Monday, February 18, 2008

obviously doctor, you've never been a 13-year old girl

Got this from Jhenny.

1. Grab your nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 different people

*******

At home, each boy had pictured the Lisbon girls amid the stock scenery of our impoverished imaginations - cavorting in the surf or playfully fleeing at the ice-skating rink, dangling ski-hat pom-poms like ripe fruit before our faces. In the car, however, beside the actual living girls, the boys realized the paltriness of these images. Inverse properties were also discarded: notions of the girls as damaged or demented.
- The Virgin Suicides | Jeffrey Eugenides


I bought this book two Christmases ago using the Powerbooks gift certificates I got from my department's exchange gift.

It's fascinating to read through the book and discover how dark and real suicide is.

The story intertwines humor and tragedy and is narrated through the eyes of the neighborhood boys who are obsessed with the Lisbon sisters. The author manages to create a vivid portrait of the events in the suburbia, fluid as a beautiful poetry, albeit a bit morbid at certain chapters.

I never fully understood the reason behind the suicides but nevertheless, it didn't disappoint me that this matter was left unresolved as I finished the book. I believe that it was all part of the story, to leave the readers questioning.

One thing that I learned (or confirmed) after reading The Virgin Suicides - girls, and people in general, are more attracted to brawns than to brains. A sad fact of life. But we learn to deal with it.

3 comments:

DN said...

mmm...brawn? does that include physical beauty? :P

MakMak said...

@dn: Uh huh. What do you think? :)

Anonymous said...

yup brawns attracts and it sells.. and makes a lot of money too..

-- --

reminds me of the song Stole by Kelly (?) of defunct destiny's child

"smart don't make you cool"

--davenport