The Virgin Suicides- It's Even Darker than it Sounds

(#2) Read 25 books

1. Room by Emma Donohue
2. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
    A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
    A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
5. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
6. The Shack by William Young
7. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

“Chucking her under the chin, he said, "What are you doing here, honey? You're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." And it was then Cecilia gave orally what was to be her only form of a suicide note, and a useless one at that, because she was going to live: "Obviously, Doctor," she said, "you've never been a thirteen-year-old girl.”

I saw the movie version of this novel several years ago and found it very memorable and very haunting. I decided to read the book after seeing Jeffrey Eugenides speak (on the day that I mostly met a famous person). Several members of the audience stood up during the Q&A just to say that this was their favorite book, they had read it over and over, etc. So I was intrigued. 

I was about five feet from Jeffrey Eugenides before Ronnie realized it was him. 

I was not disappointed. The movie has merit in itself, but the book is what will really stay with me. 

The Virgin Suicides is the story of the Lisbon girls, five sisters in a small town in Michigan. Cecelia is 13, Lux 14, Bonnie 15, Mary 16, and Therese 17. The story is told from a unique perspective- first person plural, through the eyes of an unidentified group of young boys in the town who observe the Lisbon girls from afar. The story begins when Cecelia, the youngest, attempts suicide. She recovers from the attempt but later tries again and succeeds, in a very public way which the boys are witnesses to.

From that time on the boys witness the effect the suicide has on the family. Already subject to conservative Catholic parents, the girls become more and more sequestered from civilization until eventually Mrs. Lisbon pulls them out of school. Towards the end of the novel, the boys are unsure how the Lisbons are even eating as they seem to never leave the house or receive any deliveries. A smell of staleness also begins emanating from the house and seems to fill up the whole neighborhood.

The boys continue watching and the girls know that they are being watched. Eventually they are able to get in touch with each other by playing records over the telephone. The girls then get a note to the boys to meet them at the house the next night. They are planning an escape together.

I won’t reveal the ending for those who haven’t read it and haven’t seen the movie, but I will tell you that the title is not meant to mislead in this case. And if you have seen the movie but haven’t read the book, there is one surprise element towards the end that makes it- if possible- even more gruesome.

The story of the girls is really the story of the struggles of American teens in the 1970s. It is never clear why the girls commit suicide, though the circumstances seem especially poignant- for example the state removing all the trees from the street where the girls live. As the boys speculate:

“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.”

It is also unclear whether Cecelia’s death caused the other girls’ actions or whether they had planned it out together from the beginning. But the five girls seem to be the only ones able to understand one another and are outsiders to their parents, the boys narrating, and the entire town.

Eugenides does an excellent job with this narrative. Though the narrator is never named, you feel you know the boys and understand their perspective well. And though you view the Lisbon girls from afar, you feel as sympathetic towards them and fascinated by them by the end as the entire town is. He is a master with language, which was evident when we saw him speak live.

The book is certainly dark and not for the faint-hearted. But there are also moments of levity, and it never veers into the melodramatic. And if you can get past the gore you will find yourself in the middle of something really profound. 

All in all, this was a memorable read and I would recommend it. I can’t wait to dive in to some of his other works.