Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

20 reviews

alyssapusateri's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Death, Suicide, Child death, Stalking, and Self harm

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Blood, Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, and Cursing

Minor: Eating disorder, Rape, Racial slurs, Ableism, Racism, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, and Physical abuse

wannabe_lee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Confinement, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Self harm, Child death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

absolute_gemma's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicide

Moderate: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

paralanguage's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Medical content, Mental illness, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Sexism

molly_greenshields's review against another edition

challenging emotional 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? It's complicated

3.5

The title of this book should perhaps have forewarned me of its brutality... but alas, I was blindsided by the beautiful cover (thanks Picador). I can't honestly decide how I feel about The Virgin Suicides... on the one hand, I found myself hooked by what was perhaps one of the best examples of an unreliable narrator I've ever seen done (I *truly* hated those boys... although, what's new?). On the other hand, I did find myself feeling physically sick a whole awful lot (perhaps not totally surprising). Personally, I don't think I should have picked up a book that deals with this topic in such a blasé way, as it was really difficult for me to stomach the romanticisation and sensationalising of suicide (albeit in a sarcastic manner... I get that that was the point, I just didn't like it). Having said that, I do think Eugenides' prose is powerful and worth a read if this isn't something that you'd struggle with.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Gore, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Pregnancy

ptitirodactyle's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, Stalking, Child death, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Self harm

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Medical content, Drug use, Pedophilia, Alcohol, and Pregnancy

withlivjones's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? It's complicated

2.5

I really wanted to enjoy this book. The premise is intriguing and the prose is very well-written, but overall this book is just about a group of grown men looking back at and obsessing over five teenage girls who were very clearly suffering, and that made it very difficult to get through. 

Eugenides’ writing style is very poetic. His descriptions so vividly convey the setting of seventies suburbia, where everyone seems to know everyone else. The Lisbon house itself, and its gradual and inevitable decay that mirrors the decay of the family inside, is also very well described. The use of the first person plural pronoun “we” as the narrator is an interesting and bold choice but is excellently handled and gives a clear sense of the mob mentality of the neighbourhood boys (who later become men). While many of them are named and described as individuals, by using “we” they blend into a sort of homogenous group that parallels how they see the Lisbon sisters. 

However, the vivid descriptions take up the bulk of the novel to the extent that the story moves painfully slowly, to the point where I had been waiting for the rest of the suicides to occur for so long that I was almost relieved when they did. It even could have been cut down to an excellent short story, but as it is the prose is rather difficult to get through and there are so many unnecessary tangents where the timeline confusingly switches between past when the girls’ suicides happen and present when the now fully grown men are investigating them. Furthermore, the extent that these poor girls have been put on a pedestal by these men (who barely knew them, merely watched them from afar!) over years (decades, even) of morbid obsession made me deeply uncomfortable. It seems to romanticise their mental illnesses in a rather dangerous way. 

I can appreciate the fact that this book has some very well-written prose, but in the end is just wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Moderate: Ableism, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

pastelbanana1's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Self harm, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcohol and Pregnancy

Minor: Racial slurs and Ableism

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

“We realized that the world [our parents] rendered for us was not the one they really believed in.“
The Virgin Suicides is a book set amidst the backdrop of mundane suburban life, where a community is forever changed by the suicides of five sisters. Told in first person plural (the male gaze), readers are pulled into the mystery and obsession which will haunt the boys for years to come.
I never expected to enjoy this book so much, much less find it a new favorite. But the compelling writing and dark undertones made it difficult to put down. The story of the Lisbon girls (told through every perspective except their own) is one which I will never forget.
I would definitely recommend (though take time to consider when this was written and the aspects which have not aged well, and please check trigger warnings before reading)!
*I would also recommend watching the movie after, it’s iconic and generation defining!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Mental illness, Medical content, Blood, Self harm, Medical trauma, and Ableism

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

icarusandthesun's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.0

horrible book - extremely boring, no real plot, long unimportant descriptions and uninteresting details. i'm very angry and very disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Blood, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Alcohol, Medical content, and Pregnancy