I finished with the book Virgin suicides just recently, About a group of teenage sisters who over the course of a year commmit suicide following the their first sisters death. Throughout the book the story is told by a group of boys who are neighbors and live near the lisbon sisters... they share what they observed. What i found truly interesting about this book is that even till the very end you are left with curiosity and mystery of never quite knowing how the story started or finishes. But i also found that although you hardly come to learn much about any of the characters, you are still able to see the signifigant change as these events take place under their observation.
It wasnt the first suicide that started to change the boys and their mind set, no i believe it was in the middle of the year when they began to see the lisbon family slowly withdrawl from society. Before, the boys saw the suicide as a grief stricken even, An unfortunate bout of fate that drew attention to this one house hold. Though they understood for the most part what the sisters of the departed were going through... they still saw them as the girls next door, the fascinating beautys that walked the halls bravely of their school. But when the girls were taken from school and then locked away in their homes it was at this time that i believe the boys started to put together the true weight of the situation. As they watched the lawn collect with leaves, the windows dust over, and the continuous shut positon of the curtains they began to see the true mark that cecillia had left on the world, a she herself left the world... i believe that the boys began to see that when her body had been taken away her burden remained. By the last months of the year when the last of the lisbon sisters took their final bow the boys had realized that death wasnt something that brought everything to an end- it was just a different way of continuing on.
What was truly amazing about this book was the profound meaning behind it and how the author truly connected o the reader, i found myself completely hooked on one quote that i find can speak for so much: "Obviously doctor, you have never been a thirteen year old girl."
Throughout the fourteen years i have spent growing up and slowly learning the ropes of life i have continuously heard the words "your too young." And not just when im being told i cannot do something legally because of my age. Im talking about when grownups chastise you for dating, or being stressed, or just being plain depressed. They say things like,
"what do you have to worry about at this age?" and
"Love? You dont know what that is." I would like to meet the person that put an age limit on emotions. Out of all the "freedom" we are supposedly entitled to, all of a sudden there is someone telling us that we are not "allowed" to feel depressed because we are thirteen or fourteen or whatever age. I believe that through this quote the author is explaining to the world his beliefs that should honestly be shared through everyone.
Age has nothing to do with the ability or strength in which you can feel an emotion. Because in all fairness one could say that "your much too old."
