The+Virgin+Suicides+Choice

Group: Brianne, Kelly, Ashley & Stephanie

We chose this book because it has many appealing traits. The first trait is that the plot line sounds like it's twisted. Also, the book seems to be unpredictable which, is a plus for our group. The next trait is that the book is told from the point of view of some neighborhood boys. From the summaries that we have read, the book is about five sisters and their mysterious disappearance. This sense of mystery appeals to all four of us. This book seems like it will be appealing and captivating.


 * APPROVED**

__Book Club #1 - 2/27/09

A- Kelly B-Brianne C- Ashley D- Stephanie

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think Cecilia is very quiet and attempted suicide multiple time? Do you think these 2 tie together?

2. Who do you think the story is being told by?

3. Why do you think the parents were so strict with the girls and never allowed them to have parties/ go out?

The Virgin Suicides Summary Part 1

Part one of our book is about the five sisters and the boys talking about the people who watch the girls. We learn that Cecilia is the first to die at age 13 and that she was considered the ’weird’ sister. Her first attempt to kill herself was by slitting her wrists in the bathtub and it didn’t work. A boy was walking through the sewers and went into her house and found her in the bathtub. Her second attempt while her family was throwing a party to show the girls that the parents trust them more. Cecilia jumps out of a window and onto a fence that goes right through her chest through her heart and out her back killing her instantly. Everyone goes to the funeral and basically it was the town’s first funeral in a while. Cecilia was very small and the coffin was way to big for her. The boys found her diary and read it and discover many things about being a teenage girl.

Today was the first book club meeting and first we started by discussing the summary I wrote of part one of the book. We read up to chapter three and read all of what was summarized above. We all seem to enjoy the book at least somewhat so far. We all agree it is interesting and pretty captivating where we want to find out what happens next. After discussing the summary and some vague feelings of the book, we discussed Stephanie’s discussion questions. We talked about what character we related to most, why we think the first girl killed herself, why she always wore the dress, why the parents seemed so strict on the girls, and many more detailed questions relating to the book. We discussed how the parents give the girls basically no freedom and how that may have played a major role in the first girl dying as well as when the other girls die too. We ended stating what we liked most about the book and deciding what page to read to next.__

Week 2 - Language

A - Stephanie B- Kelly C - Brianne D - Ashley

Discussion Questions: 1) It is revealed to us that Lux smokes. In my opinion she does this as an escape from her parents and maybe even her own sisters’ constant surrounding. Do you think the other girls have something that they do that is not good or healthy? What do you think it may be? 2) Do you think Mr. Lisbon was afraid of Cecilia’s “ghost”? Why do you think Bonnie was in the sheet in the first place? 3) Do you think Trip only wanted Lux in a sexual way or in a real true love way? 4) We have all discussed that there was basically no freedom in the Lisbon household. But when Mrs. Lisbon said in the interview that there was ‘enough love in our home,’ would you believe that and agree with it?

Summary: Today in class, we discussed the progress we've made so far on this book. We talked about how the book has become sluggish and not as wonderful as it was when we first had begun. We thought that this was probably because the author, Jeffrey Eugenides, needed to hook us in when we started and is now slowing it down a bit. In the chapters that we read, we discovered that Mr. Libson had had a hallucination about seeing Cecilia's ghost. Also, we learned about Lux's promiscuous behavior and about a boy named Trip. In all of the chapters we have read, we were somewhat puzzled on the words that the author uses; some are complicated. The book is pretty much easy to read but the diction is still very high. We pretty much just stumble over the words and get confused by the meaning but then as we read along, it all becomes clear. This book is definitely written at our level because it challenges us and makes us want to read more. During the meeting, Ashley's questions were discussed over Thin Mints, provided by Stephanie, and we each shared our opinions on everything. Kelly kept us on target and everything went very well.

Week 3 - Mood/Tone

A - Ashley B - Stephanie C - Kelly D - Brianne

Questions: 1. Why do you think the "guidance counselor," Miss Kilsem, vanished after a year? 2. Why do you think the Libsons' allowed Trip to take Lux to Homecoming in a group and not alone? 3. Why do you think Trip just walked off on Lux the way he did? 4. Why do you think Mrs. Libson destroyed all of Lux's albums? 5. What surprised you the most about this reading?

Summary: In class this Friday we discussed 3rd quarter of the book we read during the week. At the beginning of the period we all gave our general idea as to what we thought and our predictions as to what is going to happen later in the book. We felt that section was a little more exciting than the last but still pretty boring. We also found some parts funny. We all thought that when Lux started having sex on the roof in the middle of winter was a bit extreme. We also found it funny that after the Lisbon's moved out the house and the new owners began fixing the roof, they found all of Lux's homemade contraceptives such as vinegar and tomato juice behind the chimney. Then the roofer shouted down to the owners "looks like someone was making a salad up here." We also had different ideas as to why the therapist left the school after a year. One idea was that she killed someone so she had to leave. Another was that she gave the Lisbon girls the idea to commit suicide themselves.

Book Club #4 - 3/20/09 A - Brianne B- Ashley C- Stephanie D- Kelly

Summary: In our 4th book club we all discussed our thoughts and ideas from the assigned reading. We went over some key points, predictions and symbols. We all agree that the lyrics are a symbol that can express words that other people couldn't say. The girls were able to relate and connect to it into their real life. Many people our age do this today as their status on facebook, aim, aol, etc. Some other symbols we discussed that were clearly depicted in the book were the elm tree, the laminated picture of the Virgin Mary, and the records. We all thought the book kinda keeps dragging on. The deaths of the girls should be more spread out through out the book instead of many at once. We all agree the middle of the book was kinda of boring when it just discussed about their school experiences and stuff. However, we still look foward to finishing the book to see who is next in line of the suicides.

Book Club #5 - 3.30.09 A- Kelly B- Brianne C- Ashley D- Stephanie

Discussion Questions: 1. Did the book end how you predicted/expected? 2. What was your favorite and least favorite part of the book? 3. Why do you think was Mary the last one to go and acting so strange? 4. What do you think happened to Mr. and Mrs. Libson?

In the meeting on Friday we discussed the end of the book. We talked about how most of us did not like the book and how the ending was basically just as bad as the rest of the book. We were upset that the most of the girls all died on one page and that their deaths were not as planned out and as detailed as what we thought that they would be. Overall we decided we were disappointed with the book. It was good to read to see how this may relate to a lot of people's lives and how suicide influences many teens. Stephanie brought up her questions and that also sparked us about what happened in the last fifty pages. We tried to discuss what would have made the book better, but we all had very different ideas on what would have made it better. Personally, I would have liked more gore and more thought out suicides to make it more interesting, but everyone else in the group basically agreed on just a better plot. We talked about which suicide was our favorite to read about and also what character is the favorite throughout the book.