Book Ten: The Virgin Suicides
Book Count: Ten
Title: The Virgin Suicides
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 256
Synopsis: In an unnamed town in the slightly distant past, detailed in such precise and limpid prose that readers will surely feel that they grew up there, Cecilia - the youngest and most obviously wacky of the luscious Lisbon girls - finally succeeds in taking her own life. As the confused neighbors watch rather helplessly, the remaining sisters become isolated and unhinged, ending it all in a spectacular multiple suicide anticipated from the first page.
Thoughts: I saw this movie a few years back when it came out, and remember being a little confused at some of the plot and scenario. I figured by reading the book I would have some of my questions answered, and I did, but I have to say that seeing a movie before reading the book totally ruins the experience for me. I had preconceived notions of how people and places looked, which somehow made the book feel a bit constricting to me. I don't blame the book at all, which was excellent, even if the story material was a little out of the ordinary. The author manages to take the very serious topic of suicide and analyze it through his characters, and even somehow seems to justify it towards the end. The author shows the pain, the mystery, and sometimes even the curiosity that teenage suicide causes in its aftermath. Having lost someone close to suicide myself, I could understand a lot of the pain and confusion that the characters went through, and the frustration of never beginging to know why or understand why it happened. This book was a fairly quick and short read, and I'm very much looking forward to reading Jeffrey Eugenides other novel, Middlesex.
