The Virgin Suicides (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of The Virgin Suicides 3 weeks ago.

• In the tradition of Bright Lights, Big City and The Secret History comes a compelling, highly-acclaimed debut novel of youth and innocence. On the elm-lined streets of a middle-class American city, the lives of a group of teenaged boys are forever changed by their obsession with five mysteriously doomed sisters.

Ballroom_Pink edited the characters of The Virgin Suicides Saturday, September 19 2009.

• Changed the section title: Cast of Characters/Important People
• Added the description of Cecilia Lisbon: Youngest daughter of the Lisbon family.
• marked the description of Cecilia Lisbon as not a spoiler
• Added the description of Lux Lisbon: Libertine second youngest daughter of Lisbon family.
• marked the description of Lux Lisbon as not a spoiler
• Added a character: Bonnie Lisbon
• Added a character: Mary Lisbon
• Added a character: Therese Lisbon
• Added the description of Trip Fontaine: Heartthrob. Never had a problem with girls because they always threw themselves at him until he wanted Lux. Lives with father and his male lover.
• marked the description of Trip Fontaine as not a spoiler
• Added the description of Mr. Lisbon: Teacher.
• marked the description of Mr. Lisbon as not a spoiler
• Added a character: Mrs. Lisbon

Ballroom_Pink edited the quotations of The Virgin Suicides Friday, September 4 2009.

• Edited a quotation: “"WeWe could never understand why the girls cared so much about being mature, or why they felt compelled to compliment each other, but sometimes, after one us had read a long portion of the diary out loud, we had to fight back the urge to hug one another or to tell each other how pretty we were."were.”

Ballroom_Pink edited the quotations of The Virgin Suicides Friday, September 4 2009.

• Added a quotation: “"We could never understand why the girls cared so much about being mature, or why they felt compelled to compliment each other, but sometimes, after one us had read a long portion of the diary out loud, we had to fight back the urge to hug one another or to tell each other how pretty we were."”

Shelfari edited the summary of The Virgin Suicides Friday, August 28 2009.

• The Lisbons are a Catholic family living in Grosse Pointe, Michigan in the 1970s. The father, Ronald, is a math teacher at the local high school and the mother is a homemaker. The family has five daughters: 13-year-old Cecilia, 14-year-old Lux, 15-year-old Bonnie, 16-year-old Mary, and 17-year-old Therese.

  Their lives change dramatically within one summer when Cecilia, a stoic and astute girl described as an "outsider","outsider", attempts suicide by cutting her wrists. A few weeks later, the girls throw a chaperoned party at which Cecilia jumps from their second story window and succeeds in ending her life, by being impaled by a fence post.

  The cause of Cecilia's suicide and its after effects on the family are popular subjects of neighborhood gossip. The mystique of the Lisbon girls also increases for the neighborhood boys, the narrators of the novel.

  Lux begins a romance with local heartthrob Trip Fontaine. Trip negotiates with the overprotective Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon to take Lux to a homecoming dance, on the condition that he finds dates for the other three girls. Lux then misses her curfew - consequently, the Lisbons become recluses. Mrs. Lisbon pulls all the girls out of school, believing that it would help the girls recover. Mr. Lisbon officially takes a leave of absence. Their house falls into a deeper state of disrepair and none of them leave the house. A strange smell coming from the house permeates the neighborhood. From a safe distance, all the people in the neighborhood watch the Lisbons' lives deteriorate, but no one can summon up the courage to intervene.

  During this time, the Lisbons become increasingly fascinating to the neighborhood in general and the narrator boys in particular. The boys call the Lisbon girls and communicate by playing records over the telephone for the girls.

  Finally, the girls send a message to the boys to come to the house. Shortly after the boys arrive, three of the sisters kill themselves: Bonnie hangs herself, Therese overdoses on sleeping pills, and Lux dies of carbon monoxide poisoning. Mary attempts suicide from putting her head in the oven, but fails. Mary later succeeds by taking sleeping pills. Newspaper writer Linda Perl notes that that mass suicide comes a year after Cecilia's first attempt. After the suicide "free-for-all,""free-for-all," Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon leave the neighborhood. The house is sold to a young couple from the Boston area and most of the Lisbons' personal effects are either thrown out or sold in a garage sale. The narrators scavenge through the trash to collect much of the "evidence""evidence" they mention.

Timothy Gray approved Ousia’s request to combine 3 books, including The Virgin Suicides, Friday, August 28 2009.

Jamie L edited the quotations of The Virgin Suicides Tuesday, August 4 2009.

• Added a quotation: “It didn't matter in the end how old they had been, or that they were girls, but only that we had loved them, and that they hadn't heard us calling, still do not hear us, up here in the tree house with our thinning hair and soft bellies, calling them out of those rooms where they went to be alone for all time, alone in suicide, which is deeper than death, and where we will never find the pieces to put them back together.”

Jamie L edited the summary of The Virgin Suicides Tuesday, August 4 2009.

• The Lisbons are a Catholic family living in Grosse Pointe, Michigan in the 1970s. The father, Ronald, is a math teacher at the local high school and the mother is a homemaker. The family has five daughters: 13-year-old Cecilia, 14-year-old Lux, 15-year-old Bonnie, 16-year-old Mary, and 17-year-old Therese.

  Their lives change dramatically within one summer when Cecilia, a stoic and astute girl described as an "outsider", attempts suicide by cutting her wrists. A few weeks later, the girls throw a chaperoned party at which Cecilia jumps from their second story window and succeeds in ending her life, by being impaled by a fence post.

  The cause of Cecilia's suicide and its after effects on the family are popular subjects of neighborhood gossip. The mystique of the Lisbon girls also increases for the neighborhood boys, the narrators of the novel.

  Lux begins a romance with local heartthrob Trip Fontaine. Trip negotiates with the overprotective Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon to take Lux to a homecoming dance, on the condition that he finds dates for the other three girls. Lux then misses her curfew - consequently, the Lisbons become recluses. Mrs. Lisbon pulls all the girls out of school, believing that it would help the girls recover. Mr. Lisbon officially takes a leave of absence. Their house falls into a deeper state of disrepair and none of them leave the house. A strange smell coming from the house permeates the neighborhood. From a safe distance, all the people in the neighborhood watch the Lisbons' lives deteriorate, but no one can summon up the courage to intervene.

  During this time, the Lisbons become increasingly fascinating to the neighborhood in general and the narrator boys in particular. The boys call the Lisbon girls and communicate by playing records over the telephone for the girls.

  Finally, the girls send a message to the boys to come to the house. Shortly after the boys arrive, three of the sisters kill themselves: Bonnie hangs herself, Therese overdoses on sleeping pills, and Lux dies of carbon monoxide poisoning. Mary attempts suicide from putting her head in the oven, but fails. Mary later succeeds by taking sleeping pills. Newspaper writer Linda Perl notes that that mass suicide comes a year after Cecilia's first attempt. After the suicide "free-for-all," Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon leave the neighborhood. The house is sold to a young couple from the Boston area and most of the Lisbons' personal effects are either thrown out or sold in a garage sale. The narrators scavenge through the trash to collect much of the "evidence" they mention.

Ousia submitted a request to combine 3 books, including The Virgin Suicides, Friday, July 31 2009.

Shelfari edited the description of The Virgin Suicides Friday, July 31 2009.

• In the tradition of Bright Lights, Big City and The Secret History comes a compelling, highly-acclaimed debut novel of youth and innocence. On the elm-lined streets of a middle-class American city, the lives of a group of teenaged boys are forever changed by their obsession with five mysteriously doomed sisters.