You may have heard of The Virgin Suicides, the film by Sofia Coppola that starred Kirsten Dunst. As is the case with so many great movies, it was first made in book form... and also, the book is better than the movie, which is saying a lot because it is one of my favorite movies.
The novel tells the beguiling and haunting story of the five Lisbon sisters. On the surface, the girls lead a typical, middle-class lifestyle. They talk about boys, criticize each other, and have parents that don't understand them.
Told from the perspective of the boys that dream of dating the Lisbon sisters, we hear about them as outsiders, in the same way that neighbors exchange gossip.
"The Lisbon girls were thirteen (Cecilia,) and fourteen (Lux), and fifteen (Bonnie), and sixteen (Mary), and seventeen (Therese). They were short, round-buttocked in denim, with roundish cheeks that recalled that same dorsal softness. Whenever we got a glimpse, their faces looked indecently revealed, as though we were used to seeing women in veils. No one could understand how Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon had produced such beautiful children."
Eugenides has the quality that most writers strive for: the ability to transport the reader to another time and place. While I read eagerly, I felt like I, too, was a teenage girl in the 70's. I could feel the tension in the room when Trip asks Lux's father if he could take her to prom. I could picture their house perfectly, and even their bedrooms and their clothes. The detailed, yet lyrical style is one that I have yet to see matched in any other novel.
Eugenides later won the Pulitzer Prize for his other novel Middlesex, which was published nine years after The Virgin Suicides.
2 comments:
You know, I loved The Virgin Suicides (the movie and the book and I also really liked Middlesex, which I think was the book Eugenides wrote after The Virgin Suicides. I haven't heard a single thing about him since then, though. What's he up to? Ever read Mark Haddon?
And thanks for the comment...for my money, beer is the only way to go as far as alcoholic drinks are concerned...girly drinks are fine, granted, but only as supplements. Beer has such a rich history...and like you said, there's more to it than a lot of people realize.
Thanks so much for your comment on my blog =] I started to read a bit of yours (in between homework!).. and I wanted to say, I also love the Virgin Suicides.. I read the book in high school and saw the movie a couple years later.. I love em both. It's such a dark story, but you can't take your eyes off the movie, and can't put the book down!
If you like dark/sad stories like that, check out Paint it Black by Janet Fitch.. I don't read as often as I like, but this was definitely the best book I've ever read. Sooo good.
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