The Virgin Suicides

Jeffrey Eugenides

It is the early 1970's. Outside of Detroit, Michigan, is a suburban community that is typical of the suburbs of the time. It's quiet, somewhat affluent, detached from the nearby city, with families growing up. Nuclear families live there - mothers, fathers, and their children. There are some problem people in the neighborhood, but it's the type of thing you'd expect.

All the young teen age boys are besotted with the five Lisbon girls. Mr. Lisbon is a teacher at the upper school. Mrs. Lisbon is a stay at home mom who cares for their five children, all girls. The boys in the neighborhood watch the girls and the house covertly.

When 13-year-old Cecelia, the youngest, tries to commit suicide, everyone is shocked. The boys always knew she was a little different, but they didn't expect her actions any more than anyone else. She is rushed to the hospital and saved, much to her chagrin. On her second attempt, she succeeds.

Now the house starts to close in on itself. The remaining sisters are under tighter restrictions. The boys watch them more closely and are still entranced by the girls. Now they worry about them as well. Over the next year, the Lisbon family retracts more and more into itself.

The Virgin Suicides is a simple sounding book with intricate layers and emotions. The story of the Lisbon girls is told in first person from the boys' view. All that is seen in the book is always from the outside. The reader can only guess what is going on in the house and in the girls' minds.

Jeffrey Eugenides has crafted a book that is a coming of age story, a romance of sorts, a study of depression and mental health issues, the loneliness of the people remaining after some suicides, the withdrawing from community, the lust, love, and protection that young teen boys have for girls their age, the affects of religion on a family, promiscuity, hopes, dreams, cares, and woes.

As well as the immediate story, The Virgin Suicides also reflects the story of a dying city. Although never mentioned by name, Detroit is the large city nearby with the auto industry that is starting to cut back. Jeffrey Eugenides has set this novel in the protected suburbs, but the city's influence still reaches them in rumor, pollution, and other small but persistent ways. There are extra threads like the cemetery employees' strike that run throughout the year's time that is covered by this book.

The Virgin Suicides is insidious. It sucks you in slowly, making you think. The reader knows from the first chapter what will happen to the girls. The narrative is told from a 15 or 20 year later perspective. The boys have to tell this story to get on with their own lives. The Lisbon family not only affected their own lives, but the lives of the neighbors around who watched the tragedy.

Tragedy is a good description of this book. Jeffrey Eugenides leaves the story hanging for the boys. The Lisbon's story is done. But theirs isn't.

If you want a feel good story or book, The Virgin Suicides isn't it. If you want a thought provoking, well written book that tumbles around in your mind long after you've finished it, read this novel.

Notice:  Graphic violence, Suggestive dialogue or situations