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JulieM

JulieM

Currently reading

The 5th Wave
Rick Yancey
14
Peter Clines
The Light Between Oceans: A Novel
M.L. Stedman
The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It
Kelly McGonigal
Clockwork Princess
Cassandra Clare
The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
Simon Wiesenthal
Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich
Love Medicine: Newly Revised Edition
Louise Erdrich

The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides Do you remember that old TV show, The Wonder Years, about a man reflecting on his childhood growing up in a suburban town during the late 60s? The show discusses some of the social issues and events of that era, and revolves around the narrator's crush on Winnie Cooper, the 'girl next door'. The Virgin Suicides is similar in that it is a retrospective of high school boys growing up during that time, only much MUCH darker. A group of boys live across the street from the Lisbon household, a family with 5 teenage daughters. The neighborhood boys, already infatuated with these girls, become obsessed with their lives as all 5 girls commit suicide. The book is well-written and has a strong narration, but it is a hard one to recommend. Although having the story told from the perspective of adolescent bystanders is creative and gives a horrible story an element of innocence, at the end of this book, I just wanted to understand why these girls all took their lives - maybe so I could convince myself that it could never really happen.