Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Virgin Suicides

The title of the virgin suicides made me curious hence I decided to read it.

While I enjoyed various aspects of the book such as the portrayal of the male gaze through the boys that narrate the story or the impact of growing up in a religious house as a young girl, I ultimately did not enjoy reading this book.

The writing was slow paced, it felt like nothing at all was happening, even events which should have an impact just felt flat to me. The book constantly goes on tangents speaking about random things in unessacary detail.

Also while I understand this book came out in the nineties the ableism and racism in this book is so off putting. The description of a character named Joe in chapter one was so horrid I nearly stopped reading then. I only continued because online readers insisted it was just one weird passage.

In summary the virgin suicides reads like your weird cousin telling you a story from years ago.

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lucycjgray's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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charlies_shelf's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.5

So; The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides is a book. That's one thing that is certain, and while opinions differ on if it's good or bad there's a few things that are again, certain.

This book includes sexism, hypersexuality of minors, racism and Ableism. Some mentioned less than others.

Now as to my personal opinion, keep in mind there will be spoilers from here on out.

I liked page 190 and 191 simply because of the music. But that's honestly where it stops.

The person who's telling us the story seems to end off with anger. Anger because "he was wronged". An example of this is the sentence; "they made us participate in their own madness,...".

Not only that but there's barely to no build up to the end, which just like everything else has good and bad sections.

Would I call this a bad book? No.
Would I call this a good book? No.
Because nothing is ever good or bad.

That's why I rate this book a 1.5/5.

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jessepinkman's review against another edition

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dark sad

5.0

Perharps the most hateable narrator (and group of boys) I've ever encountered in literature, or maybeeeee even in art in general. Just despicable little bitches. Anyway I need to sit with this a little, but one aspect that I haven't seen discussed a lot is the racism in this book. It's clearly a commentary on the racial aspect of suburbs or how towns/cities in general are segregated. This the author also shows in the workforce, through making sure to specify f.e. that a maid is black. Anyway I hope it was intentioned to be commentary and not the author being a racist, I'm gonna have to look into him a little.

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caseyreads998's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

And people say Holden Caulfield is a grating narrator...

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