The Virgin Suicides

by Jeffrey Eugenides | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 034910543x Global Overview for this book
Registered by blum of Slough, Berkshire United Kingdom on 9/24/2005
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8 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by blum from Slough, Berkshire United Kingdom on Saturday, September 24, 2005
From amazon.co.uk-
Haunting and tender, with brilliant flashes of humour, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES is the story of the disintegration of a captivating American family in 1970s suburban Michigan. The five Lisbon sisters are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who, twenty years on, recall their adolescence: the sisters' gauche but breathtaking appearance on the night of the homecoming dance; the brassière belonging to the beautiful, promiscuous Lux, draped over a crucifix on the wall; the records the boys played down the phone, trying desperately to penetrate the sisters' isolation; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched fragile lives disappear ...

Interesting reading I guess, but one of those books that are quickly read and quickly forgotten.

24th October 2005- Passing on to StoryChaser. Enjoy!!

Journal Entry 2 by StoryChaser from Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Arrived in the post today from blum. Thank you.

Journal Entry 3 by StoryChaser from Waterlooville, Hampshire United Kingdom on Thursday, January 5, 2006
This is a good read, I love the way Jeffrey Eugenides writes, it is poetic and he manages to say a lot with just a few choice words.
I especially like the way the story is told from the boys' perspective and how the tragedy of the suicides effects the whole street.
Offering as a bookray for the Keep Them Moving Release Challenge 2006.

List of participants:

bookmanu Portugal
Jaycee1972 UK
geishabird Canada
staceyinthecity USA
queensknob USA
pyjamas China

Journal Entry 4 by bookmanu from Cascais, Lisboa (distrito) Portugal on Monday, January 16, 2006
Arrived safely in the post today. Thanks StoryChaser!

Looks like a quick read. I read Middlesex by the same author a few months ago. Looking forward to reading this book.

I wasn't expecting to get it so soon,I have 2 bookrings ahead of this one but promise to send it on its way soon.

Journal Entry 5 by bookmanu from Cascais, Lisboa (distrito) Portugal on Sunday, April 2, 2006
Sorry I took so long with this book. I will be mailing it off to Jaycee1972 tomorrow.

I liked this book but I'm not sure why. We don't really know much about the Lisbon sisters and what compelled them to commit suicide. I suppose their mother couldn't have helped much. I agree with the following thoughts taken from another reader's review at amazon.com "All in all, The Virgin Suicides is an excellent book that offers much in nothing. Some complain that it was too short, but this isn't true because the book was long enough for Eugenides to say what he wanted. Some complain that it was a waste of time to read, that's their opinion, but if someone wants a book that will both entertain and make you think, then this is definitely one to read. A good deal of readers are discontented with the lack of motif for the deaths. Perhaps Jeffrey Eugenides wanted the reader to create their own reason for the girls' suicides, or perhaps the reason is a mystery that is meant to be unanswered. "

Journal Entry 6 by Jaycee1972 from Belper, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Monday, April 10, 2006
Received in the post today. Thanks. Looks good. I have another ring to read but will get to this asap.

Journal Entry 7 by Jaycee1972 from Belper, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Tuesday, April 18, 2006
I thought that I would enjoy this book much more than I did. I found it to be quite well written but fairly pointless. You don't get to find out why the girls committed suicide and the obsession of the boys from whose perspective the book is told just seems to wierd to me. It kind of annoyed me a bit that they would refer to exhibits attached as though writing a report because I half expected to find the diary pages or pieces of information in the back of the book and of course they aren't there. I found myself almost skim reading as there seemed to be a lot of words used to say very little at times.

Thank you to storychaser for starting this ring. I am glad I have had the chance to read this even though it isn't really my kind of thing. I have pmed gieshabird for her address.

Journal Entry 8 by Jaycee1972 from Belper, Derbyshire United Kingdom on Saturday, April 22, 2006
Posting today to geishabird.

Journal Entry 9 by geishabird from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Saturday, June 24, 2006
Received this yesterday, thank you! I enjoyed Eugenides' Middlesex and am looking forward to the read.

Journal Entry 10 by geishabird from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, July 5, 2006
A haunting and touching tale. There is much sorrow in here, as well as bewilderment, despair, and grief that just goes around and around in circles, looking unsuccessfully for a way out. Eugenides is a very lyrical writer at times, good at crystalizing unnamable emotional responses. Some of the previous readers seem frustrated that there isn't more "meaning" to the girls' suicides - that Eugenides doesn't provide a clear motive for their actions. However, can there ever be a "good reason" for something like this? Can there ever be a motivation that makes it all make sense? I think not, and that's one of the strengths of this book - there is no tidy answer, although I feel Eugenides has his own theories at work here, particularly on page 245 where he writes, "In the end, the tortures tearing the Lisbon girls pointed to a simple reasoned refusal to accept the world as it was handed down to them, so full of flaws." Thoughtful words to ponder. I find that in the end, the doomed Lisbon sisters are portrayed more as a symptom than as a disease, and that they become to the boys a tragic symbol of the end of innocence - both their own and the world's - which, like many of us, continues to haunt them throughout their later years.

I'll try to send this on to the next port of call by the end of the week. Thanks for sharing.

Journal Entry 11 by geishabird from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Mailed off to stacyinthecity yesterday...enjoy!

Journal Entry 12 by stacyinthecity on Monday, July 31, 2006
The book arrived today. I have one bookcrossing book and one borrowed book ahead of this one, but I'll try and read them fast so I can get this one on its way. It looks really great. Thank you so much for sharing it!

Journal Entry 13 by stacyinthecity on Saturday, August 12, 2006
I liked this book better than Middlesex.

Many things impressed me about this book: the fact that the narrator was never known or named besides one of the neighbor boys, the meloncholy atmosphere that the book creates, the fact that there are no answers in this book. Was it the parent's strictness? The communities inability to handle the tragic event of the first sister's death? The parents inability to cope with it? Or the sisters'?

All of these reasons are explored by the neighborboy as he gathers evidense years later.

It is very well written, but it also really makes you think about all these things. I highly recommend it.

Book shipped today from Tucson, AZ where I am currently

Journal Entry 14 by queensknob from Wytheville, Virginia USA on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Book received today, and I have one that I am currently finishing.

8/23/06...waiting on address to mail to next person.
9/4/06...mnewman hasn't responded so I have PM'd the next person in line
9/5/06...c-a-m has ask to be passed over so I will PM next person in line
9/8/06...sending today to pyjamas in China.

I didn't particularly like this book, because it was very darkly written. However, it is a must read for parents with teenage children.

Journal Entry 15 by pyjamas on Wednesday, October 11, 2006
the book is with me now...
sorry it took so long to journal it. it's been with the post office for some weeks already but i was on vacation and only retrieved it last Monday.

I will update journal entry once finished. Looking forward to enjoying this :)

thanks!

Journal Entry 16 by pyjamas on Sunday, December 10, 2006
This is one haunting and sad tale of promising lives gone wasted.

The story was told in a casual and documentary-like tone that makes the suicides seem unreal and more creepy. It's like the narrator is viewing the Lisbon girls under a microscope as if they are specimen and just sees them and their predicament as something of curiousity. You are kept abreast with the Lisbon girls' lives but there is a sense of emotional detachment in the way it was given by the author. But the funny thing is, you still sympathize with the girls sorry state all the same. Maybe even more than if the emotions are all written on the page. It is with this that I say Eugenides is one effective writer.

Like Jaycee1972, I also went looking for the exhibits at the back of the book expecting the exhibits to be provided in an annex. I was disappointed there was none. It would have made the mentioning of these exhibits more sensible.
Also, I was waiting for more stories on the other Lisbon girls. After Cecilia's death, the focus shifted to Lux and no one else. The other girls were just mentioned in the passing. Maybe because the other girls are completely reclusive and have no lives to speak of. Or they are just not promiscuous like Lux that makes then uninteresting in the narrator's voyeur eyes. So I was kind of shocked that the story was tied up with all the girls commiting suicide at the same time. I was thinking it would only be Lux as the other girls stories were not yet told. That left me quite unsatisfied and the other girls not memorable.

But still, the book scared me enough to keep my lights on as I squirm under my covers finding some sleep.

Will share this with a roommate who reads most of my bookcrossing books but is just too lazy to create an account here. Thanks to storychaser for sharing :)

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