The Virgin Suicides

       I am at the beginning of the novel The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides but I have already noticed a lot. It is beautifully written yet still maintains the point of view of young boys intrigued in the neighborhood beauties--the Lisbon girls. It is no secret that all five girls commit suicide (it is stated in the very first sentence--and the title and blurb, for that matter). I believe that Eugenides didn't keep their deaths a secret for two reasons. First, the book is really a collection of memories told by the boys, and the suicides are really the most important part, so they wouldn't wait for the events to catch up to get to the climax. But secondly, the reader is enabled to focus more on the girls' actions and try to understand what drove them to kill themselves because the reader already know their fate. 
       
       I noticed that Eugenides describes the small town in Michigan as very dreary and the people in it homely and unattractive, all except the Lisbon girls, who are painted as very sophisticated and beautiful. This makes the girls stand out even more. For instance, Eugenides writes as the boys, "No one could understand how Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon had produced such beautiful children...Whenever we saw Mrs. Lisbon we looked in vain for some sign of the beauty that must have once been hers. But the plump arms, the brutally cut steel-wool hair, and librarian's glasses foiled us every time." And of Mr. Lisbon, he was thin and boyish, with a high voice and "girlish weeping." Other people were also described in quite a negative light: "We found Mrs. Buell much aged and hugely fat," and "...dark circles under his eyes and his mammoth hips..." This all accentuates the Lisbon girls' attractiveness and how they are so different from everyone else in the small suburban town.

       Another way in which the girls are separated from the rest of the town is because of the words used to reference the girls and the boys. The girls are always "they" and the neighborhood boys are always "we" or "us." But it seems that the whole town is actually behind the two small words that normally represent the boys, because the whole town is curious about the girls and enraptured in their mysterious beauty. The Lisbon girls are cut off from the daily life of teenagers because of their over-protective parents, and this makes them even more isolated. The boys and the town are on the outside, looking into their short, secretive lives.

       I am looking forward to continuing this novel. Although I already know the Lisbon girls' fate, I am still interested in analyzing their actions to attempt to understand why they would commit suicide. I wonder if the girls and boys will ever interact, and the "us" and "them" will dissolve into one.