Saturday 21 February 2015

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The haunting, humorous and tender story of the brief lives of the five entrancing Lisbon sisters, The Virgin Suicides, now a major film, is Jeffrey Eugenides' classic debut novel.

The shocking thing about the girls was how nearly normal they seemed when their mother let them out for the one and only date of their lives. Twenty years on, their enigmatic personalities are embalmed in the memories of the boys who worshipped them and who now recall their shared adolescence: the brassiere draped over a crucifix belonging to the promiscuous Lux; the sisters' breathtaking appearance on the night of the dance; and the sultry, sleepy street across which they watched a family disintegrate and fragile lives disappear.



-- Goodreads.com description of The Virgin Suicides --


The Virgin Suicides will probably become one of my favourite books of the year if not of all time. It was the third book I read this year, so I'm kind of late with this review. I expected to like this book but I ended up loving it! This book is mysterious and wonderfully written. Jeffrey Eugenides has an amazing writing style! I would even say it's one of the best I have ever read. 
And man! What an amazing first sentence, I can't even describe it, you'll just have to read it! It haunted me and I needed to know how it happened. It only took one sentence for me to be gripped by this book.

The Virgin Suicides is about the suicides of five sisters. The narrator of the story is actually a (unidentified) group of boys. All this makes the story mysterious and gripping. The boys, now men, dive into their past to try once more to make sense of the Lisbon girls. And the reader will have as much trouble as they did to figure them out. 

I thought about this book often after I read it. Just the way it was written is remarkable. I'm looking forward to read other books by Jeffrey Eugenides. Although in my opinion, none of them could ever be as amazing as The Virgin Suicides.

I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars. It blew me away! I recommend this book to everyone! It's a book everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. I believe this book will become a classic if it isn't one already.

Later on, I will do a book to movie adaptation review as well once I've seen the movie. So look out for that one!

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