suicide isn't the happiest of topics. the suicides of five sisters is even less pleasant. how do you recommend a book to someone on such a grim topic? easy: just read it. what eugenides does so well is capture the mystery of secluded sisters, as seen through the eyes of neighborhood boys. this is important in reading the novel. it's not necessarily the lisbon sisters' story, but rather the boys' story, and how the suicides affected them all the way into adulthood (the boys are now men and they r [...]

I simply didn't get this book. I was so desperate to find hidden meaning in it, but there was nothing. Why waste so much paper and ink on something so overtly pretentious and so utterly meaningless? A group of oppressed sisters kill themselves after flirting with the neighborhood boys. How horrible that it happened in the middle of suburban America, where white picket fences are supposed to render such neighborhoods impermeable to tragic teenage death. In the end, all I got from this book was th [...]

This book is like a preface, where the real book never feels like it begins. Endless foreshadowing mixed in with various teenage boy obsessions about what a home with five daughters must entailxes and boxes of tampons, etc. I couldn't wait for these girls to kill themselves just so the book would be over.

5/5Tenía ganas de dejar un poco de lado la literatura juvenil, así que decidí coger esta novela que llevaba un tiempo llamándome desde mis estanterías. Qué sorpresa que se haya convertido en uno de los mejores libros que he leído, pero pocos tienen la magia de la que bien puede alardear esta novela. Si tuviera que describir Las vírgenes suicidas con una palabra, ésa sería sin duda "intensa". No sé si fue cosa de la narración, o la necesidad de conocer qué desencadenó la secuencia d [...]

For me, what makes this novel different from those that I’ve read so far is the narrator’s voice: first person plural and the brilliant way Jeffrey Eugenides (born 1960) made use of it. Since the story is about 5 teenage sisters and the narrators were interested on them, readers presumed that they were narrating from the viewpoint of schoolboys with raging hormones and think of sex almost every hour of the day. Until the last sentence when Eugenides revealed that the narrators are already mi [...]

Where to begin. I have read some of the reviews of others who did not care for or get this book. I admit that the plot/storyline, though unique, is not what makes this story great--it's the prose. The writing is luminous and reads more like poetry than a novel. We don't even know exactly who the narrators are--it is narrated in first person plural and the name and even number of narrators is left vague. Eugenides uses metaphor to describe the deaths of the sisters as the disintegration of a subu [...]

Honestly, I really wanted to fall in love with this. I've long been aware of its status as a cult classic and many people I know, as well as people I don't know but whose taste seems to correspond closely with mine, have professed to adore it. So I feel a bit uncomfortable about revealing that I disliked it - I'll admit, I have been guilty of judging people a bit if I see they've slated a book I really love, and this seems to be a book that has a lot of meaning for many readers - but, there you [...]

Wow, you knew that this guy was the real deal after all.I see this as a perfect segue to his masterpiece "Middlesex". It's simple, it's sad, it is capital I Intriguing. The first novel always announces the author's intentions for those that come next, and Eugenides loves the themes of adolescence in all its tragic shortcomings. The Lisbon girls are monoliths to the nameless suitors who do nothing else but speculate about them and become passionate voyeurs. They do nothing to save them; they only [...]

So disappointed with this book.I do not understand why it is raved about so much I thought it was so shit. It was a quick read admitted but even so it bored the hell out of me.Couldnt get my head round the characters

I don't even really know what to say. I think maybe a few people are going to be disappointed that I didn't give this five stars, and I mean, I'm upset that it wasn't five stars either, but hear me out.The thing I liked the most about this book is the perspective. We're learning about 5 girls who commit suicide and we NEVER hear anything substantial from any of the sisters? It was genius. The way this book was written is brilliant. Honestly, every couple of pages I would think to myself "When Je [...]

I couldn't put this book down. It's not very long, and I'd been meaning to read it for years after hearing some great things about it. So I managed to get through it in a couple flights I took this week. It's utterly captivating; Eugenides's use of the choral narrative voice was unlike anything I've read before and the descriptions and dreamy and compelling. It has its moments of melodrama but those are balanced by the utterly mundane aspects of these characters' lives too. I feel like I need to [...]

So much better the second time around (and I loved it the first, so)Gorgeous, creepy. A suburban mythology. At first, I couldn't shake images from the film, which I thought might detract from really appreciating it as a novel, but in the end it didn't. I think that's because I realized Sofia Coppola had done a remarkable job adapting the text. I mean, holy shit, it's pretty much perfect. Such a moody novel with sparse dialogue, but what is there, is so right on (and often funny) GUSHHHH.Somethin [...]

La verdad es que me he pensado darle esta nota. En lo que llevo de año las novelas que han tenido la puntuación máxima han sido más bien pocas, y es en parte porque me quise exigir un poco más y ser más duro con mis reseñas. Pero Las vírgenes suicidas lo ha conseguido. Podría decir que me la he leído en un día, pues desde la página 41 a la 230 han sido apenas unas pocas horas de viaje. Pero han parecido meses. Y esa es la magia de la novela. La narración es espectacular, con un esti [...]

Sometimes, you just know when you have found a truly great novelist and Jeffrey Eugenides is one such novelist. I initially rated this book four stars but no, it deserves a five star rating . And where have I been since 1999? On some desert island? How did I not possibly know of this wonderful gem of a book? Mr Eugenides has shot onto my favourite author list and I've ordered Middlesex and The Marriage Plot from my bookseller.This is a haunting, dreamlike, atmospheric and raw novel. Told from th [...]

Me habían advertido que lo de Eugenides era cosa seria. Que cuando leías sus novelas te sentías parte de ellas, con una sensación de empatía indirecta, fría e incómoda. Bueno, a todos los que me dieron eso, les digo que me sentí igual que ustedes, como todo un personaje más de la trama. Gracias por el dato, fellas.Lo más atractivo de la novela es la trama, el estilo y la narración. No los personajes, no el entorno, no los acontecimientos posteriores, no. De hecho, de una u otra manera [...]

The Virgin Suicides is one of those books that you wish you could erase from your memory after finishing just so you can experience it all over again. Jeffrey Eugenides has the unique ability to transform a very simple story into one of complete beauty. Suicide isn't the most pleasant of topics, especially when it's the suicide of five adolescents, but Eugenides writes it so well that it is impossible not to appreciate it. He blends just enough dark humor in to keep it tasteful and incorporates [...]

I really loved the way this story was delivered, told from the point of view of the neighbourhood boys who have an obsessive fascination for the five Lisbon sisters who all succumb to suicide. It sounds utterly depressing and it is, but the way it's told it really captures the essence of adolescence yearnings, of unattainable fascinations of the elusive repressed sheltered Lisbon girls. The writing is as beautiful as the sisters, the story travels quickly almost without pause and you get really [...]

Juro solemnemente no volver a leer nada más del autor. Ha sido insufrible leer esta novela. Definitivamente no es para mi. Se me hizo eterna, tantas descripciones, tantos detalles sin sentido, personajes que aparecían en una escena y nunca más eran nombrados, una cantidad de nombres innecesaria, datos que no aportaban nada a la historia (como por ejemplo la forma que tenía cada vecino de barrer las hojas en otoño). 😐La historia no era tan mala, pero el autor me hizo odiarla con su forma [...]

Que decirFue una lectura relativamente rápida, sin embargo, tiene un trasfondo emocional bastante denso, el suicidio de las hermanas Lisbon, visto desde la perspectiva de los mocosos, psicólogos,doctores, vecinos, los padres de las chicas, me hubiese gustado conocer de ellas por su voz, cuales eran sus pensamientos, sueños, ilusiones, cual era su sentir, la estrecha relación como hermanas que tenían, no por otras personas que solo suponían sus acciones, sin embargo lo entiendo ya que eso e [...]

The Virgin Suicides made me think about what exactly the word 'classic' means when it comes to books (spoiler: I still don't know). I discovered it was first published in 1993 only after I had chosen it to be my eleventh classic of the year. I'd never considered before that one would've been published in my lifetime, but according to , many other people have shelved it as 'classic' also. It also has that modern classic feel to it. It seems that everybody has read it or has heard of it yet it's n [...]

"With most people," he said, "suicide is like Russian roulette. Only one chamber has a bullet. With the Lisbon girls, the gun was loaded. A bullet for family abuse. A bullet for genetic predisposition. A bullet for historical malaise. A bullet for inevitable momentum. The other two bullets are impossible to name, but that doesn't mean the chambers were empty."This was a strange read for me, yet still managed to be… I wouldn’t say enjoyable. Maybe intriguing is more like it. This book filled [...]

You're either gonna think this is really boring, or really solid.

Prose style: 4Plot: 3Depth of characters: 5Overall sense of aesthetic: 4Originality: 5Entertaining: 5Emotional Reaction: 5 Intellectual Stimulation: 4 Social Relevance: 4Writerly Inspiration: 2 Average = 4.1 Click hereI picked this up on something of a whim from the library, audiobook format. Because what the heck? I wanted to mix it up a bit. Because besides my tendency to zone out while listening, it's fun to listen to someone tell you a story isn't it?I was scanning the aisle of worn-out plas [...]

I let out an audible sigh of relief when I finished this last night. Finally, it's over. It just wasn't my book. The writing was good, that's what the two stars are for, but the story just BORED me. It would NOT end. Ugh.

"When she jumped, she probably thought she'd fly."The Virgin Suicides, on the surface, promises to be a sad, morbid tale of teen suicide – The Lisbon girls, the eldest being 17, kill themselves over a span of thirteen months. But Eugenides constructs the story so peculiarly that the conventional reaction you expect to have goes flying out the window. The content is depressing. Yet it’s treated in a way that makes it seem surreal and magical, almost romantic, and even darkly funny at times.I� [...]

re-read #3, completed on November 7th, 2017 heartbreaking and powerful as alwaysre-read #2, completed on October 9th, 2016 I ADORE this book. The story is tragic and sad but so beautiful. I love the writing and the narration. I have never re-read a book this many times and I still wanna re-read it. I managed to catch some more things I didn't catch before. The characters in this book are so well developed. This book has so much depth to it and I love it to pieces.If you can read books about diff [...]

E, is for Eugenides.4 StarsSuicide is one of the most IMPOSSIBLE subjects to view subjectively. Everyone has their theories on it, their opinions and no matter how hard we may ever try we will NEVER truly understand the mindset of those who choose to take their own lives. The Virgin Suicides is NOT a novel about the act of suicide, in truth, it is a story about coping with suicide. Of attempting to comprehend the moments which led to the act and whether there was something, ANYTHING, that could [...]

Wow!Bizarre and Hauntingare 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 w [...]

Loved Middlesex, this one was just okay The writing was good, but I just felt so bad for the girls and am just left with a big WHY???

A caveat: I've not read Jeffery Eugenides novel The Virgin Suicides since 1999. I did watch the film soon after, and that movie is a dullish carbon copy of the book (of course, this is all subjective like how one song gets to one person and inspires nothing in another). Put that way it was like I'd read it twice, I guess. My memory isn't always reliable. I don't feel particularly teenagerish in the memory of reading, though. Maybe 'cause I've carried it along with me over the years. (I didn't ev [...]