Review by coralinejones - The Virgin Suicides

3.0

(Edit: Additional thoughts).

Nah.

Pros:

Love the descriptions of 1970s suburban living. I can't relate to the Lisbon girls and their version of girlhood. I was not, and still am not, very feminine, but I can appreciate their little quirks and attributes as I'm positive there's some realism to be found in those descriptions. Listening to rock, hanging your bras up to dry, sneak-smoking in your bedroom, hairbrushes, nail polish, etc, etc. Just as an aesthetic alone I understand why people cling to these portrayals so heavily.
It was quite a ride to read such avid seclusion of their daughters as well. Mrs. Lisbon, you're a monster in my eyes.
Cecelia's chapter was a high point. I found chapter one to be the most interesting aspects of this novel. It was one of the only times where the outsider perspective didn't cause me to vomit in my mouth. I felt very upset for her, and the Lisbon family, and it made me want to continue reading the book. I even mentioned whilst reading the first chapter that I already enjoyed it more than the adaptation even seems to love so much.
(I think) there's a bit of discourse here about religion and secluding your kids so heavily from society; making it out that it's for their own good whilst ruining them in the process. If I'm correct, I enjoy the think pieces that stem from this.

Cons:

Everything else.
I absolutely hate the fact that this book is told through the perspective of these naive, childish, obsessive young boys. I do understand what the author was trying to do there, and at times, I do think it came across pretty well; I think part of the "allure" (for lack of better term) of this novel is how uncomfortable it makes you feel, and how you just have to sit with it. Suicide is not a comfortable conversation, especially when it relates to a bunch of religious young girls with so much ahead of them. But to see it from their point of view, and how they come across as unreliable narrators, also makes you... in a way... obsessed with the girls? At least wanting to know the truth, wanting to know so much more than what the boys tell you.
Which is something I also cannot stand. I wish we had spent more time with the Lisbon family. Actual, in detail, explorations of their life. I wish we got more of the girls that wasn't just the boys sniffing their panties and drooling over their tampons, so to speak.
I hate that we have no clue why they killed themselves. Makes this whole novel feel pointless.