The Virgin Suicides

by Jeffrey Eugenides | Literature & Fiction |
ISBN: 0446670251 Global Overview for this book
Registered by kindkate of Cudahy, Wisconsin USA on 12/30/2004
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13 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by kindkate from Cudahy, Wisconsin USA on Thursday, December 30, 2004
There is humor to be found in this book in spite of its dark theme of suicide. A favorite section is the back and forth playing of LP's over the phone by the young men who are obsessed with the young women who are their neighbors and classmates. These characters re-surface in my thoughts from time to time. I enjoyed the descriptions of suburbia in the 1970's and felt I could actually feel the seasons changing through the author's words.

Journal Entry 2 by Neuilly from Brooklyn, New York USA on Saturday, January 15, 2005
I recieved this book in the mail today. I've one to read this for a while now and am looking forward to actually doing so. Thank you for sending it to me!

May 28th - I've finally arrived home and have started this book. It's great so far! I'm hoping to turn it into a bookring when I'm done.

Bookring: CLOSED

- AtHomeGoddess (CA, USA - intl/surface) *done*
- labmomnm (NM, USA - intl) *done*
- wyldewomin (MA, USA -intl) *done*
- asterw (spain - intl) *done*
- Xanocas (Portugal - port/eur) *done*
- QueenSissi (Portugal - eur) *done*
- Diamondlucy (austria - eur) *done*
- kittyangel (france - ?) *done*
- Tazzell (Scotland - intl/surface) *done*
- rossella05 (England - intl/surface) *done*
- back to me (Maine, USA) *here*

Bookring successful!!

Journal Entry 3 by AtHomeGoddess from Fresno, California USA on Monday, September 19, 2005
Got back from vacation to find this book in my mailbox. Starting it right now! : )

Released 18 yrs ago (9/23/2005 UTC) at mailing to a fellow bookcrosser in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent off to the next person on the list, BCer Labmomnm.

Journal Entry 5 by winglabmomnmwing from Albuquerque, New Mexico USA on Sunday, October 2, 2005
Arrived the day before yesterday, but I've been computer-free since then. I've already started reading this and really like it. Eugenides has such a smooth writing style; I read "Middlesex" last year, and reading this has brought that back, in a way...more the storytelling style than the subject matter, of course.

7 October '05 - This was absolutely beautiful; I love the way Eugenides writes!! I'm going to have to buy a copy to keep and at least one to give away - my best friend also read "Middlesex" last year and keeps going on about it (she says her bookclub people are sick of hearing her compare everything else they read to it), so I think she needs to read this, too. Thanks so much for sharing!

8 Octover '05 - mailed to wyldewomin this morning

Journal Entry 6 by wyldewomin from East Bridgewater, Massachusetts USA on Saturday, October 15, 2005
Arrive this afternoon along with a really beautiful picture of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Very Cool

Journal Entry 7 by wyldewomin from East Bridgewater, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, November 24, 2005
Very good but very dark. Reads almost like an anthropological study of suburban adolescent misery. Wish I could have had a better understanding of Mrs. Lisbon's motives for locking the girls up. Was she afraid for them or of them or both?


Send off tomorrow morning.

Journal Entry 8 by asterw from Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece on Friday, December 9, 2005
I received the book today. After reading Middlesex, I'm really looking forward to read this one too. I'll start it as soon as I finish the one I'm currently reading.

Thank you wyldewomin for sending it to me!

Journal Entry 9 by asterw from Athens - Αθήνα, Attica Greece on Monday, December 26, 2005
Very good and very dark indeed! I finished reading it last night. Eugenides writes so well that even suicide is not one of my favourite subjects, I just kept reading, couldn't put it down actually...

Thanks Neuilly for organizing this bookring! I've already pmed Xanocas for his/her address, if I get a reply till Wednesday I'll send the book right away -otherwise it will have to wait until I come back from my holidays!

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Update 2/1/2006: Finally I took it with me in Greece and mailed it to Xanocas today.

Journal Entry 10 by Xanocas on Thursday, January 5, 2006
Arrived today.

Thanks.

Journal Entry 11 by Xanocas on Monday, March 27, 2006
A little behind with this one. I'll try and read it as soon as possible.

Sorry!

Journal Entry 12 by Xanocas on Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Finished reading it.

I really loved the book. I've already seen the movie, but I want to see it again.

Thank you.

Journal Entry 13 by QueenSissi from Queluz, Lisboa (distrito) Portugal on Monday, July 31, 2006
It is here!!! Thanks

Journal Entry 14 by QueenSissi from Queluz, Lisboa (distrito) Portugal on Sunday, August 27, 2006
Thank you for the opportunity of reading such a well-written book. I don't think I really enjoyed the story since it was a little bit dark for me, I like books that leave a window of hope... But it was very captivating and it seemed i couldn't stop reading it.

sending it to Diamondlucy as soon I get her address.Sent on September 4th.


Journal Entry 15 by Suureal from Graz, Steiermark Austria on Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Got the book yesterday and was so thrilled that I started to read it immedialtey regardless of my longer mount to be read!

Thanks a lot!

Journal Entry 16 by Tazzell from Laurencekirk, Scotland United Kingdom on Sunday, April 1, 2007
Arrived safely. Got another bookring to finish then this one will be my next read :D

Journal Entry 17 by Tazzell from Laurencekirk, Scotland United Kingdom on Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Sent to rossella05 yesteray.
Thanks for sharing the book with us Neuilly :)

Journal Entry 18 by rem_XIV-590003 on Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Thank you Tazzell. This is one of two bookrings I will be taking on holiday with me on Monday. I'll have plenty of time to read on the beach so I'm sure I'll have this one ready to be sent on when I get back at the end of this month.

Journal Entry 19 by rem_XIV-590003 on Sunday, September 9, 2007
This book is ready to be sent on, I have contacted both wavelength and Neuilly but didn't get a reply from either of them. As I mentioned on my bookshelf I will be abroad for a few months and will not have access to my books, if you need to get in touch with me please PM my hubby he should be able to help :) You'll find a link to his address on my bookshelf. Thanks for sharing.

Journal Entry 20 by wingMmeClintonwing from South Berwick, Maine USA on Friday, November 2, 2007
well... since I am Neuilly's mom and living in another state than her, I am not quite sure how I ended up with this book!!! However, I have always wanted to read it, so I'll put it in my enormous TBR pile. I really really liked Middlesex, as I notice many readers did. This book has been travelling over two years now and it is still in great shape!

Journal Entry 21 by wingMmeClintonwing at South Berwick, Maine USA on Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Some years ago I read the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides and thought it excellent... in style, in topics, in bringing to life the Armenian genocide and then later the realities of a dispersed family in Michigan, it still lingers with me after at least a decade. So I have just finished his first novel, The Virgin Suicides, which has been buried in my huge to-be-read pile for a long time... silly me, I joined a bookring for "authors beginning with an E" (Bookcrossing organizes lots of interesting reading challenges like this) and bingo! the package showed up at my house last week. It works like this: there were 2 books in the package by authors in -E; I had to pick one and then replace it with one of my own. Problem: didn't have it read yet! So I promptly put aside all the other books I was longing to read to do this one!! Tough to describe, narrated by....well you never really know, it's just "we" all the way through the telling of the tragic story of the Lisbon sisters, all five of whom you learn in the first pages will commit suicide (so that is not a spoiler). "We" seems to be the point of view of a teenage boy living on the same block, and the "we" is a group of boys seemingly entranced with the Lisbon girls, but we are treated to a long meandering tale of a very sick family unit living in a Michigan city suffering from all kinds of misfortunes. Many suggestions about what would lead a teenage girl to suicide, but the tone is almost mock historical, as there is no gore involved, and we are as much voyeurs as the boys were. Eugenides has a keen eye for humanity and its odd ways and seems quite adept at depicting the malaise of youth and of the times. Some gems of social commentary creep in as well: "While the suicides lasted, the Chamber of Commerce worried less about the influx of black shoppers and more about the outflux of whites. Brave blacks had been slipping in for years, though they were usually women, who blended in with our maids." There are early hints of the realities of the old world which will take a larger place in the later novel, with Greek grandmas claiming it is crazy for everyone to pretend to be happy all the time in America. Many theories, of course, about maybe why the girls died, but in the end, no answers. Lots of suggestions of how we create the meanings for events whether our meanings are true or not. A good read that could lead to much very good conversation, too!

Journal Entry 22 by wingMmeClintonwing at South Berwick, Maine USA on Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Released 7 yrs ago (9/28/2016 UTC) at South Berwick, Maine USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Putting this in a bookring for Authors beginning with the letter E and sending on to the next person in FLorida!

Journal Entry 23 by devon612 at Altamonte Springs, Florida USA on Saturday, October 1, 2016
Caught in the Authors That Begin with "E" Bookring. Will take and replace with one of my own! Thank you!

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