The Virgin Suicides

Jeffrey Eugenides

Genre

Recommended By

Book Synopsis

"The Virgin Suicides" by Jeffrey Eugenides is a haunting and atmospheric novel that tells the story of the Lisbon sisters, five beautiful and enigmatic teenage girls who captivate the entire neighborhood with their mysterious allure. Set in 1970s suburban Michigan, the book unfolds through the eyes of a group of boys who are obsessed with the sisters and try to understand the tragic events that lead to their untimely deaths.

As the story progresses, the sisters' oppressive and overprotective parents isolate them from the outside world, exacerbating their sense of desperate longing for freedom. Their lives are further cloaked in secrecy and tragedy when the youngest sister, Cecilia, attempts suicide, sparking a chain reaction that will forever change the lives of those around them.

The boys chronicle their observations, collecting snippets of information and assembling an image of the sisters that is both seductive and elusive. They are captivated by the sisters' beauty, mystique, and the sense of unattainability that surrounds them. Yet, despite their relentless attempts to connect with the girls, the boys remain on the periphery, filled with a mix of desire, fascination, and frustration.

Through his evocative prose, Eugenides explores themes of adolescence, desire, obsession, and the blurred line between reality and imagination. He crafts a narrative that is both melancholic and deeply affecting, delving into the complexities of human connection and the weight of unfulfilled desires. "The Virgin Suicides" is a poignant and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition, leaving readers haunted and questioning the fragility of life itself.

Explore More Books

See All
Lake Success
Valuation
A Sound of Thunder and Other Stories
The Selfish Gene
Going Infinite
The Psychedelic Explorer's Guide
The Diversity Myth
The Upside of Stress
The Story of Civilization: Our Oriental Heritage
Joy on Demand
The Invisible Gorilla
The Inimitable Jeeves
Foundation and Empire
The Fry Chronicles
Win Bigly
Confessions of a Pricing Man
Statistical Models
Graphs, Maps, Trees
The Power Law
Nexus
Age Of Ambition
David Bowie
Man, Economy, and State
Lessons
Rick and Morty Book Four
Trump and Churchill
Big World, Small Planet
The Things They Carried
The Araboolies of Liberty Street
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Bold Return to Giving a Damn
Radical Acceptance
Principles
Coyote America
Good Profit
I Contain Multitudes
Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children
Alpha Girls
Lincoln at Gettysburg
Men, Machines, and Modern Times
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big
1000 Ways to Make $1,000
A Matter of Degrees
The Passage of Power
Cry, The Beloved Country
Swallows and Amazons
The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive
The Creative Act
Unravelling the Double Helix
Lone Survivor
The Story of Design
The Complete Guide to Sales Force Incentive Compensation
Globalization and its Discontents
Three Blind Mice
These Truths
Aware
Getting to Yes
Die With Zero
Bet With the Best
Stealing Fire
Kingpin
A Short History of Myth
Walt Disney
Striking Thoughts
Inside Trump's White House
Walden
Prisoners of Geography
Wind, Sand and Stars
Infectious Generosity
How To Live
Edison
A Guide To Econometrics
A Cultural History of Physics
Joe Beef
Debt
March
Build
She Has Her Mother's Laugh
The Interpretation of Dreams
XKCD
The Fund
Nature Via Nurture
Happiness
Bull!
Eradication
Pippi Longstocking
Essentialism
My Stroke of Insight
Team of Teams
The Making of Europe
No Two Alike
The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert
The Tartar Steppe
Skunk Works
Hail Mary
Value-added Measures in Education
American Nations
Moby Dick
Dictionary of Untranslatables
How An Economy Grows and Why It Crashes