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A review by meghan111
The Virgins by Pamela Erens
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.