Comments on: Jeffrey Eugenides: The Virgin Suicides

By: The Mookse and the Gripes » July Recommendations

The Mookse and the Gripes » July Recommendations — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:34:52 +0000

[...] Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides (original review from July 11, 2008). Now thisis a summer book. Eugenides makes you feel the sticky heat as he tells this [...]

By: The Mookse and the Gripes » Hannah Pittard: The Fates Will Find Their Way

The Mookse and the Gripes » Hannah Pittard: The Fates Will Find Their Way — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:51:56 +0000

[...] The blurb reads as if the book were a variation on The Virgin Suicides (which I reviewed here). The narrator — in first-person plural perspective “we” – is the [...]

By: Trevor Berrett

Trevor Berrett — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:24:31 +0000

Sherry, I’m sure that when you put me and the female adolescent experience together, there’s a lot of emptiness in between. But we can’t forget that the book is both being told by grown men and that it was written by a grown man, so that emptiness is being played with here and is probably more the subject of this book than female adolescent experience (though Eugenides has some remarkable insights which help to illuminate the emptiness if not bridge the gap).

That said, your comment is like a light going on for me! You are right, it’s not that the boy’s are trying to understand why the girls committed suicide – that’s just pretext. They are actually, by revisiting all of this, still trying to make a part of the girls’ story theirs, even though their connection with the girls was basically non existent. This book is evidence: they still want to possess these girls!

Excellent! Thanks!

By: Sherry

Sherry — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:14:17 +0000

“And what makes this story even more unique is the fact that these very boys are the ones attempting to explain why adolescent girls would commit suicide.”

So I’ve thought about this book and had to revisit your review to more adequately express myself. I still maintain that your being a male limits your perspective of the book – it is predominantly about female adolescents.

But I think we’ve been looking at the purpose wrong. I don’t think this is an attempt to understand why the girls committed suicide. I think it shows the objectification (you did point this out in your review) of young females. And being told by the young men furthers this. In reconsidering I don’t think the boys were really just trying to find how the suicides related to themselves.

Why was the book told from their point of view? Why did the author choose to have them obsessing even though they are still adults? It’s the backstory of what the boys are doing that makes this book more interesting and also why it has no deeper insight. The boys weren’t really looking for one, they just wanted to have some involvement even in the suicides themselves.

Still not as coherent as I want, but I think you get the idea of what I’m implying.

By: Trevor Berrett

Trevor Berrett — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:40:28 +0000

I will have to post my thoughts on Middlesex then becuase I really want to know what I’m missing. It was one of those books I really wanted to like. And I definitely thought Eugenides had excellent style . . . and the story was entertaining and at times touching, but I missed something. I’ll post that review soon and eagerly await your comments!

By: redheadrambles

redheadrambles — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:06:06 +0000

I think I enjoyed “Middlesex” more than you..it’s been a while since I read it but I was totally engrossed at the time. I made the mistake of watching the “Virgin Sucides” on DVD first – something I try not to do, as such it has been moved down my TBR pile…but your review has sparked my interest again.