5. The Virgin Suicides
Title: The Virgin Suicides
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Synopsis:(from amazon.co.uk) here
My thoughts:Wow. Just wow. My favourite book for a LONG while.
I devoured this book: I actually had to tell myself to stop reading and go to sleep/do my homework/go cook dinner. Oddly, a book filled with suicides should be depressing, but it isn't. I was just completely intrigued by the Lison girls, and despite the fact I found the vouyerism of the boys slightly disturbing, could understand why they were so obsessed with the girls. The fact that the girls motives and feelings are never explained adds to this, and even though we don't know why, the reader can join in with the boys in scoffing at Lydia Perl's sensationalist news stories.
Speaking as an English teenager who grew up in the 90's, I loved the 1970's US surburban setting: Eugenides did such a good job of creating the setting and atmosphere I could picture it even before watching the Sofia Coppola adaptation. Also the decay within the town (the elm tress, the fishflies, the stench from chemical plant spill) is a great parallel with the girls and just adds to the overall effect. Oddly enough, although the basic plot of the story is explained in the first sentence, I was still surprised at the climax of the novel. Either I am just being stupid, or that's a testament to Eugenide's writing (I'm still not sure.)
Up Next: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
x-posted to 0bsessed_reader, bookish, bookworm
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Synopsis:(from amazon.co.uk) here
My thoughts:Wow. Just wow. My favourite book for a LONG while.
I devoured this book: I actually had to tell myself to stop reading and go to sleep/do my homework/go cook dinner. Oddly, a book filled with suicides should be depressing, but it isn't. I was just completely intrigued by the Lison girls, and despite the fact I found the vouyerism of the boys slightly disturbing, could understand why they were so obsessed with the girls. The fact that the girls motives and feelings are never explained adds to this, and even though we don't know why, the reader can join in with the boys in scoffing at Lydia Perl's sensationalist news stories.
Speaking as an English teenager who grew up in the 90's, I loved the 1970's US surburban setting: Eugenides did such a good job of creating the setting and atmosphere I could picture it even before watching the Sofia Coppola adaptation. Also the decay within the town (the elm tress, the fishflies, the stench from chemical plant spill) is a great parallel with the girls and just adds to the overall effect. Oddly enough, although the basic plot of the story is explained in the first sentence, I was still surprised at the climax of the novel. Either I am just being stupid, or that's a testament to Eugenide's writing (I'm still not sure.)
Up Next: To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
x-posted to 0bsessed_reader, bookish, bookworm