The Virgin Suicides

     The Virgin Suicides   is one of the books my book group and I have decided to read for ELA. Although I'm only 30 pages in, I know everything that's going to happen. This is because I have seen the movie. The movie of this book, so far, does a great job of portraying the book. However, I definitely regret seeing the movie. Although the book so far is still really good, I now have no surprises coming and I picture everything I read as it was in the movie. This is what has happened so far in the book: 5 blond sisters, the Lisbons live in suburban Michigan in the mid '70s. They are all teenagers, ranging from 13 to 17, who live under the strict Catholic no-boys policy of their parents. As bad is this sounds, it gets so much worse. Within the first 30 pages, Cecilia, the youngest, succeeds in killing herself.
         I think the writing is really good. The mood was expressed so well. Even though I have seen the movie and know what will happen, the writing and descriptions still force me to shudder and close the book. It's just so  horrific and miserable that you kind of have to. In describing Cecilia's limp body after her second, and successful, suicide attempt I just had to stop reading. However, before this part, it expressed sunny days that Lux, the fourteen year-old sun tanned outside. It expressed the awkwardness of some situations, like the party the Lisbon Girls were allowed to throw. Is just rushed from one mood to another so smoothly and nicely. I think this is great because this book is about teenagers from the point of view of teenagers, and teenagers have so may emotions.
     The perspective of the story is from a group of teenage boys who live near the Lisbon family. I think this is really cool. The boys think of the Lisbon Girls as goddesses. They think they are sacred, even though they have had really limited interaction with them. These boys hardly know what the girls look like from up close, yet they value their lives so much. Multiple times, some of these boys were blessed with the opportunity to enter the Lisbon house. When they went, they'd record every detail they could in their heads to tell the other boys. It's kind of humorous, yet moody and strange. 
     It's hard to describe the greatness of this books writing. But it is great.