The Virgin Suicides

[Veva]

Hi there, I finally managed to get hold of this book, though I downloaded it and I am not really proud of that. So I started reading and besides this really depressing content I do enjoy the book. It is written in a different style and I do find that gripping. What do you think of this novel? And has anyone read Middlesex by Eugenides as well? Is it any good?

[dfloyd]

It was so bad I couldn't get as far as the book. A paunchy Katleen Turner, as the mother, evidently does not ascribe to the Greta Garbo theory: retire and become reclusive before you lose your beauty.

[Scheherazade]

And has anyone read Middlesex by Eugenides as well? Is it any good?Middlesex:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27552&highlight=middlesex


A paunchy Katleen Turner, as the mother, evidently does not ascribe to the Greta Garbo theory: retire and become reclusive before you lose your beauty. As part of my studies, I am looking at equal opportunities etc. at the moment and it is possible to have a field day with that statement of yours.

[dfloyd]

Not really ....People in the public eye, especially movie star celibrities, have always taken heat because of their weight, men as well as women. Marlon Brando and Orson Welles took a lot of flak because of their obesity. Lately, Kristi Alley has made all the tabloids because of her weight problems. It is a different situation with celebrities than with employees, for instance.

[Helga]

I really liked this book and the movie. read it years ago so I'm a bit rusty but I loved the narration and how the boys looked in on their liefs and what the girls did to themselves and how they hid their pain. the dad was very good I really liked that character and his denial.

[Shalot]

I saw the movie and read the book and I just want to know what it all meant. Why did they kill themselves exactly? No one knows really, but it must have been really bad because one stuck her head in an oven. So these people sit around and wonder about it for years after. I guess the unanswered questions make it a curious read. Can anyone else enlighten me? What happened?

[Jozanny]

It was so bad I couldn't get as far as the book. A paunchy Katleen Turner, as the mother, evidently does not ascribe to the Greta Garbo theory: retire and become reclusive before you lose your beauty.

I think the world would be a better place with a little less fictionalizing of the human body, and if Turner has the courage to wear her roles as a middle aged woman, then good for her.

I have enough challenges as a disabled woman toward affirmation not to be offended by such a shallow statement. Everyone ages and changes.

[dfloyd]

Every one ages: you have to get older, but you don't have to get fat.

[Jozanny]

Veva: I looked up Eugenides this morning, and I thank you for recalling him to me, but his work isn't high up on my list. I read of Middlesex before, but if one takes a tablespoon of GBLT, and throws in disability and disability culture, Casanova begins to feel conservative ;).

For me, the terrain is familiar, too libertine, perhaps, and gender switching as literary trick has been, shall we say, battle tested.

[Zee.]

I loved The Virgin Suicides, book and movie. One of my favourites.

[Pecksie]

It was a strange book, but I enjoyed it (despite a very bad translation into Spanish --- I'll have to get hold of the original).

Haven't read Middlesex yet, but reliable opinions say it's very good :)

[Shalot]

This story kind of ticked me off. I really want to know what the point of this book was. Is the writer trying to make some statement about the state of suburban life during that time period through this tale? Or is it a tale written with the sole purpose of intriguing and confounding the reader? Do you the think the author himself knows the reason for these suicides? Like, was there more going on in the Lisbon household than the neighbors would be aware of and did the author write it with the intention of not revealing their reason for suicide? Was it the author's intent to leave the audience wondering about the suicide the same way the neighbors do and is that the point of this book?

The suicides are less disturbing to me than the mystery surrounding them. It's horrible that they committed suicide and some of their deaths are horrific (one was impaled on a fence and another stuck her head in the oven), but the fact that there's no reason given for it disturbs me even more.

[Veva]

Veva: I looked up Eugenides this morning, and I thank you for recalling him to me, but his work isn't high up on my list. I read of Middlesex before, but if one takes a tablespoon of GBLT, and throws in disability and disability culture, Casanova begins to feel conservative ;).

For me, the terrain is familiar, too libertine, perhaps, and gender switching as literary trick has been, shall we say, battle tested.


Well, yes you are right.... but I guess that I will try to read Middlesex it anyway...:)
thanks for the commens:thumbs_up