Virgin Suicides

Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Fiction/Literature

The five Lisbon girls live in suburbia Detroit in the seventies. The book is narrated by the group of boys interested in these girls and what occurred. What occurred is that each of the girls committed suicide. The boys go back and try to discover what happened to allow such a tragedy.

The author writes only little snippets of what happened. The boys seem more like stalkers than in sleuths trying to find out why. The parents while portrayed as being very strict don't seem strict at all but just cautious.

I found this read very unsatisfying as nothing is resolved. It is left to the reader and personally was 'beyond' me. It appears to me that the author was very interested in writing the first part of the book and then lost his way or couldn't really figure out the ending either.

First Line: "On the morning the last Lisbon daughter took her turn at suicides - it was Mary this time, and sleeping pills, like Therese - the two paramedics arrived at the house knowing exactly where the knife drawer was, and the gas oven, and the beam in the basement from which it was possible to tie a rope."

Rating:
(3.0/5)