A review by beesbumblebooks
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

dark funny sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I really like the writing style of Jeffrey Eugenides. Even the translation to German worked well. I like how he wraps heavy topics in the banality of everyday life, and how the tragic story is hidden by the perception of the bystanders, who all tell stories from their angles, mixed with their view on the world and their boring problems. It ist very sensitive in some, and very cynical in other parts. Since the story gets lost all the time in the side stories of the other persons of the city, the book dragged a bit after a while. Mostly I was really entertained by the side story and thought it was a great way of building an atmosphere and showing the life of a small city, but it got draining for me personally in some parts, especially since it was between all the tragic parts that I couldn't take too well emotionally. 

I also had my problems with the language, nowadays being racist, fat-phobic, sexist in subtle ways, but it's never that subtle, is it? It's an older book which makes me understand it, but doesn't make me like it. 


I didn't like the ending, because it feels like after a whole book of feeling with the girls and seeing their struggles, it seriously blames them for not wanting to live anymore. It blames them for not caring for the people around them, who voyoristically participated in their suffering withour reaching out. Maybe I get that part wrong, but it felt that way and it really threw me of after the general tone of the book was so different.
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