Book Group: Virgin Suicides Discussion Thread

8 watchers

LindsD Feb 2017 9:27pm, 25 Feb 2017 15,568 posts	0 LindsD Fair nuff.
Columba Feb 2017 9:42pm, 25 Feb 2017 12,543 posts	0 Columba I interpreted the "exhibits" as being items the boys-now-grown-up-and-grown-old had individually kept, or come across, and had now gathered them together and discussed the whole sequence of events. I'm sure this interpretation is not the only possible one; also sure there is no one definitive interpretation.
Serendippily Feb 2017 10:28pm, 26 Feb 2017 1,378 posts	0 Serendippily I found the constant anticipation of more death tiring. There were several stand out scenes I liked a lot though and the general small town twitchiness was done well
Little Nemo Mar 2017 1:33pm, 4 Mar 2017 7,294 posts	0 Little Nemo I've been thinking about this book after finishing it a few days ago and I'm still not sure exactly what I think about it! I think in the end I like the writing and the idea but not how it written, if that makes any sense! I found the narration style (using "we" all the time) hard to deal with. It made everything seen distant and unreliable. I'm sure this was a deliberate choice as can we ever really know why people choose to do things and behave in certain ways? Everyone will have a different viewpoint and there is no one real truth. However this means we never get to understand the girls' motivation which I found disappointing even if it was in keeping with how the story was told. Unfortunately I found the ending where the 4 remaining sisters try to kill themselves in different ways simultaneously just the wrong side of ludicrous and it spoilt the book slightly. Up until then it was probably a 7 but this brought it down to a 6.
Night-owl Mar 2017 1:46pm, 4 Mar 2017 27,518 posts	0 Night-owl I think I know what you mean LN. I finished it late last night. Don't quite know what to say. I liked the way it was written. The style. I had thought the suicides would be separate Maybe I'll have more to say in a few days. I did have reservations reading it in the beginning because of the subject matter
McGoohan Sep 2019 8:59am, 10 Sep 2019 41,099 posts	0 McGoohan Shock horror probe - on reading (not quite finished yet) the Sept 2019 book Then We Came To The End, I think I've realised why this book didn't gel with me. Both are written in the first person plural and in both cases, I have found it a very distancing artifice. Even when something's written in the third person it usually has a focus around one at a time. There's an odd vagueness about 'we'. I guess the author is going for a sort of gestalt-narrator but I find it really hard to read without a central 'person' to hang onto. So, I might have a return to TVS and see if I feel more inspired to read this time.
LindsD Sep 2019 9:03am, 10 Sep 2019 29,363 posts	0 LindsD That's a very interesting observation. Let us know if you do re-read.