The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic)
by Jeffrey Eugenides
★ Top 10 book of 1993 · #9 on Best Books of 1993
Set in 1970s Grosse Pointe, Michigan, this novel follows the five Lisbon sisters after the youngest, Cecilia, attempts suicide. Neighborhood boys narrate, caught up in the mystique of the girls and the family's growing isolation.
Best for: Readers drawn to suburban stories of family tragedy, gossip and teenage mystery
The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) is #9 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) is about
In Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in the 1970s, the five blonde Lisbon sisters, aged thirteen to seventeen, live under the watch of a math-teacher father and a strict, devout mother. The story is told by a group of neighborhood boys, speaking as one voice, who watch the girls from a distance and try to make sense of what happened to them. After the youngest, Cecilia, dies, and Lux's night out with Trip Fontaine ends badly, the household closes in on itself.
Jeffrey Eugenides builds a haunting, elegiac portrait of suburban life, memory, and obsession, and of how little we can truly know about another person. It suits readers who enjoy lyrical, atmospheric fiction with a dark pull.
The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) on the Best Books of 1993
The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) came out in 1993. Of the 36 books first published in 1993 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #9 on our Best Books of 1993 list.
Why it made the list: 448 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (38 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1993 list
- Trainspotting Irvine Welsh, #7
- Night of the Living Dummy Robert Lawrence Stine, #8
- The Client John Grisham, #10
- Voice in the Wind Francine Rivers, #11
See all Best Books of 1993 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1992 Best Books of 1994.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 379 want to read it, 17 are reading it now and 52 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.9 out of 5 from 38 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 92 | 55% |
| Reader love | 31 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 81 | 20% |
Questions about The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic)
When was The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) published?
The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) by Jeffrey Eugenides was first published in 1993.
Was The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) one of the best books of 1993?
The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) is #9 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar. 448 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (38 ratings).
Why is The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) on the Best Books of 1993 list?
448 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (38 ratings).
More of the best books of 1993
- The Giver Lois Lowry, #1
- The Scam Debashis Basu, #2
- Along Came a Spider James Patterson, #3
- A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth, #4
- Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen, #5
- Understanding Comics Scott McCloud, #6
See the full Best Books of 1993, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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