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rookjupiter's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
crimsoncor's review against another edition
3.0
Fascinating construction of the novel, with an unreliable narrator who tells the story as if omniscient. What is actually true? Why should you believe his telling? And it very much captures the uncertainty and confusion of high school sexuality, especially when smothered in the pressure cooker of a boarding school (I never went to boarding school, but did plenty of sleep-away camps and yup, recognize the energy). The decision to set it in the 70s peels away all the modern stuff that has made adolescence even more fraught these days and lets the book concentrate on the relationships between the characters. Agree with the reviews that don't really like any of the characters (although I found Seung to be very sympathetic), but I don't think that detracts from the story the book is telling.
exdebris's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
danipanini's review against another edition
It was pretty okay until i lost interest and tbh i just really wanted to skip to the ending but my good conscience could not
Maybe ill pick it up in the future again. Maybe.
Maybe ill pick it up in the future again. Maybe.
meghan111's review against another edition
3.0
3.5+. Taking place in 1979 at an elite boarding school, this book elegantly captures adolescent sexuality in a story that reminded me of [b:The Virgin Suicides|10956|The Virgin Suicides|Jeffrey Eugenides|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1319032910s/10956.jpg|812415] by Jeffrey Eugenides and [b:Prep|9844|Prep|Curtis Sittenfeld|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1320501476s/9844.jpg|2317177] by Curtis Sittenfeld]. Narrated by an envious male classmate, the book describes an unlikely senior couple: Aviva, a new student from the Midwest who dresses in lots of jewelry, makeup and low-cut sweaters to draw attention to herself, although beneath the surface she worries about being invisible, and Seung, a Korean-American kid from New Jersey, who after being bullied in middle school has emerged as a popular, athletic, good-looking high schooler. Seung and Aviva have a magnetic and passionate relationship, as described by the narrator, full of PDA and flouting of the strict rules about visiting the dorm rooms of the opposite sex. But what is their relationship really like?
The narrator of this book is what gives it complexity - he's somewhat obsessed with Aviva, after they kiss once at the beginning of the school year, he later assaults her, and the reader is reminded at several points that the events he's describing have been exaggerated by his speculation about what really happened behind closed doors, and in many cases he must just be guessing about what was going on.
The narrator of this book is what gives it complexity - he's somewhat obsessed with Aviva, after they kiss once at the beginning of the school year, he later assaults her, and the reader is reminded at several points that the events he's describing have been exaggerated by his speculation about what really happened behind closed doors, and in many cases he must just be guessing about what was going on.
amr316's review against another edition
4.0
I’m torn. On one hand, the end of this book was haunting and has kept me thinking about it even after I finished the last page. On the other hand, aspects of this book were intensely frustrating.
Let’s start with the frustrating parts. Erens relies heavily on lazy ethnic and racial stereotypes: the Jewish girl is wealthy but has superficial and uninvolved parents, the Korean boy is taught to be self effacing and submissive, the blond WASP is too dumb to get into boarding school on his own accord. Maybe Erens was trying to reference the lazy stereotypes of the 70s, but this aspect fell flat.
Even more frustrating was the fact that I couldn’t understand why any of the characters made the choices they did. Why did Aviva have an eating disorder? Why did Seong experience sexual dysfunction? Why was Bruce so obsessed with Aviva, to the point that he egged on Seong to his death? None of it really made sense to me - mostly because so little inner dialogue was shared with the reader.
What I did appreciate, though, was the suffocating nature of the boarding school so perfectly encapsulated - plus the way the author made us frustrated at Seong and Aviva for always somehow avoiding trouble. It made me almost relieved when they got in trouble in the end. This was well-done on Erens’ part.
I wish we’d had fewer stereotypes and more character development, but overall, this is a well written book.
Let’s start with the frustrating parts. Erens relies heavily on lazy ethnic and racial stereotypes: the Jewish girl is wealthy but has superficial and uninvolved parents, the Korean boy is taught to be self effacing and submissive, the blond WASP is too dumb to get into boarding school on his own accord. Maybe Erens was trying to reference the lazy stereotypes of the 70s, but this aspect fell flat.
Even more frustrating was the fact that I couldn’t understand why any of the characters made the choices they did. Why did Aviva have an eating disorder? Why did Seong experience sexual dysfunction? Why was Bruce so obsessed with Aviva, to the point that he egged on Seong to his death? None of it really made sense to me - mostly because so little inner dialogue was shared with the reader.
What I did appreciate, though, was the suffocating nature of the boarding school so perfectly encapsulated - plus the way the author made us frustrated at Seong and Aviva for always somehow avoiding trouble. It made me almost relieved when they got in trouble in the end. This was well-done on Erens’ part.
I wish we’d had fewer stereotypes and more character development, but overall, this is a well written book.
btaplin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
chrisbiss's review against another edition
3.5
Really gorgeous writing and feels like it owes a lot to Lolita in places. Some things the narrator couldn't possibly have known, which ruined it for me a little - was it all just his fantasy?
eveningreader's review against another edition
4.0
Bruce Bennett-Jones is haunted by something in his past, this time the romantic relationship between two classmates, Aviva Rossner and Seung Jung, at a New England boarding school in the late 1970s. The book moves between a third-person omniscient narrator and Bennett-Jones reminiscing in first person about what he remembers or has learned about the couple over the years since graduation. In some respect, he is an active participant in the tragedy that finally befalls the young lovers near the end of the novel, and it’s clear that he still finds their relationship—and his involvement in it—both mystifying and captivating. The Virgins reminded me very much of Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending, and not to cheat, but I think what I said in that review holds true for this novel as well: “I think we all have people from our pasts, people whom we may no longer keep in touch with or who may be gone, people we may not have ever been close to, really, in the first place, but who still hold sway over our memories, who still seem larger than life to us. It’s strange to think how people can stay trapped in our memories like insects in amber, forever frozen as who they were…” The Sense of an Ending had a certain wit about it. Bennett-Jones is more clear-eyed than that story’s narrator about who he is and his role in things, and this lack of self-deception (even if he doesn’t really understand why he acted as he did) is what lends The Virgins a much more melancholy tone.