Recent Reads: The Virgin Suicides

I picked up The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugene on a whim a few weeks ago. (Coincidentally, the author is the same person who wrote Middlesex - a book I started to read last year as part of my long distance book club but just never made it through.) I had watched the movie about a year ago when I stumbled upon it one rainy afternoon on Netflix*. The movie was good but almost left me feeling unsettled so I thought following it up with the book might be a good bet.

The story is told by neighborhood boys in 1970's Detroit who are mildly obsessed with their neighbors, the Lisbon girls. The five girls, Mary, Bonnie, Therese, Lux and Cecelia, all commit suicide in their family's modest suburban home over the course of the year. Disturbing, yes.

Death is an overlying theme in this book, but so many other themes are explored. It picks apart adolescence and coming of age, as well as sex and love. It focuses on freedom and an escape from the rules of society. Uniquely positioned in Detroit right at the start of its fall from glory (I've since learned the author is actually from Detroit), the book almost eludes to the fact that the Lisbon girls are symbolic of the general feeling of the time. The girls end their young lives because of the ugliness around them, just as so many were fleeing the city as it took its turn from the worse. The book almost makes the case the that the Lisbon girl suicides were their break for freedom, versus the end of their lives.

The book is not a casual read. If you're looking for an easy read, this is not it. But if you're looking for something a little deeper and darker and thought provoking, this might be it. It was not my favorite book but I am considering giving Middlesex another try.

*Side note: The movie is still available on Netflix if you're interested in only a two commitment versus a 243 page commitment.