The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides

The novel opens with the suicide of the last Lisbon daughter, and only after revealing the ending does it go back to the beginning and explore the journey through each of the five suicides. The narrators, now grown neighbors of the sisters, speak across the distance of time and a suburban street. They've pieced the story together through memories, interviews, and mementos collected from the Lisbon house. Needless to say, The Virgin Suicides is an unusual novel from the onset, but these unusual aspects are all strengths. The uncommon first person plural of narrators, which stand at a distance even as they watch the sisters in the privacy of their joint bathroom, captures the reader right away, moving swiftly through the plot yet pausing for intimate detail that brings the characters to life. It creates a surreal and almost haunting atmosphere which maintains a sense of mystery despite the blunt introduction of the suicides. The intriguing journey back to the suicide which opens the text keeps the book interesting through the last page. As such, the novel's ingenious storytelling makes it hard to put down.

The text is swiftly readable but never disintegrates into a cheap thrill; instead, it is an intelligent, thoughtful book. The suicides serve as both hook and climax to the story, but the book itself is a journey to and between the suicides. There are a dozen possibilities, but neither the narrarators nor the author ever pinpoints what drives Cecelia, Therese, Mary, Bonnie, and Lux to kill themselves.At some level, this unanswered question is frustrating and makes the end of the book almost teasingly brief. However, the cause of the suicides is essential--yet, somehow irrelevent. What matters is the Lisbon sisters: their life as fractioned representations of modern suburban adolescence, smothered under the protective care of their parents, left forever unfinished by their untimely deaths. The Virgin Suicides is exploration without judgement, opening a world to the reader for them to think on it themselves.

I was not sure what to expect when I first picked up this book. I was aware of it's success and intrigued by the unusual concept, but wasn't quite sure how the latter could lead to the former. Now having read it, I'm impressed by the connecction. Eugenides writes an extreme scenario into the most mundane setting, and so by exaggerating reality he in fact explores it. The sisters are real personalities and also archettypes- images of adolescence which are contrained even as they begin to blossom. The Virgin Suicides is quite brilliant, haunting, readable, intelligent, and thought-provoking. I'm impressed, and glad I had the chance to read it.