The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The story of five sisters who all commit suicide in the same year. Trying to fathom events two decades later, one of the boys who used to spy on them recreates the fateful year, from the youngest's first plunge into her own bloodbath, to the final field day of the national press.

i don't really have the words to describe how i feel about this book right now but what i think is that it was very smart. i really liked it!!

can't stand the writing and it was tough to finish. I just know if this book was written in a style i liked, i wouldve loved it

i saw reviews that complained about the lack of “deeper meaning” to this book, and i'm a bit confused because the meaning isn't that deep but poignant nonetheless. i think this book could spark important conversation amongst those of us who are well enough to discuss mental health and help those in need. but it's... really not that (much) deep(er).

this book is a story of what happens from an amalgamation of 1) parental emotional and mental abuse 2) poor mental health and mental health stigmas 3) and apathetic fanatacism. these girls were stifled by their parents and then kept at arm's length by the society around them, and y'all are looking for “deeper meaning” than that? uh uh. nope.

i'm especially not about romanticising suicide, so if you're trying to look deeper in that sense, don't @ me. this story is tragic and heartbreaking and a warning signal for those of us still making fun of teenage girls for the littlest things.

3.5. I think I'm biased because I loved the movie when I was a teenager. (yikes)

I liked the vibes but i wish the narrators weren't the little weirdo neighborhood pervs. I don't mind that aspect of the story itself because it really paints the picture of how “elusive” the girls seem to be, but I definitely would've preferred an omniscient narrator.

anyways, rip to the Lisbon sisters y'all would've loved Lana Del Rey.