The Virgin Suicides
In 2009 (I think) I started writing short reviews for the books I was reading but I stopped for no reason. I thought it was really fun ! I remember it led me to talk about those books in details with some of my friends here. So I thought I could try to do that again, maybe ?
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
(This is not my cover but I can't find a proper image and I like this one better !)
I decided to finally read that novel which I had had on my bookshelves for years (to be honest, on the back of my copy of Special Topics in Calamity Physics, it is said that the book can be compared to The Secret History and The Virgin Suicides so I decided to see if I agreed !). It's typically one of those books you start reading knowing they're considered as classics and even masterpieces. And this is exactly what it felt like to me.
The right word for it is bewitching. The narrator is a young neighbour who was spying on the girls. He shares his fascination and he seems almost oblivious to the disturbing and creepy quality of the narration and the story. He constantly goes back and forth, from the present to the past, before and after the suicides. The narration is made up of evidences and various elements of the investigation he and his friends did after the deaths. He focuses on details which gives an impression of mystery.
You're going to laugh at this but : it's not a fun book to read! I'm not sure readers generally feel that way towards the book but I thought it was a really "heavy" book in the sense that everything about it seems so dark and suffocating.
I really loved it (it wasn't much of a surprise!). I'm really looking forward to read Middlesex now. I knew right away while reading this one that I would read his other novel. I thought his writing was quiet and peaceful (trying to contain the tragic quality of the story in a way) and then, sometimes, a few words would shine and I would stop to read them again.
Quote
It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house, with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper than death, where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.
Have you read it too ? What did you think ? (Or maybe Middlesex ?)
I hope this wasn't too boring !
While I'm on the subject of books, I found that great article about the Most Anticipated Books of 2011. It's a great idea ! I noticed Marisha Pessl and Stefan Merrill Block but it looks like there are other interesting book to check out as well.
Have a nice weekend !
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
(This is not my cover but I can't find a proper image and I like this one better !)
I decided to finally read that novel which I had had on my bookshelves for years (to be honest, on the back of my copy of Special Topics in Calamity Physics, it is said that the book can be compared to The Secret History and The Virgin Suicides so I decided to see if I agreed !). It's typically one of those books you start reading knowing they're considered as classics and even masterpieces. And this is exactly what it felt like to me.
The right word for it is bewitching. The narrator is a young neighbour who was spying on the girls. He shares his fascination and he seems almost oblivious to the disturbing and creepy quality of the narration and the story. He constantly goes back and forth, from the present to the past, before and after the suicides. The narration is made up of evidences and various elements of the investigation he and his friends did after the deaths. He focuses on details which gives an impression of mystery.
You're going to laugh at this but : it's not a fun book to read! I'm not sure readers generally feel that way towards the book but I thought it was a really "heavy" book in the sense that everything about it seems so dark and suffocating.
I really loved it (it wasn't much of a surprise!). I'm really looking forward to read Middlesex now. I knew right away while reading this one that I would read his other novel. I thought his writing was quiet and peaceful (trying to contain the tragic quality of the story in a way) and then, sometimes, a few words would shine and I would stop to read them again.
Quote
It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house, with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper than death, where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.
Have you read it too ? What did you think ? (Or maybe Middlesex ?)
I hope this wasn't too boring !
While I'm on the subject of books, I found that great article about the Most Anticipated Books of 2011. It's a great idea ! I noticed Marisha Pessl and Stefan Merrill Block but it looks like there are other interesting book to check out as well.
Have a nice weekend !