Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

91 reviews

spooky_snoopy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

A lot of imagery, I would re-read it due to the detailed descriptions adding to the story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Child death, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Blood, Classism, and Confinement

Minor: Alcohol

maiahhtratchh's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book kept me on the edge of the seat and was very mysterious giving nothing away even at the end. It has a great commentary on American culture including purity culture, religion, and girlhood all experienced through the voyeuristic lens of the male gaze, specifically teenage boys. How they viewed the Lisbon girls and their inability to truly see them or want to actively help them had my skin crawling which  is the point. The Lisbon girls exist on page only as two dimensional characters who, unbeknownst to the boys, are crying out for help. However these nuances play out do subtly on the page that only a true understanding of the Lisbon girls can be understood if you were, at  one point, a Lisbon girl. After reading I scoured the internet for essays, videos, and fanfics that were able to put my scrambled and shocked thoughts into a concise narrative but I have only found small pieces spread throughout it. If you were a big English Literature kid who loves to look for the deeper meanings this book is for you. A point was taken off for unnecessary racism and racial slurs which took me out of the story immensely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Child death, Suicide attempt, Death, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Grief, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Minor: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, and Emotional abuse

avasbookmark's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, and Confinement

Minor: Racial slurs and Ableism

mjones14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was a really interesting book. The prose mirrors the style of 'on earth we are briefly gorgeous' in being poeticly written. Unfortunately, it is a victim of its time with several outdated stereotypes, however I still enjoyed it overall

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Confinement

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Eating disorder and Religious bigotry

alicelalicon's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

lyktestolpe's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Beautifully written but frustrating. I feel like I didn’t fully «get» it. None of the characters got to be real characters, and this was probably the author’s intention, commenting on American suburbia in a specific moment in time as a collective consciousness/organism obsessed with the girls existing somewhere on the margins. Pretty cool in its own way and it felt meaningful, but definitely hard to connect to when there’s no real main character(s) to grow attached to, and hard to differentiate most of the girls.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Ableism

Moderate: Sexual content, Confinement, and Sexism

mandalily's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Confinement, Child abuse, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

uncleasa's review against another edition

3.0

this book is way Way overhyped in my humble opinion. 
it had its moments a few times, and it definitely has a certain vibe that im guessing is the selling point to people who love it but. overall as a whole it just sucks in my opinion
which i am not shocked about, at the end of the day it Is a white man attempting to write about the deep and intimate lives and struggles of teenage girls, and from white boys perspectives no less so.
been wanting to read it and now read it for a challenge but i was disappointed and its unlikely i'll ever reread.
also didnt like the slurs but thats just something you have to live with when reading older books unfortunately (even tho this isnt even That old yk. but whatever)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Suicide, Ableism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement

grace_madeleine's review against another edition

4.0

the depiction of young girls and the young boys who secretly covet and worship them are so intriguingly accurate portrayed in this way. Although I see the criticisms of it, along with the fact a man wrote it, it doesn’t make the presentation of how the young, unreliable narrators see these girls who are kept away in a mysterious veil of apparent mysticism according to their young minds inaccurate in any way. While the boys think of them as idealized angels, other accounts describe them as repulsive at times, tracing the ever descriptive nature of youth and the circumstances and time in which these girls live. There is no “female rage” as booktok wants so bad to have, there is only quiet simmering until the conclusion, which we all expect, but when it happens, we are left saddened, feeling like we intimately know these girls, and in the end, it makes us no better than the teenage boys living through the girls vicariously and voyeuristically. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Confinement and Emotional abuse

_rowan_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Suicide, Child abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, and Body horror