A review by toffishay
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

As a lifelong Michigander, it was high time that I read this book that so often makes listicles for the quintessential "Michigan Gothic". I can certainly see how it fits the bill. The premise of five young girls trapped in a house becoming more and more isolated from their crumbling suburban community and losing hope for a future until they all commit suicide is extremely Gothic. The premise is that the story is being told years later by a group of men who were obsessed with with Lisbon girls when they were all younger, back when the suicides happened. They have collected evidence, memorabilia, and stories from anything and anyone who was even a little connected to the girls. The need that the men have to collect and analyze everything about them is an analysis and criticism of the ways that boys idealize girls, seeing them as pretty objects so separate from themselves, but ultimately they are all the same. It is an interesting story all about decline, death, the loss of ourselves and our communities. 

I think that the story loses me not in the plot, but in the pacing. It comes out hot out of the gate and then things really slow down after the first two chapters and don't pick up again until the very end. I also think that the characterization of some of the girls suffers from the short length and that the space that is used is to add color to that world. Setting the scene is important of course and makes the characters feel more real, but I would have liked a little more insight into some of the older Lisbon daughters like Therese, Mary, and Bonnie. Cecilia and Lux are interesting, but I would have liked a deeper dive all around.

If I were to compare it, it does put me in a mind frame of Don Delillo's White Noise. I don't like The Virgin Suicides quite that much, but I do think that they have similar themes of the decline of the white American suburban ideal, the falseness behind it all. 
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