AUTHOR: Jeffrey Eugenides
PUBLISHED: 1993
CATEGORY: Adult
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
PREMISE: A group of boys recounts the summer a group of sisters in their neighborhood all commit suicide.
MY REVIEW: This book has been sitting on my TBR list for quite some time now. I finally got it out of the way. This book is a perfect example of "it's not you, it's me". Because that's basically how I felt about it.
I understood what the author was trying to do. It was clever even. The writing is kind of beautiful in a way. I even understand why lots of lit folks have pounced on this book and have billed it as the best thing ever. If you're big into serious lit, this will probably please you a lot. Me, I can take or leave serious lit. It depends on the serious lit. This particular one, I just found dreadfully dull. Beautiful writing. I'm sure middle-aged white guys will probably feel lots of nostalgia for it. But I am not a middle-aged white guy, so...sorry I pretty much yawned my way through this book.
But, I seem to be in the minority on this one. So I strongly suspect this was very much a case of "it's not you, it's me". So if you are a fan of serious lit that likes to wax poetic about suburb childhoods, maybe this one is for you. I don't know. I just know it definitely wasn't for me. I will still be trying Middlesex though. Eugenides writing is great and from what I've gathered, that book is much better then this.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the Stand By Me movie, middle-aged white guys, serious literature fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five yawns
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