more of an anticlimax. Maybe if I had known more about these girls, I would have felt more deeply when they finally killed themselves. As it is, I looked upon it with apathy.
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Summary: unique story
Review: A friend recommended this book to me after racing through it in just a couple of days. I picked it up with fairly low expectations . . . Turns out that it is an excellent story that kept me riveted the entire way through. Told from the point of view of a teenage boy and his friends gave the story the foundation it needed. The boys were obsessed with the Lisbon girls as only teenage boys can be. . . but the story is being told as the boys are older adults . . . years after the suicides. This provides the story a healthy mix of teenage gidiness and adult melancholiness and brooding. As most have mentioned, the Lisbon girls don't differ too much from each other with maybe the exception of Lux, the succubus, the sexual adventuress. She seems to spearhead the questions that arise in the reader's mind about what kind of abuse these girls were subjected to over the years. The parents themselves I found to be the most interesting of all, especially Mr. Lisbon. There are a few points in the story where Mr. Lisbon displays a deep inner conflict over the girls. . . like when Trip asks him to take Lux to the dance, "I'll take it up with their mother . . . see what I can do", he finally says. I got the feeling that he knew that the environment the girls were living in was not healthy, but he knew he was not strong enough to do anything about it. In summary, great story, highly recommend
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Summary: cofusing obssesion
Review: This novel was a completly confusing piece of literature. Even though Euginide's uses simple language, the plot is baffling. The five confused sister's weave a web of misery around the lifes of a bunch of neighborhood guys. These men sickly grow up obssesed with them and do such strange things as keeping their hair brushes and buying their favorite gum 20 years later. what??? dont their wives, girlfriends, or signifacant others find this slightly disturbing? I know I definatly would. what a bunch of freaks! The character development lacks severly since i fail to almost see a distinction between each of the five Lisbon girls. Do yourself a favor rent the movie I havent seen it yet but its probably just as good.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book
Review: I loved this book, it was very cryptic yet tells the whole story of the 5 young girls who killed themselves. Although I liked this book, at the end I don't know if they did what they did from depression(which is actually very serious)or because there sis did. I think that aspect could have been more touched on. I would recomend this book, but if you want a better book about depression try Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel.
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