The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Classics

First Published: 1993

Length: 250 pages

Setting: Michigan

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. About five sisters who capture the interest of young boys in their village. The boys become obsessed with them, and watch as their lives all fall apart. The story is told by an anonymous narrator who never discloses their identity, but uses collective pronouns throughout. They look back on the events that unfurled in that family, and refer to so many things like newspaper articles, photos and quotes as if doing a testimony in court. The boys worship the girls as if they were mythological figures. It is a fascinating and sad story about a family’s mental illness and loss from the perspective of strangers.