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A review by afroheaux
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
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
4.25
I finished this book in one sitting. It was a wonderful and strange ride. I did read it before, about five years ago. I remember loving the style of writing, but not truly absorbing the book itself and its contents. With this read, I can see the girls so clearly and I don't understand why when I read this book earlier (and watched the movie which I also love), I didn't understand why the girls acted the way that they did. I almost found myself agreeing with the final paragraphs of the book because I couldn't put my finger on the reasoning for the events of the book. I was taking the hive teenage boy brain's opinion as my own. Now that I've studied more history, crime, and psychology, I was able to see the situation for what it was.
It's a group of men speaking as their teenage selves as they dive into what has become their life's mystery to solve: the suicides of the Lisbon sisters. Do note that this is a mid to late 1970s teenage boy's brain. There's a lot of misogyny in here as well as instances of boys doing insane shit due to their obsession with the sisters. Their "investigation" is only possible because they stalked them. Be prepared to hear racist, classist, and overall dated language. People of color are not treated as human beings in most scenes in this book, black people especially.
The absurdity and obsessive nature of these boys are also part of the appeal for me. It's so raw. The depth of the descriptions of the mundanity of it all amongst the chaos of being a teenager. They do not spare you their teenage thoughts or strange happenings. I would give it five stars, but I can only give so much to a man's account of five teenage girls. Their analysis was naive and misguided, sometimes cruel and insulting. The way they marveled over the girls but were also seemingly hopeless to save them from their fate. You watch a family of abused children and a controlling mother come apart before your eyes even though the narrators are not describing it as such. The girls are more mirages than anything else, molding into whatever piles of pillows the boys had laying next to them.
For example, when Trip has sex with Lux on the football field and she starts crying, he recalls later how he instantly was done with his obsession with her. The moment she was a human being before in him, in the flesh, the fantasy could no longer continue. I can't imagine how that must've felt for Lux. This person who was dogged in their pursuit of you, who you thought could find some solace in after years of isolation, turns away the moment you show yourself to him. Was it any wonder she wanted to lose herself in anyone who looked her way? When you think about what those girls were going through in that house, it's overwhelming to digest.
The boys say their decision was selfish, but it was the only option they saw that was good for them. They were being left to rot by a mother who didn't want to take care of them anymore. Yet at the same time refused to let them live any other way. A way that could've saved their lives. It's a heartbreaking story about what happens when parents don't let children be human.
"We just want to live. If anyone would let us. ” - Therese Lisbon
It's a group of men speaking as their teenage selves as they dive into what has become their life's mystery to solve: the suicides of the Lisbon sisters. Do note that this is a mid to late 1970s teenage boy's brain. There's a lot of misogyny in here as well as instances of boys doing insane shit due to their obsession with the sisters. Their "investigation" is only possible because they stalked them. Be prepared to hear racist, classist, and overall dated language. People of color are not treated as human beings in most scenes in this book, black people especially.
The absurdity and obsessive nature of these boys are also part of the appeal for me. It's so raw. The depth of the descriptions of the mundanity of it all amongst the chaos of being a teenager. They do not spare you their teenage thoughts or strange happenings. I would give it five stars, but I can only give so much to a man's account of five teenage girls. Their analysis was naive and misguided, sometimes cruel and insulting. The way they marveled over the girls but were also seemingly hopeless to save them from their fate. You watch a family of abused children and a controlling mother come apart before your eyes even though the narrators are not describing it as such. The girls are more mirages than anything else, molding into whatever piles of pillows the boys had laying next to them.
The boys say their decision was selfish, but it was the only option they saw that was good for them. They were being left to rot by a mother who didn't want to take care of them anymore. Yet at the same time refused to let them live any other way. A way that could've saved their lives. It's a heartbreaking story about what happens when parents don't let children be human.
"We just want to live. If anyone would let us. ” - Therese Lisbon
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, and Suicide attempt