Spoiler Alert: We Already Know What Will Happen

In the opening sentence, the narrator tells us how two of the Lisbon sisters, Mary and Therese die (sleeping pills). Less than thirty pages into The Virgin Suicides, he has already revealed how another of the five sisters will die, as Bonnie's height is explained by the "length of her neck which would one day hang from the end of a rope," and we have already seen Cecilia already commit suicide. The title of the book also says it explicitly: the Lisbon sisters are going to commit suicide. Knowing what will happen changes the tone and the way in which we react to elements within the story.

Instead of being shocked at the girls' suicide, we anticipate their deaths. As I read each new scene I, while not expecting their suicides, I prepare myself for them to come. While the suicides are definitely tragic, they do not jar the reader in the same way they would if they came as a surprise. In a way, their suicides are lessened by the knowledge that they will occur, but the overall tone of the book becomes even more depressing. The overarching tone is one of continual depression rather than tragedy. In the same way there seemed to be a cloud of gloom in the previous texts we read, knowing the fate of the Lisbon girls achieves the same effect; we have the ultimate ending in our minds throughout the entire story.

While I wouldn't consider The Virgin Suicides to be a non-linear storyline, having a glimpse of the conclusion makes non-linear stories come to mind (Memento, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Slaughterhouse Five). In Tarantino's Pulp Fiction for example, the non-linear storyline arouses the viewer's curiosity throughout the story that allows the audience to reach a satisfying moment in the ending when the various storylines finally connect. While the tragic story of the Lisbon sisters is not told from multiple points of view and does not jump around throughout the story as many of the previous stories I have mentioned, we do have a glimpse of the conclusion. In this case however, the effect is opposite. Instead of approaching the ending eager to find out what happens, part of me wishes to not find out more about their suicides while another part of me is still curious.

I think Eugenides may have chosen to present the story in this way in order to really emphasize the horrible things going on in the Lisbon household. Living with extremely overbearing and protective parents, being cooped up in the same house with them, and dealing with the suicide of their youngest sister, is terrible as is. Yet, it becomes even more depressing knowing that this is in the final year of their lives.

Side note: I really enjoyed the use of parenthesis throughout the first half.

-Andrew T