Currently reading
Alex
The Glass Room
Peter the Great: His Life and World
If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children
Skin Deep
The Good Daughter
A Boy in Winter
The Tie That Binds
The Idiot (Everyman's Library, #254)
The Velvet Hours
The Virgin Suicides
Wow! Bizarre and Haunting are the words that come to mind on finishing The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides .The story is set in 1970s Suburbia. The Virgin Suicides tells the story of the Lisbon family. Told through the eyes of the neighbourhood boys who are obsessed with the five teenage sisters and they relate to the reader the tragic events that lead up the the suicides of the 5 Lisbon Girls.
I have been pondering how how to write this review for the past 24 hours as I had so many feelings while and after reading this novel. When I started reading this story I was intrigued by the Lisbon family and found it difficult to put this book down, my feelings then turned to frustration as I wanted to get to know the characters as individuals and found myself looking for information that was not there. I wanted so much more from this novel and perceived early on that author was just not going to give it to to me the easy way. I found the writing and prose excellent and really made this novel a pleasure to read.
I learned half ways through the novel that this book was about so much more than answers and found myself easily adapting to weirdness of the tale. I enjoyed the pace of the story and loved how the story was narrated in the first person plural by the neighbourhood boys and this is what made the novel so compelling for me.
I would love to have read this book as a book club read as it is the sort of book that would make excellent discussion. I think only in a group discussion would I finally find the answers I am looking for!
Would I recommend this novel to all of my friends. No! as this is one of those books that I think you should decide for yourself if you want to read. I will say it is not a depressing book but it is Bizarre and haunting.
